high point rondy

Sept 20-24 on Magazine Mountain, Arkansas--the highest point between the Smokies and the Rockies--a rendezvous will be held. Primitive camp only, although you could check on availability of campsites elsewhere in the park (they have a website, contact for rondy is Don Simons). The Lodge is booked. No fees or registration needed. Visitors (tourists) on Saturday only, unless you are in period dress. Co-sponsored by the EARA and Magazine Mt State Park.

 

[RangerThacher]

I thought Harney Peak (7,242 ft) in SD was the highest point east of the Rockies in the US.

 

The South Dakota peak is considered an outlier of the Rockies, but even so, I believe Mt Washington in New England is about 10,000 feet, but is NE of the Smokies. Several peaks in the Smokies are over 6000 feet. Mt Magazine is only about 2800 feet, but is the highest peak in the Ouachitas. Remember that local relief--the height of the peak above local base level (valley level or the plains) in many areas of the Rockies is no more than that of the Smokies--the Rockies may reach 12000-14000 feet but start near 6000 feet. The Smokies reach over 6000 feet but start near sea level--so the local relief is similar. The greatest local relief I have seen in the lower 48 is in Death Valley, where the basin is as much as 280 feet below seal level and the top of Panamint Range reaches near 12000 feet (Telescope Peak). Anyway, Arkansas likes to claim they have the highest peak in the midwest--the highest between the Smokies and Rockies (at least on a line drawn through those points).

 

[redwing]

My home is at 7,000' I live in the Bear River Valley of Wyoming. The Mtns are are over 10,000' above sea level. The point is not how high above your local level you are. The point is how high above sea level. The weather conditions vary greatly as you go above sea level. I have never seen snow fields in Ark. or Tenn. in July. In the Rockies it is year around and some peaks get snow 12 Mos. per. year. We watch the weather by elevation such as snow at 5,000' or freezing rain at 7,000'. Its about sea level. :hmm:

 

I too once lived at 7000' in Colorado. I was not talking about weather or altitude above sea level, but local relief--that is how far one would have to climb from the base of a hill to its top. Climate is related to altitude and latitude (among other things). Going up is like going north. Low areas in Canada typically have more snow pack than the highest areas of the south. No doubt, Wyoming and Montana have more severe winters, combining both altitude and latitude. But I fail to see what relevance this all has to the High Point rendezvous--Magazine Mt may not be alpine, but it is beautiful, rugged, and a perfect place for a rondy. It has a long history as a frontier, the area first penetrated by Europeans very early (DeSoto) then by French trappers, traders and hunters in the 18th cent. It was a big bear hunting area into the 19th cent. Buffalo roamed the prairies to the north and west, and elk...It was near the path of the forced Indian migrations from the east into Oklahoma. Alot of history here. The Ouachita Mountains to the south are not alpine either, but are rugged and heavily forested and retain a lot of their original character, being largely National Forest. And the bears are back.