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It won't be confused with Mount McKinley, the Alaskan giant which reaches North America's highest point at 20,320 feet.
But to hikers such as Kevin O'Connell, the glacial remnant offers the pleasure of a sweeping view. It peeks up about 300 feet above the surrounding countryside, located about 200 miles northwest of Madison and which includes the Ice Age Trail.
"Timms is one of my favorite spots, along with West Blue Mound in Blue Mounds State Park, which is the point I frequent most," the 51-year-old Madison man said.
It's a high point of O'Connell's week if he can get out and visit some of Wisconsin's most prominent points.
"There are some places in there that people in this state really ought to see, but aren't well known at all," O'Connell said.
The same could be said of his Web site, "The Mountains of Wisconsin: a Touring Guide to the State's Highpoints, Past, Present & Future."
Don't laugh. Wisconsin might be a relatively flat, flyover land, but O'Connell has learned there are plenty of good hikes to be found -- if you know where to look.
And his little-known Web site is a good place to start.
Long a fan of hiking the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, O'Connell decided about six years ago to begin a compilation of Wisconsin's highest points.
He was aware the County Highpoints Association of America had done so as recently as 2002, but O'Connell deemed the effort "incomplete."
"So I went through the DeLorme Atlas of Wisconsin and started noting all the named points," said O'Connell, a shift manager at Woodman's on Gammon Road on Madison's West Side. "There are some 600. Other sources added another 400 points. Oy gevalt!
"I began going to selected, representative points, and if one were interesting in any way, took photos and wrote down the directions to get there."
O'Connell said he also "felt that some mention of Wisconsin's geology, along with any historical or natural notes about the individual points, and many photos, would enhance the subject."
The result was a clean, coffee table-style academic compilation of some 60 hikes and 40 Sunday drives he deems worth taking throughout Wisconsin.
"Of course, few people think of Wisconsin having mountains, but when all 60-plus walks in here are added up, the net altitude gain is over 17,000 feet. Walking around Devil's Lake (in Baraboo), going up and down both bluffs, is a fine way of training for stiffer climbs, at least for those of us in the Midwest.
"However, the collection is more about giving people good reason to go for a hike or drive within the state than about climbing per se. There are points in about 40 of the 72 counties, and some of the hikes don't show up in anyone else's trail guides."
O'Connell tried to sell his work -- which features 17 chapters breaking down Wisconsin trails and climbs into various subgroups -- but was rebuffed by four publishers who, he said, didn't see any sales potential.
"Rather than put it away in a drawer somewhere, I'd just as soon people got a chance to use it. So, I wrote this Web site to display everything as close to a book form as possible," said O'Connell, who has a business degree from the University of Wisconsin but confesses he's an amateur in the world of geology.
O'Connell believes his hobby can serve a niche audience -- if only readers can find their way. He said search engine giant Google doesn't like his programming. Therefore, only using the direct link (http://mountainsofwisconsin.onza.net) can people find "The Mountains of Wisconsin: a Touring Guide to the State's Highpoints, Past, Present & Future."
"Only a few people seem to have found it so far," he said.
To see more of The Wisconsin State Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.wisconsinstatejournal.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The Wisconsin State Journal Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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