Kaweah Peaks Ridge is a

spur A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to ba ...

of the

Great Western Divide The Great Western Divide is a Sierra Nevada mountain range located largely in Sequoia National Park. Some of the summits of the Great Western Divide reach well over . The High Sierra Trail crosses the range at Kaweah Gap from Sequoia National Pa ...

, a sub-range of

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 ...

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 ...

. The ridge is located in

Sequoia National Park Sequoia National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in the southern Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, California. The park was established on September 25, 1890, and toda ...

and is composed of mostly rugged and loose

metamorphic rock Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock ( protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, caus ...

Named mountains

There are several officially named peaks along the ridge: *

Black Kaweah Black Kaweah is a mountain of the Kaweah Peaks Ridge of the California's Sierra Nevada, in Sequoia National Park. The peak has a local magnetic disturbance that has caused compasses in the vicinity to vary by up to eight degrees. Fulgurite ...

(13,686+ ft / 4,172+ m) *

Kaweah Queen Kaweah Queen is a mountain along Kaweah peaks ridge which forms part of the Great Western Divide in the Sierra Nevada. The peak is in California's Sequoia National Park Sequoia National Park is a List of national parks of the United Stat ...

(13,388 ft / 4,081 m) *

Mount Kaweah Mount Kaweah () is a mountain in California's Sequoia National Park and forms part of the Kaweah Peaks Ridge, a spur of the Great Western Divide which extends south from Triple Divide Peak. It has a summit elevation of , the highest along the ...

(13,807 ft / 4,208 m) *

Red Kaweah Red Kaweah is a mountain in California's Sequoia National Park Sequoia National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in the southern Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, ...

, (13,726+ ft / 4184+ m)

Location

The peaks, by trail from any road, are south of the

Kings-Kaweah Divide The Kings-Kaweah Divide is a divide in Sequoia National Park. It splits the watersheds of the Kaweah Rivers and the Kings Riverbr> The Divide's extent The Divide runs from (west to east) from Big Baldy (California), Big Baldy west of Moun ...

, east of the Great Western Divide and, despite their name, are in the

Kern Kern or KERN may refer to: People * Kern (surname), includes a list of people with the name * Kern (soldier), a light infantry unit in Medieval Irish armies Places * Kern, Alaska, a ghost town in Alaska * Kern, Austria, see Sankt Marienkir ...

watershed, not the Kaweah watershed. There are many high alpine lakes surrounding the peaks in Nine Lake Basin to the west and Kaweah Basin to the east. Visitors are rare due to the isolated location, but the Kaweah Peaks offer tranquil camping, fishing and high alpine mountaineering. For the most part, the rock is loose and metamorphic.

References

External links

On climbing the Kaweahs
SummitPost.org. Mountains of Sequoia National Park Landforms of Tulare County, California Ridges of California {{TulareCountyCA-geo-stub