California
California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence.
The western portion of Alta California was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, real estate services and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA.
Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups were diverse in their organization with bands, villages. Trade and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years English explorer Francis Drake explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
Mount Whitney
Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada, with an elevation of 14,505 feet. The west slope of the mountain is in Sequoia National Park, the east slope is in the Inyo National Forest in Inyo County. The summit of Whitney is on the Sierra Crest and the Great Basin Divide and it lies near many of the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada. The peak rises dramatically above the Owens Valley, sitting 10,778 feet or just over two miles above the town of Lone Pine 15 miles to the east, in the Owens Valley. It rises more gradually on the west side, lying only about 3,000 feet above the John Muir Trail at Guitar Lake, the mountain is partially dome-shaped, with its famously jagged ridges extending to the sides. Mount Whitney is above the line and has an alpine climate. Very few plants grow near the summit, one example is the Skypilot, the only animals are transient, such as the butterfly Parnassius phoebus and the gray-crowned rosy finch. The mountain is the highest point on the Great Basin Divide, waterways on the west side of the peak flow into Whitney Creek, which flows into the Kern River.
The Kern River terminates in the Tulare Basin, during very wet years, water overflows from the Tulare Basin into the San Joaquin River which flows to the Pacific Ocean. From the east, water from Mount Whitney flows to Lone Pine Creek, which joins the Owens River, which in turn terminates at Owens Lake, the estimated elevation of the summit of Mount Whitney has changed over the years. The technology of elevation measurement has become refined and, more importantly. The peak was commonly said to be at 14,494 ft, an older plaque on the summit reads elevation 14,496.811 feet but this was estimated using the older vertical datum from 1929. Since the shape of the Earth has been estimated more accurately, using a new vertical datum established in 1988 the benchmark is now estimated to be at 14,505 ft. The rise is caused by a fault system that runs along the eastern base of the Sierra. Thus, the granite that forms Mount Whitney is the same as the granite that forms the Alabama Hills, the raising of Whitney is due to the same geological forces that cause the Basin and Range Province, the crust of much of the intermontane west is slowly being stretched.
The granite that forms Mount Whitney is part of the Sierra Nevada batholith, in Cretaceous time, masses of molten rock that originated from subduction rose underneath what is now Whitney and solidified underground to form large expanses of granite. In July 1864, the members of the California Geological Survey named the peak after Josiah Whitney, during the same expedition, geologist Clarence King attempted to climb Whitney from its west side, but stopped just short. In 1871, King returned to climb what he believed to be Whitney, upon learning of his mistake in 1873, King finally completed his own first ascent of Whitney, but did so a month too late to claim the first recorded ascent
Clark's nutcracker
Clarks nutcracker, sometimes referred to as Clarks crow or woodpecker crow, is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae. It is slightly smaller than its Eurasian relative the spotted nutcracker and it is ashy-grey all over except for the black-and-white wings and central tail feathers. The bill and feet are black and this bird derives its name from the explorer William Clark. It can be seen in western North America from British Columbia and western Alberta in the north to Baja California, there is a small isolated population on the peak of Cerro Potosí, elevation 3,700 metres, in Nuevo León, northeast Mexico. It is mainly found in mountains at altitudes of 900–3,900 metres in conifer forest, outside the breeding season, it may wander extensively to lower altitudes and further east as far as Illinois, particularly following any cone crop failure in its normal areas. During migrations to lower altitudes, it uses the seeds of pinyon pines. The isolated Cerro Potosí population is associated with the local endemic Potosi pinyon Pinus culminicola.
All Clarks Nutcrackers have a sublingual pouch capable of holding around 50–150 seeds, depending on the size of the seeds, Clarks nutcrackers store seeds, usually in the ground for consumption, in caches of 1–15 seeds. Depending on the crop as well as the tree species. Through this activity of caching and over-storing, the bird is perpetuating its own habitat, the diet includes a wide range of insect prey and other fruits, small mammals and occasionally flesh from carcasses. Eggs and nestlings are sometimes devoured, and peanuts and suet have become a favorite at bird tables, food is taken both from the ground and from trees, where the nutcrackers are very agile among the branches. The birds are able to extract food by clasping pine cones in such a way that the cones are held one or both feet. The birds hack the cones open with their strong bills, rotten logs are hacked into in order to locate large beetle grubs, and animal dung may be flipped over in search of insects. Clarks nutcrackers can be opportunistic feeders in developed areas, and are known to some as camp robbers, the species usually nests in pines or other types of conifers during early spring.
