Cone Peak is the second highest mountain in the

Santa Lucia Range The Santa Lucia Mountains (sæntə luˈsiːə) or Santa Lucia Range is a rugged mountain range in coastal central California, running from Carmel southeast for to the Cuyama River in San Luis Obispo County. The range is never more than from t ...

in the

Ventana Wilderness The Ventana Wilderness of Los Padres National Forest is a federally designated wilderness area located in the Santa Lucia Range along the Central Coast of California. This wilderness was established in 1969 when the Ventana Wilderness Act redesig ...

of the

Los Padres National Forest Los Padres National Forest is a United States national forest in Southern California, southern and central California. Administered by the United States Forest Service, Los Padres includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast ...

. It rises nearly a vertical mile only from the coast as the crow flies. This is one of the steepest gradients from ocean to summit in the contiguous United States. The average gradient from sea level to summit is around 33%, which is steeper than the average gradient from Owens Valley to the summit of Mount Whitney. Near the mountain summit, the oak woodland and chaparral transitions to a pine forest with a few rare

Santa Lucia Fir ''Abies bracteata'', the Santa Lucia fir or bristlecone fir, is the rarest and most endemic fir in North America, and according to some, the world. It is confined to steep-sided slopes and the bottoms of rocky canyons in the Santa Lucia Mountain ...

Junipero Serra Peak Junipero Serra Peak is the highest mountain in the Santa Lucia range of central California. It is also the highest peak in Monterey County, and is located within the boundaries of Los Padres National Forest. It is named after Saint Junípero Serr ...

at is the highest peak in the coastal region. The peak is accessible by driving the

Nacimiento-Fergusson Road Nacimiento-Fergusson Road is the only road across the Santa Lucia Range on the Central Coast of California, connecting California State Route 1 and the Big Sur coast to U.S. Route 101 and the Salinas Valley. The road is well-paved and maintai ...

and then turning north on Forest Route 22S05. The very rough Coast Ridge Road rises to . The peak is a popular

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

destination. From that point the summit is hike along the Cone Peak Trail (4E12). There are two trails from the coast to the summit of Cone Peak: via the Stone Ridge/Gamboa Trail or the Vicente Flat Trail. The peak is topped by the decommissioned Cone Peak

Lookout A lookout or look-out is a person in charge of the observation of hazards. The term originally comes from a naval background, where lookouts would watch for other ships, land, and various dangers. The term has now passed into wider parlance. ...

built in 1923. The original wooden-sided ground-level cab house was built on a rock foundation. It originally had a hipped "dunce cap" roof, and was called a "California Lookout" design. The building was hauled in pieces by mules up the steep and narrow trail. During World War II, it was the site of an Aircraft Warning Service observation post. Cone Peak from the Vicente Flat Trail

In 1959. the U.S. Forest Service replaced the hipped roof with a flat roof that could be used to land a Bell-47 helicopter. The wood siding was replaced with metal which protected the structure from fire and vandalism. The lookout was last staffed in 1990. , the building houses

radio repeater A radio repeater is a combination of a radio receiver and a radio transmitter that receives a signal and retransmits it, so that two-way radio signals can cover longer distances. A repeater sited at a high elevation can allow two mobile stations, ...

equipment and cannot be easily reactivated for use as a fire tower once again. The lookout atop Cone Peak was one of six active fire lookouts in the Monterey Ranger District of the Los Padres National Forest. The others were located on

Chews Ridge Taffy is a type of candy invented in the United States, made by stretching or/and pulling a sticky mass of a soft candy base, made of boiled sugar, butter, vegetable oil, flavorings, and colorings, until it becomes aerated (tiny air bubbles ...

Ventana Double Cone The Ventana Double Cone at is one of the tallest peaks in the Ventana Wilderness within the Monterey Ranger District of the Los Padres National Forest in Central California. The summit is a difficult hike from the nearest trail head, making it o ...

, Junipero Serra Peak, Pinyon Peak, and Three Peaks. The mountain slopes contain an old-growth Sugar pine (''

Pinus lambertiana ''Pinus lambertiana'' (commonly known as the sugar pine or sugar cone pine) is the tallest and most massive pine tree, and has the longest cones of any conifer. The species name ''lambertiana'' was given by the Scottish botanist David Douglas, ...

'') forest along with many colonies of Santa Lucia fir (Bristlecone fir, ''

Abies bracteata ''Abies bracteata'', the Santa Lucia fir or bristlecone fir, is the rarest and most endemic fir in North America, and according to some, the world. It is confined to steep-sided slopes and the bottoms of rocky canyons in the Santa Lucia Mountain ...

''), one of the rarest and most endemic fir in North America, and according to some, the world. Cone Peak was visited by notable botanists David Douglas in March 1831,

Thomas Coulter Thomas Coulter (1793–1843), of Dundalk, was an Irish physician, botanist and explorer. He was a member of the Royal Irish Academy, a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and founder of that college's herbarium. After completing a medical de ...

in 1832 or 1833,

Karl Theodor Hartweg Karl Theodor Hartweg (18 June 1812 – 3 February 1871) was a German botanist. He collected numerous new species of plants in Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and California in the United States, collecting for the London Horticultural Society ...

in September 1847, and

William Lobb William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

in 1849.

References

External links

* * Mountains of Monterey County, California Santa Lucia Range Monterey Ranger District, Los Padres National Forest Mountains of Northern California Big Sur Fire lookout towers {{MontereyCountyCA-geo-stub

See also

References

External links