Red Peak is an mountain summit located in 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 primari ...

mountain range, in

Madera County Madera County (), officially the County of Madera, is a county located at the geographic center of the U.S. state of California. It features a varied landscape, encompassing the eastern San Joaquin Valley and the central Sierra Nevada, with Ma ...

of northern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States. It is situated in

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The p ...

, approximately southeast of

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, United States. The valley is about long a ...

, south-southeast of Gray Peak, and northwest of

Merced Peak Merced Peak, with an elevation of , is the highest point in the Clark Range, just surpassing three other peaks; Red Peak (11,704 feet), Gray Peak (11,578 feet), and Mount Clark (11,527 feet). Merced Peak is located close to southern border ...

, the nearest higher neighbor. Red Peak is the second-highest peak in the Clark Range, which is a subset of the Sierra Nevada. This geographical feature's brilliant color is caused by iron-bearing minerals weathered to an iron rust which colors the granite.Richard M. Leonard, Climber’s Guide to the High Sierra (1954)
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History

The peak's name originated as "Red Mountain" as it was called by the

Whitney Survey The California Geological Survey, previously known as the California Division of Mines and Geology, is the California state geologic agency. History Although it was not until 1880 that the California State Mining Bureau, predecessor to the Cal ...

.Peter Browning, ''Yosemite Place Names: The Historic Background of Geographic Names in Yosemite National Park'', Great West Books, 1988, , page 116. The Red Peak name was officially adopted in 1932 by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. The

California Geological Survey The California Geological Survey, previously known as the California Division of Mines and Geology, is the California state geology, geologic agency. History Although it was not until 1880 that the California State Mining Bureau, predecessor to ...

had climbed this peak by 1870, and in 1920

Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his Monochrome photography, black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association ...

placed a

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

cylinder-type register at the summit.

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Red Peak is located in an

alpine climate Alpine climate is the typical climate for elevations above the tree line, where trees fail to grow due to cold. This climate is also referred to as a mountain climate or highland climate. Definition There are multiple definitions of alpine cli ...

zone. Most

weather front A weather front is a boundary separating air masses for which several characteristics differ, such as air density, wind, temperature, and humidity. Disturbed and unstable weather due to these differences often arises along the boundary. For ins ...

s originate in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, and travel east toward the Sierra Nevada mountains. As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks, causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snowfall onto the range (

orographic lift Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...

). Precipitation runoff from this mountain drains into tributaries of the

Merced River The Merced River (), in the central part of the U.S. state of California, is a -long tributary of the San Joaquin River flowing from the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada into the San Joaquin Valley. It is most well known for its swift and st ...

Gallery

File:Aerial view of Red Peak, Clark Range.jpg, Aerial view of Red Peak. Merced Peak (behind), Gray Peak (left), from northwest File:Red Peak, Clark Range.jpg, Aerial view from the south, Red Peak summit upper right.
Gray Peak and Mt. Clark centered at top. File:The Clark Range. Yosemite National Park, California, crop.jpg, Red Peak (left). Gray Peak (center), Mount Clark (right). From northeast. File:Red mtn.jpg, East aspect

References

{{reflist

External links

* Weather forecast
Red Peak
Mountains of Madera County, California Mountains of Yosemite National Park Three-thousanders of the United States Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States) Landforms of Yosemite National Park

History

Climate

See also

Gallery

References

External links