This Texan is trying to set a world record by reaching the highest point of each state — in 17 days

KUT 90.5 | By Laura Rice

Published June 8, 2026 at 11:53 AM CDT

The clock on Branndon Bargo's world record attempt will start when he begins his descent of Denali in Alaska.

The highest point in Texas is Guadalupe Peak, standing at an elevation of 8,751 feet — not bad considering the highest point in Florida, Britton Hill, stands a little under 350 feet elevation. Then there's the highest peak in the U.S., Alaska's Denali, at more than 20,000 feet.

Texan Branndon Bargo, a triathlete and ultramarathon runner, is aiming to set a world record by making it to the top of all 50 U.S. state high points in about 17 days.

Bargo, who's also host of the PBS show "The Highpointers" and assistant director of outdoor adventure at Southwestern University in Georgetown, north of Austin, joined the Standard to talk about his challenge.

Texas Standard: Well, you've been adventuring for a long time. When did you get the idea you'd like to break this record?

Branndon Bargo: I don't know when it actually may have started that I really transitioned from just climbing mountains to wanting to find wherever I was visiting and climb the highest point. Part of it was just the fascination of figuring out how to get to that place because a lot of these places are so remote.

Eventually my brother and I created this TV show to go climb the highest point in all 50 states. We would have guests that would join us that were really unique and interesting.

Climbing the highest point really is not even the challenge. It's trying to figure out how do I travel to all 50 states in 20 days and let me go to the most remote place in this state and try to figure all of that out.

For me, a lot of it was just, can I get a team of people to help me figure out the logistics?

"A lot of these high points it's by any means necessary, so quite a few of them you can actually drive to the top of them," Bargo says.

You start with the tallest summit in Denali, and then you take what looks like your only planned day off as you travel from Alaska to Hawaii. Other than that, it's back-to-back summits, and often many in a day.

So, you know, I'm not the first one to try and attempt to break this record. So the established record is once you reach the highest point, the time starts on the descent. So, climb up Denali and then start descending.

I've climbed Denali before and took me 20 days: 16 days up, four days down. From Alaska, fly to Hawaii, Mauna Kea, which is almost 14,000 feet, but you can drive nearly up to the top.

A lot of these high points it's by any means necessary, so quite a few of them you can actually drive to the top of them. That's what's really great about high pointing. There's actually a high pointers club, and there's a lot of people — all ages, all sizes.

It's a really open outdoor activity that anyone can do. It just so happens that some of them, like Denali, are super difficult. Then you've got Florida and Louisiana and Rhode Island that are just essentially parking lots. So, navigating to these places really is the challenge.

Miss a flight or a delay and that could kind of throw everything off. What's making you most anxious?

It really is the weather. So you kind of have to hold these records really loosely and know that at any point I could be derailed.

Then there's some permit issues like having the permit for Mount Whitney and Mount Rainier. If my dates change, then I'm going to have to try to adapt on the fly. Can I get a new permit to go climb these mountains?

You're doing this as part of your role with Southwestern University. Why do you think it's relevant to inspire students with outdoor adventure?

We do all kinds of trips. I take students, I recently took them actually to go climb in Hawaii. We went to Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa. We've been to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I've taken them ice climbing in Colorado. A few years ago, I took them to climb the highest point in Africa, Kilimanjaro.

I just found that there's so many lessons that can be learned when doing these things, right? Creating grit and perseverance and all the while, learning about everything that's around them. We learn about culture and plants and animals. So I just think this allows students to look up from their phone and just take in surroundings.

I think there is no better time than now than people getting outside and really doing hard things and being in nature and just taking in beauty.

So folks can follow along with your journey. What do they need to know?

We will be tracking it as live as we can, starting, I guess, June 9th when I fly to Alaska.