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All the United States Oklahoma Poteau Cavanal Hill

Cavanal Hill

Claims to be the "World's Highest Hill."

Poteau, Oklahoma

Added By
Lee Blankenship
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Cavanal Hill   lsblankenship / Atlas Obscura User
Cavanal Hill   lsblankenship / Atlas Obscura User
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Cavanal Hill   lsblankenship / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Looming above the town of Poteau is a hill with dozens of towers and antennas protruding from its relatively flat top. Take a short drive up and visitors will be rewarded with great views of the surrounding area. 

The claim of being the "world's highest hill" is predicated on a less-than-bulletproof definition employed by the UK's government, which states that the cutoff between being a hill and being a mountain is the 2,000-meter threshold. By this logic, anything taller than Cavanal Hill stops being a hill. The USGS and other bodies, however, offer very different definitions of the hill. 

Regardless of the extent to which Cavanal Hill has earned its claim to fame, it is still a remarkably tall geological feature. The sign at its base claims that it soars to 1,999 feet above the ground, a number that seems to have been chosen for dramatic effect but is likely close to accurate. 

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Added By

lsblankenship

Edited By

forssa

  • forssa

Published

May 29, 2021

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Sources
  • https://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/hills-defined.html
  • https://www.advnture.com/features/when-does-a-hill-become-a-mountain
Cavanal Hill
Poteau, Oklahoma, 74953
United States
35.070931, -94.679393
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Photo of Oklahoma

Oklahoma

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