Highpoint #12: Florida

Cross-Country Highpointing Trip, Stop #5

Vanity Shot at the "Summit" 

The road trip was off to an impressive start with no less than 4 separate state highpoints being had all in the same day!  I spent the night in southern Alabama in a town named Florala, which takes its names from the states of Florida and Alabama.  I knew, if only by the name, that the next morning I was a very short drive away from Florida’s state highpoint.

For the uninitiated, Florida is a pretty flat state.  It is surrounded on three sides by water, has a fair amount of swampland, and its highest elevation rings in at a rather low:  345 feet above sea level.  There are clearly no mountains in the state, and with such a narrow range in elevation, no room for a mighty hill either.  It is the lowest highpoint in the entire country, coming in lower than the Ebright Azimuth in Delaware!  There would certainly not be any difficulty in summiting the highpoint; no, the true difficulty, for me, would be in finding it. 

I was quickly across the border and was ably following the voice commands of the Google Maps app on my phone.  When I saw two open fields on my left, I was informed that I had arrived.  Well enough.  I parked my car along the lane that divided the fields and begun my search.  They were especially flat fields, so I kind of traipsed along them a few times, but I never managed to come across a sign or anything.  After 5-10 minutes of plodding around aimlessly at dawn, I began questioning if I had the right place.  I may have also questioned this whole highpointing business, but that was a separate matter all together.  After verifying that I was indeed where Google wished me to be, I decided to press on a little further down the road to see if there were any signs leading the way. 

Sign for Lakewood Park, Home to Florida's Highpoint

Well, it took all of a minute or so before I was far enough down the road to espy a very large sign announcing:  “Lakewood Park / Walton County, Florida / Florida’s Highest Point 345 Feet”.  It was plain as day.  Sometimes technology is just an impediment. 

Beautiful Florida Sunrise

Fortunately, it was still rather early in the morning with the sun just beginning to rise.  I was quickly ensconced in varying hues of pink and yellow, and I soon forgot of my woes from only minutes before.  It was so beautiful! 

The Path to the Summit

The park is a small roadside affair whose length can be traversed in about a minute or so of walking.  It was pretty obvious, that the paved pathway and monument in the right-hand side of the park were in place to commemorate the highpoint of the state. 

View from the Top!

I walked over and did my best to capture a vanity shot.  I eventually wound up with a photo that was acceptable enough.  I looked around to see if there was a USGS marker to boot, but I did not encounter one.  I took in the sunrise a little longer, simply enjoying its beauty, and then I was off for Louisiana!