Two to four eggs are laid, incubation usually occurring in 16–18 days, incubation is performed by both the male and female parents, and the young are typically fledged by around the 22nd day. The fledglings follow their parents around for months, possibly in order to learn the complex seed storage behavior. Clarks nutcracker is the primary seed disperser for whitebark pine, Whitebark pine is in decline throughout its range, due to infection by white pine blister rust, widespread outbreaks of mountain pine beetle, and the long-term effects of fire suppression. The voice of this bird is extremely varied and produces different sounds
Inyo County, California
Inyo County is a county in the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 18,546, Inyo County is on the east side of the Sierra Nevada and southeast of Yosemite National Park in Central California. It contains the Owens River Valley, it is flanked to the west by the Sierra Mountains and to the east by the White Mountains, Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the Contiguous United States, is on Inyo Countys western border. The Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park, the lowest place in North America, is in eastern Inyo County. The two points are not visible from other, but both can be observed from the Panamint Range on the west side of Death Valley, above the Panamint Valley. It has the biggest elevation difference of all of the counties, with an area of 10,192 square miles, Inyo County is the second-largest county by area in California, after San Bernardino County. Almost one-half of that area is within Death Valley National Park, with a population density of 1.8 people per square mile, it has the lowest population density of any county in California.
Present day Inyo county has been the homeland for thousands of years of the Mono tribe, Coso people, Timbisha. They spoke the Timbisha language and the Mono language with Mono traditional narratives, the descendants of these ancestors continue to live in their traditional homelands in the Owens River Valley and in Death Valley National Park. Inyo County was formed in 1866 from the territory of the unorganized Coso County created on April 4,1864 from parts of Mono and it acquired more territory from Mono County in 1870 and Kern County and San Bernardino County in 1872. For many years it has been believed that the county derived its name from the Mono tribe of Native Americans name for the mountains in its former homeland. The local Paiutes responded that that was the land of Inyo and they meant by this that those lands belonged to the Shoshone tribe headed by a man whose name was Inyo. Indian George, a fixture of many of the stories of early Death Valley days, was Inyos son, in order to provide water needs for the growing City of Los Angeles, water was diverted from the Owens River into the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913.
The Owens River Valley cultures and environments changed substantially, from the 1910s to 1930s the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power purchased much of the valley for water rights and control. In 1941 the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power extended the Los Angeles Aqueduct system further upriver into the Mono Basin, Inyo County is host to a number of natural superlatives. Among them are, Mount Whitney, with an elevation of 14,505 feet, is the highest point in the contiguous United States, the 12th highest peak in the U. S. and the 24th highest peak in North America. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 10,227 square miles. It is the second-largest county by area in California and the ninth-largest in the United States, Death Valley National Park Inyo National Forest Manzanar National Historic Site There are 22 official wilderness areas in Inyo County that are part of the National Wilderness Preservation System
Pika
A pika is a small mammal, with short limbs, very round body, rounded ears, and no external tail. Pikas look like a combination of a rabbit, Guinea Pig or vole and they live in mountainous countries in Asia, with two species in North America. The large-eared pika of the Himalayas and nearby mountains is one of the highest living mammals, pikas graze on a range of plants, mostly grasses and young stems. In the autumn, they pull hay, soft twigs and other stores of food into their burrows to eat during the long, the name pika is used for any member of the Ochotonidae, a family within the order of lagomorphs, which includes the Leporidae. One genus, Ochotona, is recognised within the family, and it is known as the whistling hare due to its high-pitched alarm call when diving into its burrow. In the United States, the pika is colloquially called a coney, a term used for rabbits, hares. The name pika appears to be derived from the Tungus piika, pikas are native to cold climates, mostly in Asia, North America, and parts of Eastern Europe.
Most species live on mountain sides, where numerous crevices in which to shelter occur. A few burrowing species are native to open steppe land, in the mountains of Eurasia, pikas often share their burrows with snowfinches, which build their nests there. Pikas are small mammals, with limbs and rounded ears. They are about 15 to 23 centimetres in length and weigh between 120 and 350 grams, depending on species. Like rabbits, after eating they initially produce soft green feces, some pikas, such as the collared pika, have been known to store dead birds in their burrows, for food during winter. These animals are herbivores, and feed on a variety of plant matter, including forbs, sedges, shrub twigs, moss. As with other lagomorphs, pikas have gnawing incisors and no canines, although they have fewer molars than rabbits, the young are born after a gestation period of between 25 and 30 days. Pikas are diurnal or crepuscular, with species generally being more active during the daytime. They show their peak activity just before the winter season, pikas do not hibernate, so they generally spend time during the summer collecting and storing food they will eat over the winter.
