Sierra Crest
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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