Goat Mountain is a

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

Description

Goat Mountain is located in the

Chugach Mountains The Chugach Mountains of southern Alaska are the northernmost of the several mountain ranges that make up the Pacific Coast Ranges of the western edge of North America. The range is about long and wide, and extends from the Knik and Turnag ...

, east-northeast of Cordova on land managed by

Chugach National Forest The Chugach National Forest is a United States National Forest in south central Alaska. Covering portions of Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula and the Copper River (Alaska), Copper River Delta, it was formed in 1907 from part of a larger ...

. Although modest in elevation,

topographic relief Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...

is significant as the summit rises 4,300 feet (1,310 m) above Miles Lake in less than three miles (4.8 km). The mountain can be seen from the

Copper River Highway The Copper River Highway extends from Cordova, Alaska, Cordova along the old railbed of the Copper River and Northwestern Railway. Construction began in 1945, and was originally intended to link Cordova, Alaska, Cordova with the state highway ...

at the

Miles Glacier Bridge The Miles Glacier Bridge, also known as the Million Dollar Bridge, was built in the early 1900s across the Copper River fifty miles from Cordova in what is now the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a multiple-span Pennsylvania truss bridge which com ...

. The mountain was named in 1910 by a survey crew working on the

Copper River and Northwestern Railway The Copper River and Northwestern Railway (CR&NW) consisted of two rail lines, the Copper River line and the Northwestern line. Michael James Heney had secured the right-of-way up the Copper River in 1904. He started building the railway from ...

, and the toponym has been officially adopted by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.

Climate

Based on the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

, Goat Mountain is located in a subpolar

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

zone, with long, cold, snowy winters, and cool summers. Weather systems coming off the Gulf of Alaska are forced upwards by the Chugach Mountains (

orographic lift Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...

), causing heavy rainfall. Winter temperatures can drop to 0 °F with wind chill factors below −10 °F. This climate supports the Childs Glacier to the northwest,

Miles Glacier Miles Glacier is a -long glacier in the U.S. state of Alaska. It flows west to its terminus at Miles Lake, north of Katalla. It was named in 1885 after U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Nelson A. Miles Nelson Appleton Miles (August 8, 1839 – May 15, 19 ...

to the northeast, and McPherson Glacier to the southeast. The months May through June offer the most favorable weather for viewing and climbing.

Gallery

File:Goat Mountain and Million Dollar Bridge.jpg, Aerial view of Goat Mountain, Miles Lake (left), Miles Glacier Bridge, and Copper River (right)

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Goat Mountain
{{Geographic Location 2 , Center = Goat Mountain , North = Miles Lake , Northeast =

, East = Miles Glacier , Southeast = McPherson Glacier , South = Sheep Creek , Southwest =

, West =

Copper River Copper River may refer to several places: *Copper River (Alaska), in the United States * Copper River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Skeena River The Skeena River is the second-longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada (afte ...

, Northwest = Mount O'Neel Mountains of Alaska Landforms of Chugach Census Area, Alaska One-thousanders of the United States

Description

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

External links