The Sierra Crest is a roughly generally north-to-south
ridgeline
A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...
that demarcates the broad west and narrow east slopes 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 ...
and that extends as far east as the Sierra's
topographic front (e.g.,
Diamond Mountains
The Diamond Mountains are a mountain range along the border of Eureka and White Pine Counties, in northern Nevada, Western United States.
Geography
The range reaches a maximum elevation of on the summit of Diamond Peak. The range separates ...
and
Sierran escarpment). The northern and central Sierra Crest sections coincide with over of the
Great Basin Divide
The Great Basin Divide in the western United States is the ridgeline that separates the Great Basin from the Pacific Ocean watershed, which completely surrounds it.
The Great Basin is the largest set of contiguous endorheic watersheds of N ...
,
and the southern crest demarcates
Tulare and
Inyo counties and extends through
Kern County
Kern County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield.
Kern County comprises the Bakersfield, California, Metropolitan statistical area. The county sp ...
to meet the
Tehachapi crest. The Sierra Crest also forms two paths (bifurcates) around
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 ...
cirque
A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform ...
s (e.g., Cup Lake) between the west and east Sierra slopes.
Theodore Solomons
Theodore Seixas Solomons (1870–1947) was an explorer and early member of the Sierra Club. From 1892 to 1897 he explored and named the Mount Goddard, Evolution Valley and Evolution Basin region in what is now northern Kings Canyon National Pa ...
made the first attempt to map a crest route along the Sierras.
He was instrumental in envisioning, exploring, and establishing the route of what became 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, ...
from
Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a U-shaped valley, glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surroun ...
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 ...
to
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 ...
.
References
{{Reflist
Landforms of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
Landforms of Tulare County, California
Ridges of California
Landforms of Kern County, California
Landforms of Lassen County, California
Landforms of Fresno County, California
Landforms of Inyo County, California
Landforms of Madera County, California
Landforms of Plumas County, California
Landforms of Mono County, California