Eagle Peak is a mountain in the

Absaroka Range The Absaroka Range ( or ) is a sub- range of the Rocky Mountains in the United States. The range stretches about across the Montana–Wyoming border, and at its widest, forming the eastern boundary of Yellowstone National Park along Paradise V ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the 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 southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

and at is the highest point in

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowst ...

. It is located about east of the southeast arm of

Yellowstone Lake Yellowstone Lake is the largest body of water in Yellowstone National Park. The lake is above sea level and covers with of shoreline. While the average depth of the lake is , its greatest depth is at least . Yellowstone Lake is the largest fre ...

Etymology

According to Lee Whittlesey, Eagle Peak was named in 1885 by geologist

Arnold Hague Arnold Hague (December 3, 1840 in Boston, Massachusetts – May 14, 1917 in Washington, D.C.) was a United States geologist who did many geological surveys in the U.S., of which the best known was that for Yellowstone National Park. He also had as ...

for its resemblance to a " spread eagle". Another source states that it was named in 1878 by Jack Newell, who killed a golden eagle on the mountain that year.

History

Up until the 1930s, most park officials and geologists believed that

Electric Peak Electric Peak is the tallest mountain in the Gallatin Range of southern Montana, close to the Wyoming border and rises to an altitude of . The peak has some of the greatest physical relief in Yellowstone National Park, rising above its base. E ...

near

Gardiner, Montana Gardiner is a unincorporated community in Park County, Montana, United States, along the 45th parallel. As of the 2020 census, the population of the community and nearby areas was 833. Gardiner was officially founded in 1880. The area has s ...

was the park's highest peak, not Eagle Peak. It is ranked as the 218th highest peak in Wyoming and the 2252nd highest peak in the United States. During the historic

Yellowstone fires of 1988 The Yellowstone fires of 1988 collectively formed the largest wildfire in the recorded history of Yellowstone National Park in the United States. Starting as many smaller individual fires, the flames quickly spread out of control due to drought ...

, the south slopes of Eagle Peak were affected by the Mink Fire.

Geology

Eagle Peak is part of the

and is formed of

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

age

volcaniclastic Volcaniclastics are geologic materials composed of broken fragments ( clasts) of volcanic rock. These encompass all clastic volcanic materials, regardless of what process fragmented the rock, how it was subsequently transported, what environment it ...

rocks. In the last ice age, the area was covered by an ice cap over thick.

Glacial deposit image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

s remain in some locations on the mountain.

Geography

Located in the

, on the park boundary with

Shoshone National Forest Shoshone National Forest ( ) is the first federally protected National Forest in the United States and covers nearly in the state of Wyoming. Originally a part of the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve, the forest is managed by the United States ...

in northwestern

, the mountain rises about east of the southeast arm of

. The mountain is also one of the highest points in the Washakie Wilderness area of Shoshone National Forest. Eagle Peak is of a similar height to several other local mountains; there is a ridge which gradually gets higher as it heads southeast culminating in several summits -

Mount Schurz Mount Schurz el. is a mountain peak in the Absaroka Range in Yellowstone National Park. Mount Schurz is the second highest peak in Yellowstone. The mountain was originally named Mount Doane by Henry D. Washburn during the Washburn–Langfor ...

, to the immediate northwest is shorter, and Pinnacle Mountain, to the immediate southeast, is taller, but outside of the park boundary. Several creeks flow through the mountain and the surrounding area and they become a vehicle for cold melt water. The

Gardner River The Gardner River (also known as the Gardiner River) is a tributary of the Yellowstone River, approximately long, in northwestern Wyoming and south central Montana in the United States. The entire river is located within Yellowstone National P ...

flows to the east of the summit. Some of the runoff is fed by the melting of the two major snowfields found in the shadows of the north face of the mountain. The range to the east drains into the

Yellowstone River The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains a ...

via the

Bighorn River The Bighorn River is a tributary of the Yellowstone, approximately long, in the states of Wyoming and Montana in the western United States. The river was named in 1805 by fur trader François Larocque for the bighorn sheep he saw along its ba ...

, but the southern slopes drain into

via Mountain Creek. Eagle Peak is one of the most prominent features of the Eagle Peak Quadrangle, a

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 ...

division used for surveying purposes. Other nearby peaks are Mount Humphreys, Table Mountain, Mount Schurz, Pinnacle Mountain, Turret Mountain and Colter Peak.

Access

The mountain is fairly inaccessible, being a hike from any of the park roads. From outside the park, the peak can be ascended by hiking up the Fish Hawk Creek valley, which is around one-way. It is also climbed from inside the park, by sailing to the southeasternmost tip of Yellowstone Lake, hiking down the

valley, and then turning to the east for the ascent.

Wildlife

Eagle Peak wildlife are in the alpine tundra zone and may be threatened by global climate change—the gradual shift of montane fauna and flora upwards could lead to the permanent loss of some species from the park. To the south, on the boundary of the park is Eagle Pass and the Thorofare Plateau, which has a population of elk, moose, deer, bear, bighorn sheep and others and lies along an important north–south migration route for the elk. Flora includes sedges and rushes, and tufted hairgrass in alpine meadows.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Wyoming Mountains of Wyoming Mountains of Yellowstone National Park Mountains of Park County, Wyoming Highest points of United States national parks