Muriel Peak is a 12,937-foot-elevation (3,943 meter)

double summit A double summit, double peak, twin summit, or twin peak refers to a mountain or hill that has two summits, separated by a col or saddle. One well-known double summit is Austria’s highest mountain, the Großglockner, where the main summit of t ...

mountain located 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 ...

mountain range in

Fresno County Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most populous city in Cali ...

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 ...

, United States.R. J. Secor, ''The High Sierra Peaks, Passes, Trails'', 2009, Third Edition, Mountaineers Books, , p. 311 The true summit is set within 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 ...

on land managed by

Sierra National Forest Sierra National Forest is a U.S. national forest located on the western slope of central Sierra Nevada in Central California and bounded on the northwest by Yosemite National Park and the south by Kings Canyon National Park. The forest is kno ...

, whereas the slightly lower south summit is on the boundary shared with

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 situated one mile northeast of

Mount Goethe Mount Goethe is a summit in Fresno County, California, in the United States. With an elevation of , Mount Goethe is the 96th highest summit in the state of California. It was named after the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the author of ...

and one mile south of Muriel Lake. Muriel Peak is the 167th-highest peak in California, and

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 summit rises above Muriel Lake.

History

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 July 8, 1933, by Hervey Voge, who also named this mountain. The landform's toponym has been officially adopted by the

U.S. Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal govern ...

, and was named in association with Muriel Lake which had previously been adopted in 1911. The origin of the lake's etymology is a mystery, but was likely applied during a 1907–09

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 ...

topographic survey.Peter Browning (1986), ''Place Names of the Sierra Nevada: From Abbot to Zumwalt'', Wilderness Press, , p. 156

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, Muriel 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 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 north into headwaters of Piute Creek which is a tributary of the

South Fork San Joaquin River The South Fork San Joaquin River is the largest headwater of the San Joaquin River in central California, United States. About long, it drains an area of the high Sierra Nevada about northeast of Fresno. Course The South Fork begins at Martha ...

Gallery

File:Muriel Peak, Mount Goethe.jpg, Muriel Peak (left), Mount Goethe (right) File:Humphreys Basin, Sunset.jpg, Muriel Peak at sunset

References

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External links

* Weather forecast
Muriel Peak
* Muriel Peak (photo)
Flickr
Sierra National Forest Mountains of Fresno County, California Mountains of the John Muir Wilderness North American 3000 m summits Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States)

History

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

External links