White Rock is a cliff with an summit located in Sublette County of

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

, United States.

Description

This geographical feature is part of the remote

Wind River Range The Wind River Range (or "Winds" for short) is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in western Wyoming in the United States. The range runs roughly NW–SE for approximately . The Continental Divide follows the crest of the range and inclu ...

and is situated six miles west of the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

. It is set in the

Bridger Wilderness The Bridger Wilderness is located in Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming, United States. Originally established in 1931 as a primitive area, region was redesignated as a wilderness in 1964 and expanded to the current size in 1984. The wilder ...

, on land managed by Bridger-Teton National Forest.

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 west aspect rises above the

Green River Green River may refer to: Rivers Canada * Green River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Lillooet River *Green River, a tributary of the Saint John River, also known by its French name of Rivière Verte *Green River (Ontario), a tributary of ...

in approximately one mile. It is between Flat Top Mountain, 2.3 miles to the north-northeast, and Squaretop Mountain, 2.65 miles to the south. The iconic view of White Rock and

Squaretop Mountain Squaretop Mountain is an mountain summit located in Sublette County of Wyoming, United States. Geography The peak is the emblematic geographical feature of the remote Wind River Range and is set seven miles west of the Continental Divide. I ...

from Green River Lakes has been on the Wyoming licence plate since 2016.

Geology

The mountain is composed of

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

that was laid down up to 450 million years ago in an ancient sea. The uppermost stratum is 300 million-year-old

Madison Limestone The Madison Limestone is a thick sequence of mostly carbonate rocks of Mississippian age in the Rocky Mountain and Great Plains areas of the western United States. The rocks serve as an important aquifer as well as an oil reservoir in places. Th ...

, where seashell fossils are common. The cliff-forming limestone overlays a broken band of Darby Formation, which in turn overlays cliff-forming

Bighorn Dolomite The Bighorn Dolomite is a Formation (geology), geologic formation in Wyoming. It preserves fossils dating back to the Ordovician Period (geology), period. See also * List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Wyoming * Paleontology in Wyoming ...

.Joe Kelsey, 2013, ''Climbing and Hiking in the Wind River Mountains'', Falcon Guides, , page 109. The once sea-level strata were uplifted during the

Laramide orogeny The Laramide orogeny was a time period of mountain building in western North America, which started in the Late Cretaceous, 70 to 80 million years ago, and ended 35 to 55 million years ago. The exact duration and ages of beginning and end of the o ...

Obsidian Obsidian () is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements s ...

chippings have been found near the summit, suggesting 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 ...

was possibly made by Native Americans.Joe Kelsey, 2013, ''Climbing and Hiking in the Wind River Mountains'', Falcon Guides, , page 419.

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, White Rock is located in an alpine

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...

zone with long, cold, snowy winters, and cool to warm summers. Due to its altitude, it receives precipitation all year, as snow in winter, and as thunderstorms in summer. 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 the mountain drains into the Green River.

Hazards

Encountering

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

s is a concern in the

. There are other concerns as well, including bugs,

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...

s, adverse snow conditions and nighttime cold temperatures. Importantly, there have been notable incidents, including

accidental death An accidental death is an unnatural death that is caused by an accident, such as a slip and fall, traffic collision, or accidental poisoning. Accidental deaths are distinguished from death by natural causes, disease, and from intentional homicide ...

s, due to falls from steep cliffs (a misstep could be fatal in this class 4/5 terrain) and due to falling rocks, over the years, including 1993, 2007 (involving an experienced NOLS leader), 2015 and 2018. Other incidents include a seriously injured backpacker being airlifted near Squaretop Mountain in 2005, and a fatal hiker incident (from an apparent

accidental fall Falling is the action of a person or animal losing stability and ending up in a lower position, often on the ground. It is the second-leading cause of accidental death worldwide and a major cause of personal injury, especially for the old age, ...

) in 2006 that involved state

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

. The

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

does not offer updated aggregated records on the official number of fatalities in the Wind River Range.

Gallery

File:Green River Lakes Reflection.jpg, White Rock (left), Squaretop Mountain (right) reflected in Green River Lakes.
White Rock is a dolomite and limestone cliff that rises 3,300 feet above the lake. File:Wind River Range - Bridger Wilderness.jpg, White Rock left of center File:Green River Lakes, Bridger.jpg, from Green River Lakes with White Rock on left, Squaretop in center, "Tabletop" on right File:Green River Lakes.jpg, from Green River Lakes File:Wyoming 2020 plate.jpg, 2020 Wyoming license plate featuring White Rock and Squaretop Mountain with Green River Lakes

References

External links

* Weather forecast
National Weather Service
{{Portal bar, Geography, Geology, Mountains Bridger–Teton National Forest Mountains of Sublette County, Wyoming Mountains of Wyoming North American 3000 m summits