Mount Muir is a peak in 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 primarily ...

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 ...

, south of

Mount Whitney Mount Whitney (Paiute: Tumanguya; ''Too-man-i-goo-yah'') is the highest mountain in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada, with an elevation of . It is in East–Central California, on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tu ...

. This peak is named in honor of Scottish-born

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, a ...

, a famous

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

, conservationist and founder of the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...

. The southernmost section of the

John Muir Trail The John Muir Trail (JMT) (Northern Paiute language, Paiute: Nüümü Poyo, ''N-ue-mue Poh-yo'') is a long-distance trail in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, passing through Yosemite National Park, Yosemite, ...

contours Contour may refer to: * Contour (linguistics), a phonetic sound * Pitch contour * Contour (camera system), a 3D digital camera system * Contour, the KDE Plasma 4 interface for tablet devices * Contour line, a curve along which the function has a ...

along the west side of Mount Muir near its summit and ends on the summit of Mount Whitney.

Climbing

Among mountain climbers, a peak needs to meet certain criteria in order to be included in some lists. To be listed as an independent peak a summit must have of

clean 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 ...

. A reliable source gives Mount Muir's ''clean'' prominence as 298feet, and so the peak does not qualify for lists of

fourteeners In the mountaineering parlance of the Western United States, a fourteener is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least . The 96 fourteeners in the United States are all west of the Mississippi River. Colorado has the most (53) of any single ...

based on elevation and prominence. It is included in other lists which do not depend on prominence. Some lists are based on more subjective criteria, and Mount Muir is included in the Sierra Peaks Section list, the Western States Climbers list, and the Vulgarian Ramblers 13,800-Footers of the Contiguous USA list. The easiest approach is from the

just north of its junction with the

Mount Whitney Trail The Mount Whitney Trail is a hiking trail that climbs Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the contiguous United States. It starts at Whitney Portal, west of the town of Lone Pine, California. The hike is about round trip, with an elevation gain o ...

Sequoia National Park Sequoia National Park is an American national park in the southern Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, California. The park was established on September 25, 1890, and today protects of forested mountainous terrain. Encompassing ...

. The trail passes very near the summit and the climb involves a short stretch of difficult scrambling and/or easy rock climbing up the steep western slope to the summit block, (). A dayhike permit or a backcountry permit with a Whitney Zone stamp is required to hike the Mount Whitney Trail. The east side of Mount Muir, which is in the

John Muir Wilderness The John Muir Wilderness is a wilderness area that extends along the crest of the Sierra Nevada of California for , in the Inyo and Sierra National Forests. Established in 1964 by the Wilderness Act and named for naturalist John Muir, it encompa ...

, is a near-vertical cliff about high. The route on this side (the north side of the east buttress) was first climbed on July 11, 1935, by Nelson P. Nies and John D. Mendenhall. It is a roped climb, (class 4). The south side of the east buttress, also class 4, was first climbed on September 1, 1935, by Arthur B. Johnson and William Rice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muir, Mount Mountains of Sequoia National Park Mountains of the John Muir Wilderness Mountains of Inyo County, California Mountains of Tulare County, California Mountains of Northern California North American 4000 m summits

Climbing

See also

References