Wisconsin High Points

In December 1986, Emmet J. Judziewicz completed a project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in which the following information was derived. For the majority of the state, this table has been compiled from 7.5′ and 15′ topographic maps published by the USGS. The Southeast Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission developed large scale maps that were used for the counties of Kenosha and Milwaukee.

PLEASE NOTE: We have edited this material for use on our website, but have made no attempt to verify its accuracy.

In many Wisconsin counties, it is very difficult to determine exact high points. The highest hills in most of the “Driftless Area” counties of southwestern Wisconsin (approximately from Buffalo county, south and east to Rock county) are often ridge tops that extend for many miles with no clear indication of an exact summit. Ozaukee and Washington counties in the southeastern part of the state have numerous glacial kames all of nearly the same height. This makes determination of a highest point difficult. In contrast, West Blue Mound in Iowa County is significantly higher than any other feature nearby making it easy to identify. An additional consideration is that the highest point in a given county is often not as prominent as isolated hills of considerably lower elevation. This is illustrated by the fact that neither McCaslin Mountain nor Thunder Mountain, two prominent quartzite monadnocks, are the high points in Marinette County.

Six counties (in order of height: Price, Forest, Marathon, Lincoln, Vilas, and Langlade) in the north-central part of Wisconsin have elevations exceeding 1900 feet above sea level. Other major high elevation points of Wisconsin include Mt. Whittlesey (1872 feet) and Meteor Hill (1801 feet) in northwest Wisconsin. In southeastern Wisconsin Powder Hill, Holy Hill, and an unnamed hill located 0.5 km north of Holy Hill, all have summit elevations between 1330 and 1340 feet.