Each rock-dwelling pika stores its own haypile of dried vegetation, while burrowing species often share food stores with their burrow mates, haying behavior is more prominent at higher elevations. Many of the vocalizations and social behaviors that pikas exhibit are related to haypile defense, eurasian pikas commonly live in family groups and share duties of gathering food and keeping watch
Pinus balfouriana
Pinus balfouriana is a rare high-elevation pine that is endemic to California, United States. It is closely related to the Great Basin and Rocky Mountain bristlecone pines, the two disjunct populations are found in the southern Klamath Mountains and the southern Sierra Nevada. A small outlying population was reported in southern Oregon, but was proven to have been misidentified, P. balfouriana is a tree to 10–20 m tall, exceptionally 35 m, with a trunk up to 2 m across. Its leaves are needle-like, in bundles of five with a semi-persistent basal sheath, and 2–4 cm long, deep green on the outer face. The cones are 6–11 cm long, dark purple ripening red-brown, with soft, P. balfouriana occurs in the subalpine forest at an elevation of 1, 950–2,750 m in the Klamath Mountains, and at 2, 300–3,500 m in the Sierra Nevada. In the Sierra Nevada, Foxtail pines are limited to the area around Sequoia, in both areas, it is often a tree line species. It is thought that P. balfouriana can live up to 3000 years in the Sierra Nevada, in the Klamath Mountains, ages are only known to about 1000 years.
Cone-bearing Trees of the California Mountains, LCC QK495. C75 C4, with illustrations by Carl Eytel – Kurut, Gary F. Carl Eytel, Southern California Desert Artist, California State Library Foundation, Bulletin No. 95, pp. 17-20 retrieved Nov.13,2011, Lanner, R. M.2007 The Bristlecone Book, Ronald M Lanner, IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. International Union for Conservation of Nature and taxonomy of Pinus subsection Balfourianae. Mastrogiuseppe, R. J. & Mastrogiuseppe, J. D.1980, a study of Pinus balfouriana Grev
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service is an agency of the U. S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nations 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass 193 million acres. Major divisions of the include the National Forest System and Private Forestry, Business Operations. Managing approximately 25% of federal lands, it is the major national land agency that is outside the U. S. Department of the Interior. The concept of the National Forests was born from Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation group and Crockett Club, in 1876, Congress created the office of Special Agent in the Department of Agriculture to assess the quality and conditions of forests in the United States. Hough was appointed the head of the office, in 1881, the office was expanded into the newly formed Division of Forestry. The Forest Reserve Act of 1891 authorized withdrawing land from the domain as forest reserves. In 1901, the Division of Forestry was renamed the Bureau of Forestry, gifford Pinchot was the first United States Chief Forester in the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt.
As of 2009, the Forest Service has a budget authority of $5.5 billion. The Forest Service employs 34,250 employees in 750 locations, including 10,050 firefighters,737 law enforcement personnel, and 500 scientists. The mission of the Forest Service is To sustain the health and its motto is Caring for the land and serving people. As the lead agency in natural resource conservation, the US Forest Service provides leadership in the protection and use of the nations forest, rangeland. The agencys ecosystem approach to management integrates ecological and social factors to maintain and enhance the quality of the environment to meet current, the everyday work of the Forest Service balances resource extraction, resource protection, and providing recreation.5 billion trees per year. Further, the Forest Service fought fires on 2,996,000 acres of land in 2007, the Forest Service organization includes ranger districts, national forests, research stations and research work units and the Northeastern Area Office for State and Private Forestry.
Each level has responsibility for a variety of functions, the Chief of the Forest Service is a career federal employee who oversees the entire agency. The Chief reports to the Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment in the U. S. Department of Agriculture, there are five deputy chiefs for the following areas, National Forest System and Private Forestry and Development, Business Operations, and Finance. The Forest Service Research and Development deputy area includes five stations, the Forest Products Laboratory. Station directors, like regional foresters, report to the Chief, Research stations include Northern, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Southwest, Rocky Mountain, and Southern. There are 92 research work units located at 67 sites throughout the United States, there are 80 Experimental Forests and Ranges that have been established progressively since 1908, many sites are more than 50 years old
Golden-mantled ground squirrel
The golden-mantled ground squirrel is a ground squirrel found in mountainous areas of western North America. It is abundant throughout its range and is equally at home in a variety of forest habitats, as well as rocky meadows. A typical adult ranges from 23 to 30 cm in length, the golden-mantled ground squirrel can be identified by its chipmunk-like stripes and coloration, but unlike a chipmunk, it lacks any facial stripes. It is commonly found living in the habitat as Uinta chipmunks. The golden-mantled ground squirrel is similar to a chipmunk in more than just its appearance, both the golden-mantled ground squirrel and the chipmunk have cheek pouches for carrying food. Cheek pouches allow them to transport back to their nests. Golden-mantled ground squirrels dig burrows up to 30 m in length with the openings hidden in a hollow log or under tree roots or a boulder. The female gives birth to a litter of four to six young each summer. It eats seeds, berries and underground fungi and it is preyed upon by hawks, weasels, foxes and coyotes.
