Mount Scowden is an

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 the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

mountain range, in

Mono County Mono County ( ) is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 13,195, making it the fourth-least populous county in California. The county seat is Bridg ...

of northern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States. The mountain is set less than three miles east of the Sierra crest, within the Hoover Wilderness, on land managed by

Inyo National Forest Inyo National Forest is a United States National Forest covering parts of the eastern Sierra Nevada of California and the White Mountains of California and Nevada. The forest hosts several superlatives, including Mount Whitney, the highest p ...

. Mount Scowden is situated in Lundy Canyon, one mile north of

line parent A peak's line parent is the closest higher peak on the highest ridge leading away from the peak's "key col". A col is the lowest point on the ridge between two summits and is roughly synonymous with pass, gap, saddle and notch. The highest col ...

Tioga Crest Tioga Crest is an mountain ridge and peak in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, California. References

Mountains of Mono County, California Three-thousanders of the United States Mountains of Northern California Sierra ...

, west of

Gilcrest Peak Gilcrest Peak is an summit located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, in Mono County of northern California, United States. The mountain is set within the Hoover Wilderness, on land managed by Inyo National Forest. Gilcrest Peak is situated ...

, and southeast of Black Mountain.

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 Mill Creek in one mile. Precipitation runoff from this mountain drains to Mill Creek, and ultimately

Mono Lake Mono Lake ( ) is a Salt lake, saline soda lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin. The lack of an outlet causes Hypersaline lake, high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake ...

. The mountain's toponym has been officially adopted 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 ...

and has been in publications since at least 1882. Leo A. Scowden (born 1848) was a mining engineer and United States deputy mineral surveyor for California who resided in Bodie, Mono County. There were several mining claims on Mt. Scowden in the 1800s which gave rise to the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

camp of

Lundy Lundy is an English island in the Bristol Channel. It forms part of the district of Torridge in the county of Devon. About long and wide, Lundy has had a long and turbulent history, frequently changing hands between the British crown and ...

Mining

Gold and silver mining claims on Mt. Scowden: * May Lundy * Homer * Harrison * Last Chance * Lucky Mortan * Bay Queen * Bryant * Gray Eagle * Gorilla * Parrott * Tamarack * Wolverine * Mono * Ontario Syndicate

Climate

Mount Scowden is located in an

alpine climate Alpine climate is the typical climate for elevations above the tree line, where trees fail to grow due to cold. This climate is also referred to as a mountain climate or highland climate. Definition There are multiple definitions of alpine cli ...

zone. Most

weather front A weather front is a boundary separating air masses for which several characteristics differ, such as air density, wind, temperature, and humidity. Disturbed and unstable weather due to these differences often arises along the boundary. For ins ...

s originate in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, and travel east toward the Sierra Nevada mountains. As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks (

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 moisture in the form of rain or snowfall to drop onto the range.

Gallery

File:Mt. Scowden.jpg, Northeast aspect of Mt. Scowden File:Mt. Scowden, Lundy Lake.jpg, Northeast aspect of Mt. Scowden seen from Lundy Lake File:Mount Scowden, Sierra Nevada.jpg File:Warren, Gilcrest, Scowden.jpg, Mount Warren in upper left corner. Gilcrest Peak centered. Mount Scowden and Tioga Crest to the right. Lundy Lake below.

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Mount Scowden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scowden, Mount Mountains of Mono County, California Three-thousanders of the United States Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States) Inyo National Forest

Mining

Climate

See also

Gallery

References

External links