Coso Peak is the highest

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

Coso Range The Coso Range of eastern California is located immediately south of Owens Lake, east of the Sierra Nevada, and west of the Argus Range. The southern part of the range lies in the restricted Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake and the northern pa ...

, a small

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

east of 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 ...

, in

Inyo County Inyo County () is a county in the eastern central part of the U.S. state of California, located between the Sierra Nevada and the state of Nevada. In the 2020 census, the population was 19,016. The county seat is Independence. Inyo County is ...

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 ...

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 ...

. The peak has an elevation of and a

topographic prominence In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

of , making it the 88th most prominent mountain in California. While much of the northern part of the Coso Range is within the Coso Range Wilderness protected area, administered by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

(BLM), Coso Peak itself and much of the southern part of the range is within the boundaries of

Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake is a large military installation in California that supports the research, testing and evaluation programs of the United States Navy. It is part of Navy Region Southwest under Commander, Navy Instal ...

, a

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

research, testing, and evaluation installation. Coso Peak and the Coso Range also form part of the

Basin and Range Province The Basin and Range Province is a vast United States physiographic region, physiographic region covering much of the inland Western United States and Northern Mexico, northwestern Mexico. It is defined by unique basin and range topography, charac ...

, along with neighboring mountains and ranges, such as the

Argus Range The Argus Range is a mountain range located primarily in Inyo County, California, southeast of the town of Darwin. The range forms the western boundary of Panamint Valley, and the northwestern boundary of Searles Valley. The Coso Range is loc ...

. Nearby peaks in the Coso Range include Pinon Peak to the west, and Silver Peak to the south.

Naming

The origin of the name "Coso," applied to Coso Peak, the Coso Range, and Coso Hot Springs, is not entirely clear. It may be from the

Timbisha The Timbisha ("rock paint", Timbisha language: Nümü Tümpisattsi) are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe federally recognized tribes, federally recognized as the Death Valley Timbisha Shoshone Band of California. The ...

or Panamint language of the Native American tribes indigenous to the

Owens Valley Owens Valley (Mono language (California), Mono: ''Payahǖǖnadǖ'', meaning "place of flowing water") is an arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States. It is located to the east of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra ...

and

Death Valley Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is thought to be the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth during summer. Death Valley's Badwat ...

region since prehistoric times, in which ''kosoowa'' or ''kosoowah'' was "be steamy," possibly referring to the hot springs (which Jon P. Dayley's ''Tümpisa (Panamint) Shoshone Dictionary'' says were called ''Kooso'' and the people from there ''koosotsi).'' ''Coso'', or variations on the word (''kosso'', etc.) are also known and referenced as a

Mono Mono may refer to: Biology * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monocyte, a type of leukocyte (white blood cell) * Monodactylidae, members of which are referred to as monos Technology and computing * Mono (audio), single-c ...

(or

Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three languages do not form a single subgroup and th ...

, though this is not really accurate because those groups are not contiguous) word in some dialects for 'fire'. Gustav Gudde's ''California Place Names'' notes that the name began to appear on maps when

prospectors Prospecting is the first stage of the geological analysis (followed by exploration) of a territory. It is the search for minerals, fossils, precious metals, or mineral specimens. It is also known as fossicking. Traditionally prospecting rel ...

appeared in the region in the 1860s. The name Coso Mountains appears on an official State Geological Survey of California map from 1874; in 1913 the U.S. Geological Survey officially named them the Coso Range. Coso Peak itself appears by 1877 on a

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wor ...

map.

References

{{reflist Mountains of Inyo County, California Two-thousanders of the United States

Naming

See also

References