1.
USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20)
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The USS Mount Whitney is a Blue Ridge class command ship of the US Navy, it is the flagship of the Sixth Fleet. She is also the command and control ship for the Commander Joint Command Lisbon and she had previously served for years as the COMSTRIKFLTLANT / Second Fleets command ship. She was classified as the LCC-20 on 1 January 1969, and she was laid down on 8 January by Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company, Newport News, the ship is named for Mount Whitney, a peak in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California. Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States with an elevation of 14,505 feet, the Mount Whitney can transmit and receive large amounts of secure data to and from any point on earth through HF, UHF, VHF, and SHF communications channels. This electronic technology enables the Joint Intelligence Center and Joint Operations Center to provide the most timely intelligence, from 1981 to 2005, Mount Whitney served as Flagship for Commander Second Fleet/Commander Striking Fleet Atlantic. The Mount Whitney deployed in 1994 to Haiti with LTG Hugh Shelton, on 12 November 2002, Mount Whitney deployed to the Central Command area of responsibility in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. She was acting as the command post for Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa. In 2004, Military Sealift Command civilian sailors were integrated into her crew and she remains a commissioned warship in the United States Navy, but the size of her crew was reduced from about 600 sailors to about 170 Navy officers and enlisted men and 155 civilians. In February 2005, Mount Whitney left Norfolk for Gaeta, Italy where she was redesignated as the and assumed duties as the 6th Fleet flagship and she also assumed duties as the command ship for the Commander Joint Command Lisbon and the Commander Striking Force NATO. On 6 November 2008, Mount Whitney was unable to enter the port at Sevastopol, city authorities and representatives of the Ukrainian Navy refused to comment on the event. Individuals working for the city reported that the failure was due to issues with the Mount Whitneys border crossing documents - others suggested anti-NATO protests were the cause. Locklear, who had command of the Operation Odyssey Dawn joint taskforce. Command was expected to be transferred to a commander in time though confusion within the coalition was evidenced in early days. In February 2013, Mount Whitney transferred to the San Giorgio del Porto Shipyard in Genoa, Italy for a major 60-day overhaul, the ship returned to active duty in April 2013, at the end of the maintenance window. On 31 January 2014, Mount Whitney left its homeport of Gaeta, Mount Whitney is the first of two U. S. Navy ships that operated in the Black Sea during the Sochi Olympics. On July 31,2015, a fire broke out aboard Mount Whitney while she was in Viktor Lenac Shipyard, Rijeka, there were no reported injuries and the fire was extinguished within 45 minutes by ships force and shipyard fire brigade personnel. The cause of fire and extent of damage are under investigation, Mount Whitney has been in Viktor Lenac Shipyard since January 2015 undergoing a scheduled maintenance overhaul designed to extend the service life of the ship to 2039. On June 30,2016 Mount Whitney visited Klaipėda, Lithuania and in October 2016 it visited Suda Bay, USS Mount Whitney official Site Photos navysite. de, USS Mount Whitney
2.
East Face (Mount Whitney)
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The East Face of Mount Whitney is a technical alpine rock climbing route and is featured in Fifty Classic Climbs of North America. Mount Whitney is the highest peak in the contiguous United States, the first ascent was on August 16,1931, by Robert L. M. Underhill of the Appalachian Mountain Club, and Sierra Club climbers Norman Clyde, Jules Eichorn and Glen Dawson. By the standards of climbing in California at that time, the route was considered very exposed, especially the famous Fresh Air Traverse. Steve Roper called this one of the classic routes of the Sierra, partly because of its spectacular location. Porcella & Burns wrote that the climb heralded a new standard of competence in Californian rock climbing
3.
Whitney Portal, California
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Whitney Portal is the end of the Whitney Portal road in Inyo County, California,13.7 miles west of Lone Pine at an elevation of 8,374 feet. Whitney Portal is the gateway to Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States, campgrounds, parking lots, bearproof food storage facilities, a store and a restaurant are located at Whitney Portal. A road reached Whitney Portal in 1936, previously, the place was called Hunter Flat in honor of William L. Hunter, an Owens Valley pioneer. The road was used in scenes in at least two American feature films, High Sierra, with Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino, and The Long, Long Trailer with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz
4.
Summit
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A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
5.
