Mount Scowden is an 11,182-foot-elevation (3,408 meter)

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 a m ...

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 census, the population was 13,195, making it the fourth-least populous county in California. The county seat is Bridgeport. The coun ...

of northern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, United States. The mountain is set less than three miles east of the Sierra crest, within the

Hoover Wilderness The Hoover Wilderness is a wilderness area in the Inyo and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forests. It lies to the east of the crest of the central Sierra Nevada in California, to the north and east of Yosemite National Park - a long strip stretching ...

, 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 po ...

. Mount Scowden is situated in Lundy Canyon, one mile north 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 ...

Tioga Crest, west of Gilcrest Peak, and southeast of

Black Mountain Black Mountain may refer to: Places Australia * Black Mountain (Australian Capital Territory), a mountain in Canberra * Black Mountain, New South Wales, a village in Armidale Regional Council, New South Wales * Black Mountain, Queensland, a loca ...

Topographic relief Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin w ...

is significant as the summit rises above Mill Creek in one mile. 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 mountain drains to Mill Creek, and ultimately

Mono Lake Mono Lake ( ) is a saline soda lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin. The lack of an outlet causes high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake which make its water alka ...

. The mountain's toponym has been officially adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names and has been in publications since at least 1882. Leo A. Scowden (born 1848) was a mining engineer and United States deputy mineral surveyor for California who resided in

Bodie Bodie ( ) is a ghost town in the Bodie Hills east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, California, United States. It is about southeast of Lake Tahoe, and east-southeast of Bridgeport, at an elevation of 8,379 feet (2554 ...

, Mono County. There were several mining claims on Mt. Scowden in the 1800s which gave rise to the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...

camp of

Lundy Lundy is an English island in the Bristol Channel. It was a micronation from 1925–1969. It forms part of the district of Torridge District, Torridge in the county of Devon. About long and wide, Lundy has had a long and turbulent history, ...

Mining

Gold and silver mining claims on Mt. Scowden: * May Lundy * Homer * Harrison * Last Chance * Lucky Mortan * Bay Queen * Bryant * Gray Eagle * Gorilla * Parrott * Tamarack * Wolverine * Mono * Ontario Syndicate

Climate

Mount Scowden 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 ...

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 ...

s 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 contine ...

, 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.

Gallery

File:Mt. Scowden.jpg, Northeast aspect of Mt. Scowden File:Mt. Scowden, Lundy Lake.jpg, Northeast aspect of Mt. Scowden seen from Lundy Lake File:Mount Scowden, Sierra Nevada.jpg File:Warren, Gilcrest, Scowden.jpg, Mount Warren in upper left corner. Gilcrest Peak centered. Mount Scowden and Tioga Crest to the right. Lundy Lake below.

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Mount Scowden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scowden, Mount Mountains of Mono County, California North American 3000 m summits Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States) Inyo National Forest

Mining

Climate

See also

Gallery

References

External links