Mount Baldwin is a mountain summit 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. 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 four miles north of

Red and White Mountain Red and White Mountain is a remote mountain summit located on the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in northern California, United States. It is situated in the John Muir Wilderness on the shared boundary of Sierra National Forest with ...

, and approximately southeast of the community of

Mammoth Lakes Mammoth Lakes is the only incorporated town in Mono County, California, United States. It is located immediately to the east of Mammoth Mountain, at an elevation of . As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 7,191, reflecting a ...

. The nearest higher neighbor is

Red Slate Mountain Red Slate Mountain is a summit in the Sierra Nevada. It lies along the Sierra Crest that divides Fresno County from Mono County, California. Red Slate Mountain can be reached by scrambling either from McGee Pass, or starting from Bighorn Lake ...

, to the south-southwest. Baldwin ranks as the 257th highest summit in California.

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 east aspect rises above McGee Canyon in 1.5 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 the summit was made July 2, 1928, by

Norman Clyde Norman Clyde (April 8, 1885 – December 23, 1972) was a mountaineer, mountain guide, freelance writer, nature photographer, and self-trained naturalist. He is well known for achieving over 130 first ascents, many in California's Sierra Nevada ...

, who is credited with 130 first ascents, most of which were in the Sierra Nevada.R. J. Secor, ''The High Sierra Peaks, Passes, Trails'', 2009, Third Edition, Mountaineers Books, , page 364.

Climate

Mount Baldwin 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 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 the mountain drains east to

Crowley Lake Crowley Lake is a reservoir on the upper Owens River in southern Mono County, California, in the United States. Crowley Lake is south of Mammoth Lakes. The lake was created in 1941 by the building of the Long Valley Dam by the Los Angeles Depa ...

via McGee Creek, and west into Convict Creek, thence

Convict Lake Convict Lake (Mono language (California), Mono: ''Wit-sa-nap'') is a lake located in Mono County, California, United States, situated in the Sherwin Range of the Sierra Nevada. It is known for its turquoise-blue water, the dramatic mountains ( ...

Gallery

File:Mt. Baldwin.jpg, Northwest aspect of Mount Baldwin (center) and White Fang (left) File:Mt. Baldwin, McGee Creek Canyon.jpg File:Mount Baldwin, McGee Creek.jpg File:McGee Creek valley from US395 winter.jpg File:Mildred Lake , Mount Baldwin.jpg, Summit in upper right corner, northwest aspect from Mildred Lake area File:Sherwin Range, Benton Crossing.jpg, Baldwin (left), Morrison (right) seen from the north on Benton Crossing Road in Long Valley File:Mountains of Mono County.jpg, Mount Baldwin (left, under cloud), Mount Morrison (right) seen from the north on Benton Crossing Road in Long Valley, California File:Sierra Mountain Range by Ines Roberts (49494592728).jpg, Baldwin behind left of

Mount Morrison Mount Morrison may refer to one of five possible peaks in the United States: It can also refer to: * Mount Morrison (Yushan, 3952 m), the highest mountain in Taiwan. * Mount Morrison (2765 m) in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. * One o ...

seen from the north File:Fall Colors on McGee Creek, Inyo National Forest.jpg File:Mt Baldwin, Red Slate Mtn.jpg, Slope of Mount Morrison (left), Mount Baldwin centered, Red Slate Mountain (right) from Laurel Mountain.

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Mount Baldwin
* Summit view (photo)
Flickr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwin, Mount Inyo National Forest Mountains of Mono County, California Mountains of the John Muir Wilderness Three-thousanders of the United States Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States)

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

External links