Topographic prominence
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It is a measure of the independence of a summit. A peaks key col is a point on this contour line. By convention, the prominence of Mount Everest, the Earths highest mountain, is taken to equal the elevation of its summit above sea level, if the peaks prominence is P metres, to get from the summit to any higher terrain one must descend at least P metres. Together with the convention for Mount Everest, this implies that the prominence of any island or continental highpoint is equal to its elevation above sea level, for every ridge connecting the peak to higher terrain, find the lowest point on the ridge. The key col is defined as the highest of these cols, the prominence is the difference between the elevation of the peak and the elevation of the key col. The following mental exercise may illustrate the meaning of topographic prominence, imagine you are standing at the top of a peak and imagine that an imaginary sea level rises to your feet. Now slowly lower the sea level and an imaginary island appears beneath your feet. Your island will grow and will merge with other islands that emerge, the parent peak may be either close or far from the subject peak. The summit of Mount Everest is the parent peak of Aconcagua at a distance of 17,755 km, the key col may also be close or far from the subject peak. The key col for Aconcagua is the Bering Strait at a distance of 13,655 km, the key col for the South Summit of Mount Everest is about 100 m distant. Prominence is interesting to many mountaineers because it is a measurement that is strongly correlated with the subjective significance of a summit. Peaks with low prominences are either subsidiary tops of some higher summit or relatively insignificant independent summits, peaks with high prominences tend to be the highest points around and are likely to have extraordinary views. Only summits with a sufficient degree of prominence are regarded as independent mountains, for example, the worlds second-highest mountain is K2. While Mount Everests South Summit is taller than K2, it is not considered an independent mountain because it is a subsummit of the main summit, many lists of mountains take topographic prominence as a criterion for inclusion, or cutoff. John and Anne Nuttalls The Mountains of England and Wales uses a cutoff of 15 m, in the contiguous United States, the famous list of fourteeners uses a cutoff of 300 ft /91 m. Also in the U. S.2000 feet of prominence has become a threshold that signifies that a peak has major stature. This generates lists of peaks ranked by prominence, which are different from lists ranked by elevation. Such lists tend to emphasize isolated high peaks, such as range or island high points, one advantage of a prominence-ranked list is that it needs no cutoff, since a peak with high prominence is automatically an independent peak
6.
Topographic isolation
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The topographic isolation of a summit is the minimum great-circle distance to a point of equal elevation, representing a radius of dominance in which the peak is the highest point. It can be calculated for small hills and islands as well as for major mountain peaks, the following sortable table lists the Earths 40 most topographically isolated summits. The nearest peak to Germanys highest mountain, the 2, 962-metre-high Zugspitze, the distance between the Zugspitze and this contour is 25.8 km, the Zugspitze is thus the highest peak for a radius of 25.8 km around. Its isolation is thus 25.8 km, because there are no higher mountains than Mount Everest, it has no definitive isolation. Many sources list its isolation as the circumference of the earth over the poles or – questionably, after Mount Everest the Aconcagua, highest mountain of the American continents, has the greatest isolation of all mountains. There is no land for 16,534 kilometres when its height is first exceeded by Tirich Mir in the Hindu Kush. Mont Blanc is the highest mountain of the Alps, the geographically nearest higher mountains are all in the Caucasus. The Kukurtlu, which rises near the Elbrus, is the peak for Mont Blanc. com Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia peakbagger. com peaklist. org peakware. com World Mountain Encyclopedia summitpost. org
7.