Helgen, Kristofer M. Cole, F. Russel, Lauren E. Wilson, Don E, generic Revision in the Holarctic Ground Squirrel Genus Spermophilus. Archived from the original on 22 October 2011, bryce Canyon National Park article Mammalian Species article Smithsonian article
Devils Postpile National Monument
Devils Postpile National Monument is located near Mammoth Mountain in eastern California. The national monument protects Devils Postpile, a rock formation of columnar basalt. In addition, the John Muir Trail and Pacific Crest Trail merge into one trail as they pass through the monument, excluding a small developed area containing the monument headquarters, visitor center and a campground, the National Monument lies within the borders of the Ansel Adams Wilderness. The monument was once part of Yosemite National Park, but discovery of gold in 1905 near Mammoth Lakes prompted a change that left the Postpile on adjacent public land. Later, a proposal to build a dam called for blasting the Postpile into the river. Influential Californians, including John Muir, persuaded the government to stop the demolition and, in 1911. The flora and fauna at Devils Postpile are typical of the Sierra Nevada, dark-eyed juncos and white-crowned sparrows are common in the summer. The name Devils Postpile refers to a cliff of columnar basalt.
Radiometric dating indicates the formation was created by a flow at some time less than 100,000 years ago. Estimates of the thickness range from 400 feet to 600 feet. The lava that now makes up the Postpile was near the bottom of this mass, because of its great thickness, much of the mass of pooled lava cooled slowly and evenly, which is why the columns are so long and so symmetrical. Columnar jointing occurs when certain types of contract while cooling. A glacier removed much of this mass of rock and left a surface on top of the columns with very noticeable glacial striations. The Postpiles columns average 2 feet in diameter, the largest being 3.5 feet, together they look like tall posts stacked in a pile, hence the features name. If the lava had cooled perfectly evenly, all of the columns would be expected to be hexagonal, but some of the columns have different polygonal cross-sections due to variations in cooling. A survey of 400 of the Postpiles columns found that 44. 5% were 6-sided,37. 5% 5-sided,9. 5% 4-sided,8.
0% 7-sided, compared with other examples of columnar jointing, the Postpile has more hexagonal columns. Another feature that places the Postpile in a category is the lack of horizontal jointing. Several stones from the Devils Postpile can be seen at the entrance to the United States Geological Survey headquarters lot in Reston, although the basaltic columns are impressive, they are not unique
Mammoth Lakes, California
Mammoth Lakes is a town in Mono County, the countys only incorporated community. It is located 9 miles northwest of Mount Morrison, at an elevation of 7,880 feet, as of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 8,234, reflecting an increase of 1,141 from the 7,093 counted in the 2000 Census. The first people to inhabit the vicinity of Mammoth Lakes was the Mono people, evidence declares that they have been living in the area for thousands of years. They settled in the valley but walked to other places when trading with different tribes, the European history of Mammoth Lakes started in 1877, when four prospectors staked a claim on Mineral Hill, south of the current town, along Old Mammoth Road. In 1878, the Mammoth Mining Company was organized to mine Mineral Hill, by the end of 1878,1500 people settled in the mining camp called Mammoth City. By 1880, the company had shut down, and by 1888, by the early 1900s, the town of Mammoth was informally established near Mammoth Creek. The economics of the town was based on logging and tourism.
The first post office at Mammoth Lakes opened in 1923, in 2004, the Mammoth Ski Museum opened in town. The museum featured many artifacts and posters. A movie documenting the life of the founder of the ski resort, in 2010, photographs taken by Dave McCoy were featured in an exhibit at the museum. In 2008, after a trial, the Mono County Superior Court entered a $43 million judgment against the Town of Mammoth Lakes for breach of a development agreement. The California Court of Appeal, Third District, affirmed the judgment in December 2010, on Monday July 2,2012, Mammoth Lakes filed for bankruptcy in the face of the judgement. Later the same year, the bankruptcy was dismissed as a result of a settlement between the town and their largest creditor. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has an area of 25.3 square miles, of which 24.9 sq mi are land. Mammoth Lakes lies on the edge of the Long Valley Caldera, the area around the town is geologically active, with hot springs and rhyolite domes that are less than 1000 years old.
