Highland Peak is a prominent 10,936-foot-elevation (3,333 meter) mountain summit located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, in

Alpine County , other_name = , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_flag = Flag of Alpine County, California.svg , flag_size = , image_seal = Seal of Alpine Co ...

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 m ...

, United States. It is situated 3.5 miles east of Ebbetts Pass in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness, on land managed by

Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest The Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest (HTNF) is the principal U.S. National Forest in the U.S. state of Nevada, and has a smaller portion in Eastern California. With an area of , it is the largest U.S. National Forest outside of Alaska. His ...

. Although it ranks as the 680th highest summit in California, it ranks 36th highest of those with at least 500 meters of

topographic prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

. Also, there is no higher peak than Highland Peak to the north within the Sierra Nevada. Highland Peak has a subsidiary South Peak (10,824 ft/3,299 m), with one-half mile separation between summits. The

Pacific Crest Trail The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie ...

traverses the western foot of this mountain, providing an approach option.

History

This mountain's name was applied in 1878 by Lieutenant Montgomery M. Macomb during the

Wheeler Survey The Wheeler Survey, carried out in 1872-1879, was one of the "Four Great Surveys" conducted by the US government after the Civil War primarily to document the geology and natural resources of the American West. Supervised by First Lieutenant (lat ...

. The name commemorates the short-lived Highland City, set on the

high land High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift to ...

between the Carson and Stanislaus watersheds.Erwin G. Gudde, ''California Place Names'', page 165.
/ref> The mountain's name has been officially adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names, and a brass

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

benchmark Benchmark may refer to: Business and economics * Benchmarking, evaluating performance within organizations * Benchmark price * Benchmark (crude oil), oil-specific practices Science and technology * Benchmark (surveying), a point of known elevati ...

bearing the name was placed at the summit in 1956.

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Highland Peak 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 o ...

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 in ...

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 contin ...

, 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 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 marke ...

from this mountain drains into tributaries of the East Fork Carson River.

Gallery

File:Highland Peak, west aspect.jpg, West aspect from Ebbetts Pass area File:Highland Peak, Silver Peak, and Round Top.jpg, Highland Peak (left), Silver Peak (center), and Round Top (right) File:Highland Peak, California.jpg, from NNW File:Highland Peak, north aspect.jpg, from Silver Peak File:Aerial Highland, Silver.jpg, Aerial view looking west at Highland Peak (left) and Silver Peak (right)

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Highland Peak
{{California highest Mountains of Alpine County, California North American 3000 m summits Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States) Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest

History

Climate

See also

Gallery

References

External links