Pico de Orizaba
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Pico de Orizaba, also known as Citlaltépetl, is a stratovolcano, the highest mountain in Mexico and the third highest in North America, after Denali of the United States and Mount Logan of Canada. It rises 5,636 metres above sea level in the end of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The volcano is currently dormant but not extinct, with the last eruption taking place during the 19th century and it is the second most prominent volcanic peak in the world after Africas Mount Kilimanjaro. Pico de Orizaba overlooks the valley and city of Orizaba, from which it gets its name, the name Citlaltépetl is not used by Nahuatl speakers of the Orizaba area, who instead call it Istaktepetl, or White Mountain. In the earliest mention of the volcano, it was referred to by the natives during the Pre-Columbian Era as Poyautécatl, Citlaltépetl was the common name in the Náhuatl language when the Spanish arrived in Mexico. Citlaltépetl comes from the Náhuatl citlalli and tepētl and thus means Star Mountain and this name is thought to be based on the fact that the snow-covered peak can be seen year round for hundreds of kilometers throughout the region. A legend from the city of Coscomatepec tells of how the planet Venus can be seen settling into the crater of Citlaltépetl, during the colonial era, the volcano was also known as Cerro de San Andrés due to the nearby settlement of San Andrés Chalchicomula at its base. A third name, Poyauhtecatl, which means the one that colors or illuminates, has also been recorded and this name was given by the Tlaxcaltecas in memory of their lost country. The peak of Citlaltépetl rises dramatically to an elevation of 5,636 m above sea level, it has a topographic prominence of 4,922 m. Regionally dominant, Pico de Orizaba is the highest peak in Mexico, Orizaba is ranked 7th in the world in topographic prominence. It is the second most prominent volcanic peak in the world after Africas Mount Kilimanjaro, the topography of Pico de Orizaba is asymmetrical from the center of the crater, the eastern face is the steepest side of the volcano and the northwestern face the most gradual side. The gradual slopes of the face of the volcano allows for the presence of large glaciers and is the most traveled route to take for hikers traveling to the summit. Pico de Orizaba is one of three volcanoes in México that continue to support glaciers and is home to the largest glacier in Mexico. Orizaba has nine known glaciers, Gran Glaciar Norte, Lengua del Chichimeco, Jamapa, Toro, Glaciar de la Barba, Noroccidental, Occidental, Suroccidental, the equilibrium line altitude is not known for Orizaba. Snow on the south and southeast sides of the volcano melts quickly because of solar radiation, the insolation angle and wind redeposition on the northwest and north sides allow for constant accumulation of snow providing a source for the outlet glaciers. On the north side of Orizaba, the Gran Glaciar Norte fills the elongated highland basin and is the source for seven outlet glaciers. The main glacier extends 3.5 km north of the rim, has a surface area of about 9.08 km2 descending from 5,650 m to about 5,000 m. It has an irregular and stepped profile that is caused in part by the configuration of the bedrock
8.
Sierra Peaks Section
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The Sierra Peaks Section was established in 1955. The Section maintains historic summit registers at Bancroft Library on the University of California, Berkeley campus. To become a member of the SPS, one must be a Sierra Club member and have climbed at least six peaks on the SPS List, for verification purposes, two of those ascents must be done on an official SPS trip. Completing the list is highly prestigious in American mountaineering circles, the list is divided into three levels of importance. The Emblem peaks are considered the most iconic peaks of the Sierra Nevada, finally, there are the numerous general peaks of lesser note. The list is an example of a decision by committee list with the peaks on the list being determined by the Sierra Club, Peaks are occasionally added or removed from the list due to a variety of factors, such as accessibility, notability, and interest. The list is followed by thousands of hikers and has noted in numerous books. There are 15 Emblem peaks,35 Mountaineers peaks, and 197 general peaks, the elevations listed below are those officially described on the list, and may not be the actual elevations of those peaks, although they are usually accurate to within 50 feet. Other peak bagging lists, New England Fifty Finest Adirondack High Peaks Secor, the High Sierra, peaks, passes, trail
9.
Ultra-prominent peak
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An ultra-prominent peak, or Ultra for short, is defined as a mountain summit with a topographic prominence of 1,500 metres or more. There are approximately 1,524 such peaks on Earth, some peaks, such as the Matterhorn and Eiger, are not Ultras because they are connected to higher mountains by high cols and therefore do not achieve enough topographic prominence. The term Ultra is due to earth scientist Stephen Fry, from his studies of the prominence of peaks in Washington in the 1980s and his original term was ultra major mountain, referring to peaks with at least 5,000 ft of prominence. Currently,1,515 Ultras have been identified worldwide,637 in Asia,355 in North America,209 in South America,119 in Europe,84 in Africa,69 in Australasia and 39 in Antarctica. Many of the worlds largest mountains are Ultras, including Mount Everest, K2, Kilimanjaro, Mont Blanc, on the other hand, others such as the Eiger and the Matterhorn are not Ultras because they do not have sufficient prominence. In British Columbia, some of the mountains listed do not even have generally recognized names, a number of Ultras have yet to be climbed, with Sauyr Zhotasy, Mount Siple, and Gangkar Puensum being the most likely candidates for the most prominent unclimbed mountain in the world. All of the Seven Summits are Ultras by virtue of the fact that they are the points of large landmasses. Each has its key col at or near sea level, resulting in a value almost equal to its elevation. List of peaks by prominence gives the 125 most prominent peaks worldwide
10.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
11.
