Mount Stanford, at an elevation of , is on the Kings-Kern Divide in

Kings Canyon National Park Kings Canyon National Park is an American national park in the southern Sierra Nevada, in Fresno and Tulare Counties, California. Originally established in 1890 as General Grant National Park, the park was greatly expanded and renamed to Kings ...

. It is named for

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. It is the fifteenth tallest mountain in California and is located about from University Peak which was named for the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

History

On August 1, 1896 Professor Bolton Coit Brown of Stanford made the first recorded ascent and requested that it be named Mount Stanford. Since there was another peak with the same name in

Placer County Placer County ( ; Spanish for "sand deposit"), officially the County of Placer, is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 404,739. The county seat is Auburn. Placer County is included in the Great ...

, he suggested the peak he climbed be named Stanford University peak if his first choice was rejected. The decision was made to give the name Castle Peak to the summit in Placer County and Brown's first choice was accepted. Three years later, on August 16, 1899, Stanford University's President,

David Starr Jordan David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford Univer ...

, also make the ascent with his wife and a party from Stanford. He had previously climbed in the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

. In 1911, the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) named a peak in honor of

Leland Stanford Amasa Leland Stanford (March 9, 1824June 21, 1893) was an American industrialist and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 8th governor of California from 1862 to 1863 and represented California in the United States Se ...

, an American tycoon, politician and founder of Stanford University. The name originally given this summit was Stanford Peak but in 1982 the USGS changed its name to

Mount Stanford Mount Stanford, at an elevation of , is on the Kings-Kern Divide in Kings Canyon National Park. It is named for Stanford University. It is the fifteenth tallest mountain in California and is located about from University Peak (California), Unive ...

. This other peak, with an elevation of , is located to the north-northeast overlooking Pioneer Basin 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 ...

Getting There

Mount Stanford is described as an

exposed Expose, exposé, or exposed may refer to: News sources * Exposé (journalism), a form of investigative journalism * ''The Exposé'', a British conspiracist website Film and TV Film * ''Exposé'' (film), a 1976 thriller film * ''Exposed'' (1932 ...

scramble Scramble, Scrambled, or Scrambling may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * ''Scramble'' (video game), a 1981 arcade game Music Albums * ''Scramble'' (album), an album by Atlanta-based band the Coathangers * ''Scrambles'' (album) ...

(). It can be ascended by experienced mountaineers without ropes or special equipment during the late summer months. It can be most easily be reached from the Onion Valley

trailhead A trailhead is the point at which a trail begins, where the trail is often intended for hiking, biking, horseback riding, or off-road vehicles. Modern trailheads often contain rest rooms, maps, sign posts and distribution centers for information ...

, west of

Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

and off U. S. Route 395.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanford, Mount Mountains of Kings Canyon National Park Mountains of Tulare County, California Mountains of Northern California