Fletcher Peak is an 11,410-foot-elevation (3,478 meter) mountain

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

located in

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

, in Mariposa County,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States. It is situated south of Tuolumne Meadows in the Cathedral Range which is a sub-range 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 primarily ...

mountain range. The mountain rises south of Tuolumne Pass, northeast of proximate parent Vogelsang Peak and northwest 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 of ...

Parsons Peak. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises above Fletcher Lake in . Precipitation

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

from this landform drains south to the

Merced River The Merced River (), in the central part of the U.S. state of California, is a -long tributary of the San Joaquin River flowing from the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada into the San Joaquin Valley. It is most well known for its swift and st ...

via Fletcher Creek.

Etymology

Fletcher Creek and Fletcher Lake were named in 1895 by Lieutenant Nathaniel Fish McClure to honor Arthur G. Fletcher, deputy fish commissioner of California's State Board of Fish Commissioners, who directed the stocking of fish in the streams and lakes of Yosemite National Park. The peak was named in association, and this geographical feature's toponym was officially adopted in 1932 by the

U.S. Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...

. The landform had been named "Baker Peak" prior to the Fletcher name, for a Mr. Baker who was a cook at nearby Boothe Lake Camp.

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Fletcher Peak is located in an

alpine climate Alpine climate is the typical weather (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 ...

zone. Most weather fronts originate in the

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

, and travel east toward the Sierra Nevada mountains. As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks ( orographic lift), causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snowfall onto the range.

Gallery

File:Fletcher and Vogelsang peaks.jpg, North aspects of Fletcher Peak (left) and Vogelsang Peak (right) File:Fletcher Peak, CA.jpg File:Vogelsang Lake.jpg, Southwest aspect of Fletcher Peak (right) above Vogelsang Lake File:Fletcher Peak, Evelyn Lake.jpg, Northeast aspect seen from Evelyn Lake File:End of Avalanche Lake below Vogelsang Pass.jpg, Southwest aspect of Fletcher Peak (right) with Vogelsang Lake File:Vogelsang-Boothe Lake Trail Fork - panoramio.jpg, Fletcher Peak upper left File:Vogelsang High Sierra Camp - panoramio.jpg, West aspect from Vogelsang High Sierra Camp

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Fletcher Peak
{{Yosemite National Park Mountains of Yosemite National Park Mountains of Mariposa County, California North American 3000 m summits Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States)

Etymology

Climate

See also

Gallery

References

External links