Kesler Peak is a mountain
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 ...
located in
Salt Lake County,
Utah
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
, United States.
Description
Kesler Peak is set in the
Wasatch Range
The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Gr ...
which is a subset of the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...
. It is situated in
Big Cottonwood Canyon
Big Cottonwood Canyon is a canyon in the Wasatch Range southeast of Salt Lake City in the U.S. state of Utah. The -long canyon provides hiking, biking, picnicking, rock-climbing, camping, and fishing in the summer. Its two ski resorts, Bright ...
, on land managed by
Wasatch National Forest
Wasatch National Forest was established as the Wasatch Forest Reserve by the U.S. Forest Service in Utah on August 16, 1906 with to the east of Salt Lake City and Provo. It became a National Forest on March 4, 1907. On July 1, 1908 Grantsv ...
.
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
is 13 miles to the northwest and
Solitude Mountain Resort
Solitude Mountain Resort is a ski resort located in the Big Cottonwood Canyon of the Wasatch Mountains, thirty miles southeast of Salt Lake City, Utah. With 66 trails, and vertical, Solitude is one of the smaller ski resorts near Salt Lake Ci ...
is four miles to the east. Neighbors include
Mount Raymond three miles to the northwest and
Gobblers Knob is 3.2 miles to the north. Precipitation
runoff from the mountain's slopes drains to
Big Cottonwood Creek.
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 above Big Cottonwood Canyon in 1.5 mile.
History
The spelling of this mountain's toponym was officially changed in 2008 by the
United States Board on Geographic Names
The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a Federal government of the United States, federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geogr ...
.
Prior to that it was spelled "Kessler Peak" which appears on older maps, and was also known as "Kessler's Peak" in the early 1900s. This landform is named after
Frederick Kesler (1816–1899), Mormon bishop, mill architect, justice of the peace and school warden.
There is another Kesler Peak (elevation 8,747 ft) located in the Oquirrh Mountains of Tooele County, Utah, which is also named after this same person.
Kesler Peak is centrally located in the Big Cottonwood Mining District. From 1867 to 1976, the Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood mining districts combined to produce 30,600 ounces of gold, 17.5 million ounces of silver, 4.7 million pounds of zinc, 18.1 million pounds of copper, and 252 million pounds of lead. The Carbonate Mine, situated high on the east slope of Kesler Peak, was a major producer.
[Carl L. Ege (2005), ''Selected Mining Districts of Utah'', Utah Geological Survey, , p. 22]
Gallery
File:Kesler Peak, se.jpg, Southeast aspect
File:Kesler Peak 1.jpg, Kesler Peak seen from the trailhead to Doughnut Falls
File:Kesler Peak, s.jpg, South aspect
File:Kesler Peak - snowy.jpg
File:Kesler Peak, ne.jpg, Northeast slope of Kesler Peak
See also
*
References
External links
{{stack, {{commons category, Kessler Peak (Wasatch Range)
* Kesler Peak
weather forecast
Mountains of Utah
Mountains of Salt Lake County, Utah
Three-thousanders of the United States
Wasatch-Cache National Forest
Wasatch Range