Mount Tuscarora is a

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 ...

Salt Lake County Salt Lake County is located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,185,238, making it the most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is Salt Lake City, the state capital. The co ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, United States.

Description

Mount Tuscarora is located southeast of downtown

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

between the

Alta Ski Area Alta is a ski area in the western United States, located in the town of Alta, Utah, Alta in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, in Salt Lake County. With a skiable area of , Alta's base elevation is and rises to for a vertical gain of . One of the ...

and the

Brighton Ski Resort Brighton Ski Resort is a ski area in the Western United States, western United States, located in Big Cottonwood Canyon in Brighton, Utah, Brighton, Utah. About from Downtown Salt Lake City, downtown Salt Lake City, it is owned and operated ...

in the

Wasatch–Cache National Forest Wasatch–Cache National Forest is a United States National Forest located primarily in northern Utah (81.23%), with smaller parts extending into southeastern Idaho (16.42%) and southwestern Wyoming (2.35%). The name is derived from the Ute Trib ...

. The peak is set in the

Wasatch Range The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Gr ...

which is a subset of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

. Precipitation runoff from the mountain's north slope drains into headwaters of

Big Cottonwood Creek Big Cottonwood Creek is located in the Wasatch Mountains just east of Salt Lake City. It is part of the Big Cottonwood Creek Watershed, which ranges in elevation from 5,000 to 10,500 feet with the headwaters around 9,600 feet. The creek flows thr ...

, whereas the south slope drains into headwaters of

Little Cottonwood Creek Little Cottonwood Creek is one of the principal streams entering Salt Lake Valley from the east. The creek rises near the summit of the Wasatch Mountains, a short distance south of the ski resort town of Alta, Utah, Alta, and flows in a westerly d ...

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 summit rises above Lake Mary in one-half mile (0.8 km). Mount Tuscarora is composed of

granodiorite Granodiorite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock similar to granite, but containing more plagioclase feldspar than orthoclase feldspar. The term banatite is sometimes used informally for various rocks ranging from gra ...

of the

igneous Igneous rock ( ), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The magma can be derived from partial ...

Alta

stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...

.Miriam H. Bugden, ''Geology and Scenery of the Central Wasatch Range, Salt Lake and Summit Counties, Utah'', Utah Geological Survey, 1991, , p. 12 This mountain's toponym has been officially adopted by the

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a Federal government of the United States, federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geogr ...

. Tuscarora was the chief of the

Tuscarora people The Tuscarora (in Tuscarora language, Tuscarora ''Skarù:ręˀ'') are an indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands in Canada and the United States. They are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian Native Americans in the United States, Native Amer ...

on the East Coast, but why the name was applied to this peak is not apparent.Lynn Arave, ''Names tell plenty about peaks and places''
Deseret News, August 2, 2001.

Climate

Mount Tuscarora has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dfc''), bordering on 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 ...

(

''ET''), with long, cold, snowy winters, and cool to warm summers. Due to its altitude, it receives precipitation all year, as snow in winter, and as thunderstorms in summer.

Gallery

File:Sunset Peak vista.jpg, View from Sunset Peak with Mount Wolverine (left), Mount Tuscarora (center), and Mount Millicent (right). File:Lake Mary Reservoir DSC 0544 (22348641624).jpg, Mount Tuscarora (left) and Mount Millicent (right) from Lake Mary

References

External links

* Mount Tuscarora
weather
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuscarora, Mount Mountains of Utah Mountains of Salt Lake County, Utah Three-thousanders of the United States Wasatch-Cache National Forest Wasatch Range