Mount Morgan is a mountain located in northwestern

Inyo County, California Inyo County () is a county in the eastern central part of the U.S. state of California, located between the Sierra Nevada and the state of Nevada. In the 2020 census, the population was 19,016. The county seat is Independence. Inyo County 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 ...

of the

Inyo National Forest Inyo National Forest is a United States National Forest covering parts of the eastern Sierra Nevada of California and the White Mountains of California and Nevada. The forest hosts several superlatives, including Mount Whitney, the highest poi ...

Geography

Morgan stands within the

endorheic An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...

watershed of

Owens Lake Owens Lake is a mostly dry lake in the Owens Valley on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada in Inyo County, California. It is about south of Lone Pine, California. Unlike most dry lakes in the Basin and Range Province that have been dry for ...

, now a mostly dry lake since its main source of water, the

Owens River The Owens River is a river in eastern California in the United States, approximately long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 17, 2011, It drains into and through the ...

, was diverted to supply Los Angeles. The west and north sides of Mt. Morgan drain into Rock Creek, thence into the Owens River. The east and south sides of Morgan drain into Morgan Creek, thence into Pine Creek, and into lower Rock Creek.

Climbing

Morgan can be accessed by trail from Rock Creek Canyon, above Tom's Place on 395. Its trailhead is at the far end of the lake. The trail is well marked the first to Francis Lake, where it ends. From there it is a scramble up rocky slopes for to the summit.

History

In 1878 members of the

Wheeler Survey The Wheeler Survey, carried out in 1872-1879, was one of the "Four Great Surveys" conducted by the US government after the Civil War primarily to document the geology and natural resources of the American West. Supervised by First Lieutenant (lat ...

, who made the first ascent in about 1870, named the mountain for one of its members, J.H. Morgan of Alabama.

References

External links

* * Mountains of Inyo County, California Mountains of the John Muir Wilderness Mount Morgan Mountains of Northern California {{InyoCountyCA-geo-stub

Geography

Climbing

History

See also

References

External links