The Ritter Range is a small mountain range within

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 ...

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 ...

. Most of the mountain range lies within the Ansel Adams Wilderness. The John Muir Trail passes by many lakes within the Ritter Range. The most prominent peaks of the Ritter Range are Mount Ritter, at 13,143 feet,

Banner Peak Banner Peak is the second tallest peak in the Ritter Range of California's Sierra Nevada. The mountain is tall, and there are several glaciers on its slopes. It lies within the boundaries of the Ansel Adams Wilderness; at the foot of the peak ...

, at 12,936 feet, Rodgers Peak, and the

Minarets A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, minare; fa, گل‌دسته, translit=goldaste) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally ...

, a group of sharp peaks south of Mt. Ritter.

Thousand Island Lake Thousand Island Lake is a large alpine lake in the Sierra Nevada, within the Ansel Adams Wilderness in eastern Madera County, California. The lake is named for the many small rocky islands that dot its surface. Theodore Solomons probably establi ...

, Ediza Lake, Garnet Lake, Lake Catherine, Minaret Lake, Cecile Lake, and Shadow Lake all lie within the Ritter Range, and are accessible by trail. The range is named for

Carl Ritter Carl Ritter (August 7, 1779September 28, 1859) was a German geographer. Along with Alexander von Humboldt, he is considered one of the founders of modern geography. From 1825 until his death, he occupied the first chair in geography at the Univer ...

, who had been a teacher of

Josiah Whitney Josiah Dwight Whitney (November 23, 1819 – August 18, 1896) was an American geologist, professor of geology at Harvard University (from 1865), and chief of the California Geological Survey (1860–1874). Through his travels and studies in the ...

when he was a student in Berlin in the 1840s." The Ritter Range, near the

and Minaret Lake, was the site of the plane crash of Steve Fossett in 2007.

References

Mountain ranges of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Mountain ranges of Madera County, California Mountain ranges of Northern California {{MaderaCountyCA-geo-stub

See also

References