Kingston Peak is the only named peak in the

Kingston Range The Kingston Range, sometimes called the Kingston Mountains, is located in Inyo and San Bernardino counties in the Mojave Desert in eastern California. The range reaches a height of above sea level at Kingston Peak. The range is located southea ...

, a small

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181, ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, in the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

. The highest point in the Kingston Range's 17-mile U-shaped continuous ridgeline, the peak has an elevation of and a

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 ...

of . Kingston Peak's prominence makes it among the top 200 mountains by prominence in the contiguous United States, and the 23rd most prominent peak in California. Kingston Peak and the Kingston Range lie within the Kingston Range Wilderness, administered by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

(BLM) and one of California's most botanically diverse desert regions. One of only three

white fir ''Abies concolor'', the white fir, is a coniferous tree in the pine family Pinaceae. This tree is native to the mountains of western North America, including the Cascade Range and southern Rocky Mountains, and into the isolated mountain range ...

stands in the California deserts is found on the slopes of two drainages just below the summit of Kingston Peak. Kingston Peak and Range also form part of the

Basin and Range Province The Basin and Range Province is a vast physiographic region covering much of the inland Western United States and northwestern Mexico. It is defined by unique basin and range topography, characterized by abrupt changes in elevation, alternating ...

, along with neighboring mountains and ranges, such as the Mesquite Mountains to the east, and the

Nopah Range The Nopah Range is a mountain range located in Inyo County, California, United States, near the eastern border with Nevada. Geography The mountain range lies east of the adjacent Resting Spring Range, the Owlshead Mountains and lower Death Valley ...

to the northwest.

Naming

The origin of the name Kingston as applied to Kingston Peak and Range is unknown. It dates back at least to the early 1860s and possibly earlier. One account says it was applied by a member of John C. Frémont's second expedition into the American West, after the settlement of

Kingston, New York Kingston is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany, New York, Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grouped with t ...

References

Mountains of San Bernardino County, California North American 2000 m summits {{SanBernardinoCountyCA-geo-stub

Naming

See also

References