Peak bagging

Dr. Tim Warren became the first Rhode Islander to climb Mount Everest last Friday at 11:15 p.m. Eastern Time. The Warwick chiropractor scaled the world's highest mountain (29,035 feet) on his second attempt, helping to raise money as part of his "Klimb for Kids" campaign for the children of A Wish Come True, the wish-granting organization founded in Tiverton in 1982. In a brief blog chronicling his excursion, he notes:

"I have been where humans are just not supposed to be and the corpses are in plain sight as a reminder."

A few years ago, those same words might've applied to the highest climb in Rhode Island, the 882-foot summit at Jerimoth Hill in Foster. The hiking isn't hard, but the shotgun-wielding landowner made life difficult for anyone who attempted the feat. Thanks to the work of Highpointers (people dedicated to climbing all 51 of America's tallest-per-state peaks - D.C. included) and new property owners, walkers are allowed to hike Jerimoth Hill from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. 52 weeks a year. Surprisingly, Rhode Island's little molehill of a mountain isn't the smallest in the U.S. Little Rhody looms above the highpoints of Mississippi (806 feet), Louisiana (535), Delaware (442), Washington D.C. (415) (although climbing the steps of the Washington Monument will get you up to 555 feet) and Florida (345).