Hurd Peak is a mountain summit located one mile east of the crest 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 ...

mountain range 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 ...

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. Surrounded by lakes, it is situated in the

John Muir Wilderness The John Muir Wilderness is a wilderness area that extends along the crest of the Sierra Nevada of California for , in the Inyo National Forest, Inyo and Sierra National Forests. Established in 1964 by the Wilderness Act and named for naturalist ...

, 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 ...

. It is approximately west of the community of Big Pine, west of

Picture Puzzle Picture Puzzle, also known as Picture Puzzle Peak, is a mountain summit located one mile east of the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Inyo County of northern California, United States. It is situated in the Palisades area of the Jo ...

, and north of parent Mount Goode.

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 nearly above South Lake in approximately one mile.

Etymology

This mountain's toponym was officially adopted in 1920 by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names based on a recommendation by the

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 ...

. It honors the memory of Hurd Clarence Hurd (April 16, 1870 – July 8, 1914), who made 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 ...

in 1906 while connected with development work in the vicinity. H. C. Hurd was a civil engineer who received his degree from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1893. He was elected as a member of the

American Society of Civil Engineers The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a tax-exempt professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, it is the oldest national engineering soci ...

in 1913, but the following year met an untimely death by accidental drowning in

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Ea ...

Climbing

Established climbing routes on Hurd Peak:Hurd Peak, Mountainproject.com
/ref> * West Face via Treasure Lakes – * East Face – class 3 * South Ridge – class 4 * Northeast Arete – class 5.5 * North Ridge – class 5.7

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Hurd 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, causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or

snowfall Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

onto the range (

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 ...

). Precipitation runoff from this mountain drains into the South Fork of Bishop Creek.

Gallery

File:12,237' Hurd Peak.jpg, Southeast aspect File:Our last look of beauty Long Lake - Flickr - daveynin.jpg, Southeast aspect, with Spearhead Lake and Long Lake File:South Lake, Hurd Peak.jpg, Hurd Peak (left) from South Lake File:Hurd Peak, Bishop Pass Trail.jpg, North aspect, with Mt. Goode to left File:Hurd Peak NW.jpg, Northwest aspect, from Lake 10668 of Treasure Lakes File:Hurd Peak SE.jpg, Southeast aspect, with Saddlerock Lake File:Hurd Peak.jpg

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Hurd Peak
* Hurd Peak Rock Climbing
Mountainproject.com
{{Geographic Location 2 , Center = Hurd Peak , North = South Lake , Northeast = Long Lake , East =

Cloudripper Cloudripper is a mountain summit located two miles east of the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Inyo County of northern California, United States. It is situated in the Palisades area of the John Muir Wilderness, on land managed by ...

, ESE =

, Southeast = Bishop Pass , South = Mount Goode , Southwest = Mount Johnson , West = Mount Thompson , Northwest = Treasure Lakes Inyo National Forest Mountains of Inyo County, California Mountains of the John Muir Wilderness Three-thousanders of the United States Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States)