Mount Randy Morgenson is a mountain summit located along the crest of 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 ...

mountain range in

Tulare County Tulare County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 473,117. The county seat is Visalia. The county is named for Tulare Lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Great Lakes. ...

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 ...

. It is situated in

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 ...

, one mile north-northwest 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 ...

, 0.85 mile east of Mount Hale, and one-half mile west of Mount Russell, the nearest higher neighbor. 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, ...

traverses to the south of the mountain, providing an approach option. Mt. Morgenson ranks as the 20th-highest summit in California.

Topographic relief Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin word ...

is significant as the northwest aspect rises above Wales Lake in less than one mile.

History

This mountain's name honors esteemed park ranger James Randall "Randy" Morgenson (1945–1996), who vanished in July 1996 while on patrol in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park. Despite one of the most intense search-and-rescue operations in National Park Service history, his body wasn't found until five years later. This peak's unofficial name has not been adopted by the U. S. Board on Geographic Names and so it does not appear on USGS maps. Instead, Mount Randy Morgenson is labeled "Peak 4245 m (13,920+ ft)" on USGS maps. The

first ascent In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they en ...

of the summit was made June 27, 1926, by

Norman Clyde Norman Clyde (April 8, 1885 – December 23, 1972) was a mountaineer, mountain guide, freelance writer, nature photographer, and self-trained naturalist. He is well known for achieving over 130 first ascents, many in California's Sierra Nevada an ...

, who is credited with 130 first ascents, most of which were in the Sierra Nevada.

Climate

Mount Randy Morgenson 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 of ...

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 continen ...

, and travel east toward the Sierra Nevada mountains. As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks (

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 ...

), causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snowfall onto the range. 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 market ...

from this mountain drains west to the

Kern River The Kern River, previously Rio de San Felipe, later La Porciuncula, is an Endangered, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfiel ...

via Wallace and Whitney Creeks.

Gallery

File:Mts. Morgenson and Russell from Mount Whitney summit.jpg, Mts. Morgenson (left), Williamson (top), and Russell (right) seen from Mount Whitney's summit. File:Mt. Morgenson.jpg File:Whitney Summit Morgenson, Russell view.jpg, Mt. Morgenson left, Mt. Russell right, Mt. Williamson in the background. File:"Thats some mountain youre on" (4897101088).jpg File:Mt. Whitney from the other side.jpg, Morgenson (left), Whitney/Hale (center). From the northwest. File:Mount Randy Morgenson snowy.jpg, As seen from Mt. Russell

References

External links

* Weather forecast
National Weather Service
* Randy Morgenson photo
Backpacker.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Randy Morgenson, Mount Mountains of Tulare County, California Mountains of Sequoia National Park North American 4000 m summits Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States)

History

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

External links