Epidote 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 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 in the Hoover Wilderness on land managed by

Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest The Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest (HTNF) is the principal National forest (United States), U.S. National Forest in the U.S. state of Nevada, and has a smaller portion further west in Eastern California in the state of California. With an a ...

. The peak is situated one mile outside the boundary of Yosemite National Park, approximately one mile east 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 ...

Camiaca Peak, and west of Dunderberg Peak.

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 north aspect rises above East Lake in one-half mile. The

first ascent In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in climbing guidebook, guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers a ...

of Epidote Peak was made by several

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

members in 1917. This landform's toponym, which refers to the greenish mineral

epidote Epidote is a calcium aluminium iron sorosilicate mineral. Description Well developed crystals of epidote, Ca2Al2(Fe3+;Al)(SiO4)(Si2O7)O(OH), crystallizing in the monoclinic system, are of frequent occurrence: they are commonly prismatic in ha ...

present here, 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 print since at least 1919.

Climate

Epidote Peak 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. Precipitation runoff from this mountain drains into headwaters of the East and West Forks of Green Creek, which is a tributary of the

Walker River The Walker River is a river in west-central Nevada in the United States, approximately long. Fed principally by snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada of California, it drains an arid portion of the Great Basin southeast of Reno and flows into the endo ...

Gallery

File:View from Dunderberg Peak.jpg, Epidote Peak is black feature in lower left. View from Dunderberg Peak looking west. Summit Lake to left, Hoover Lakes lower left, East Lake lower right. Camiaca Peak (reddish) left of center, Gabbro Peak lower right, Twin Peaks upper right. File:Hoover Lakes from ridge to South.jpg, South aspect of Epidote Peak (left) above Hoover Lakes

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Epidote Peak
{{Geographic Location 2 , Center = Epidote Peak , North = East Lake , Northeast = Kavanaugh Ridge , East = Dunderberg Peak , Southeast = Hoover Lakes , South =

Excelsior Mountain Excelsior Mountain can refer to * Excelsior Mountain (Yosemite) in California, U.S. * Excelsior Mountain (Alberta) in the Maligne Range in Canada * Excelsior Mountain of the North Cascades in Washington state, U.S. * Excelsior Mountains The ...

, Southwest = Summit Lake , West = Camiaca Peak , Northwest = Page Peaks Mountains of Mono County, California Three-thousanders of the United States Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States) Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest

Climate

See also

Gallery

References

External links