The area has hot springs which are sometimes used after skiing. Other features include lakes, a soda springs, and an obsidian dome, Mammoth Lakes is north of the Owens Valley, a scenic area with extensive hiking opportunities. The town is surrounded by mountains, on the west, Mammoth Mountain looms over the town, while to the south, the Sherwin Range dominates the view
Sierra Nevada (U.S.)
The Sierra Nevada is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Basin and Range Province. The vast majority of the lies in the state of California. The Sierra runs 400 miles north-to-south, and is approximately 70 miles across east-to-west, the Sierra is home to three national parks, twenty wilderness areas, and two national monuments. These areas include Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Parks, the character of the range is shaped by its geology and ecology. More than one hundred years ago during the Nevadan orogeny. The range started to uplift four M. A. ago, the uplift caused a wide range of elevations and climates in the Sierra Nevada, which are reflected by the presence of five life zones. Uplift continues due to faulting caused by forces, creating spectacular fault block escarpments along the eastern edge of the southern Sierra. The Sierra Nevada has a significant history, the California Gold Rush occurred in the western foothills from 1848 through 1855.
Due to inaccessibility, the range was not fully explored until 1912, the Sierra Nevada lies in Central and Eastern California, with a very small but historically important spur extending into Nevada. West-to-east, the Sierra Nevadas elevation increases gradually from 1,000 feet in the Central Valley to an height of about 10,500 feet at its crest only 50–75 miles to the east. The east slope forms the steep Sierra Escarpment, unlike its surroundings, the range receives a substantial amount of snowfall and precipitation due to orographic lift. The Sierra Nevada stretches from the Susan River and Fredonyer Pass in the north to Tehachapi Pass in the south and it is bounded on the west by Californias Central Valley and on the east by the Basin and Range Province. The geographical boundary between the Sierra and the Cascades is virtually indistinguishable, with the Fredonyer Pass designation being traditional, physiographically, the Sierra is a section of the Cascade-Sierra Mountains province, which in turn is part of the larger Pacific Mountain System physiographic division.
The range is drained on its western slope by the Central Valley watershed, the northern third of the western Sierra is part of the Sacramento River watershed, and the middle third is drained by the San Joaquin River. The eastern slope watershed of the Sierra is much narrower, its rivers flow out into the endorheic Great Basin of eastern California and western Nevada. Although none of the eastern rivers reach the sea, many of the streams from Mono Lake southwards are diverted into the Los Angeles Aqueduct which provides water to Southern California, the height of the mountains in the Sierra Nevada increases gradually from north to south. Between Fredonyer Pass and Lake Tahoe, the range from 5,000 feet to more than 9,000 feet. The crest near Lake Tahoe is roughly 9,000 feet high, farther south, the highest peak in Yosemite National Park is Mount Lyell
Mount Williamson
Mount Williamson, at 14,379 feet, is the second highest mountain in both the Sierra Nevada range and the state of California. It is the sixth highest peak in the contiguous United States, Williamson stands in the John Muir Wilderness of the Inyo National Forest. It is located approximately 6 miles north of Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous U. S. and about 2.5 miles southeast of Shepherd Pass, the closest town is Independence, about 12 miles to the north-north-east. It lies about 1 mile east of the Sierra Crest, which forms the edge of the Owens Valley. It is more remote than Whitney in terms of access, however, as it sits east of the crest, for example, the drop from the summit to the forest edge is 8,000 feet in approximately 4 miles. This makes it a mountain, and far less of a popular climb than its higher neighbor. The mountain is named for Lt. Robert Stockton Williamson, who conducted one of the Pacific Railroad Surveys in Southern California, the first recorded ascent of Mount Williamson was made in 1884 by W. L.
Mulholland, by way of the Southeast Slopes Route, the first ascent of the West Side Route was made in 1896 by Bolton C. Brown and Lucy Brown. New routes continued to be put up on the harder faces at least through the 1980s, the standard ascent route is the West Side Route, accessed from Shepherds Pass. From the pass, one travels across the Williamson Bowl, which lies between Mount Williamson and Mount Tyndall, part of the Sierra Crest, the bowl is home to five high alpine lakes. From the bowl, the route climbs gullies up the west face to the broad summit plateau. Technically easier, but with a difficult approach which can involve route finding and bushwhacking, is the Southeast Slopes Route. Other routes exist on the mountain, including a significant technical route on the North Rib, climbing Mount Williamson is made more difficult by the lengthy and strenuous approach. Elevation gain from the trailhead is over 8,000 feet, list of mountain peaks of California Mount Williamson. Mount Williamson, The Sierra Nevada, from Manzanar, California,1945