Sequoia National Park
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Sequoia National Park is a national park in the southern Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, California, in the United States. It was established on September 25,1890, the park is south of and contiguous with Kings Canyon National Park, the two are administered by the National Park Service together as the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. They were designated the UNESCO Sequoia-Kings Canyon Biosphere Reserve in 1976, the park is famous for its giant sequoia trees, including the General Sherman tree, the largest tree on Earth. The General Sherman tree grows in the Giant Forest, which five out of the ten largest trees in the world. The Giant Forest is connected by the Generals Highway to Kings Canyon National Parks General Grant Grove, the parks giant sequoia forests are part of 202,430 acres of old-growth forests shared by Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Indeed, the preserve a landscape that still resembles the southern Sierra Nevada before Euro-American settlement. Many park visitors enter Sequoia National Park through its entrance near the town of Three Rivers at Ash Mountain at 1,700 ft elevation. The last California grizzly was killed in this park in 1922, the California Black Oak is a key transition species between the chaparral and higher elevation conifer forest. At higher elevations in the front country, between 5,500 and 9,000 feet in elevation, the landscape becomes montane forest-dominated coniferous belt, found here are Ponderosa, Jeffrey, sugar, and lodgepole pine trees, as well as abundant white and red fir. Found here too are the giant sequoia trees, the most massive living single-stem trees on earth, between the trees, spring and summer snowmelts sometimes fan out to form lush, though delicate, meadows. In this region, visitors often see deer, Douglas squirrels, and American black bears. There are plans to reintroduce the bighorn sheep to this park, the vast majority of the park is roadless wilderness, no road crosses the Sierra Nevada within the parks boundaries. 84 percent of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks is designated wilderness and is only by foot or by horseback. Sequoias backcountry offers a vast expanse of high-alpine wonders, covering the highest-elevation region of the High Sierra, the backcountry includes Mount Whitney on the eastern border of the park, accessible from the Giant Forest via the High Sierra Trail. On the floor of canyon, at least two days hike from the nearest road, is the Kern Canyon hot spring, a popular resting point for weary backpackers. From the floor of Kern Canyon, the trail ascends again over 8,000 ft to the summit of Mount Whitney, in the summertime, Native Americans would travel over the high mountain passes to trade with tribes to the East. By the time the first European settlers arrived in the area, smallpox had spread to the region. The first European settler to homestead in the area was Hale Tharp, Tharp allowed his cattle to graze the meadow, but at the same time had a respect for the grandeur of the forest and led early battles against logging in the area
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Inyo National Forest
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Inyo National Forest is a United States National Forest covering parts of the eastern Sierra Nevada of California and the White Mountains of California and Nevada. The forest covers 1,903,381 acres and includes nine designated wilderness areas which protect over 800,000 acres, most of the forest is in California, but it includes about 60,700 acres in western Nevada. It stretches from the side of Yosemite to south of Sequoia National Park. Geographically it is split in two, one on side of the Long Valley Caldera and Owens Valley. The John Muir Wilderness is a part of the Inyo National Forest and abuts Sequoia, the northern part of the Inyo National Forest is preserved as a part of the Ansel Adams Wilderness area, which borders Yosemite National Park. Together, the areas and parks form one contiguous area of protected wilderness of more than 1.5 million acres. The Inyo National Forest was named after Inyo County, California, the name Inyo comes from a Native American word meaning dwelling place of the great spirit. The forest spans parts of Inyo, Mono, Tulare, Fresno and Madera counties in California, the forests headquarters are in Bishop, California, with ranger district offices in Bishop, Lee Vining, Lone Pine, and Mammoth Lakes. The forest was established on May 25,1907, on July 1,1945 land from the former Mono National Forest was added. There are nine wilderness areas lying within Inyo NF that are part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. One of these Bristlecone Pines is Methuselah, the second oldest known living tree on earth, over 4,839 years old. It was also the location of the 1998 Sci-fi film. Inyo Forest also served as the location for the second half of the second episode in BBCs Walking with Monsters. Forest Service Inyo National Forest Map
13.
California
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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, Nevada, 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 also 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 then 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 then 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, government, real estate services, technology, 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 also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage 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 later English explorer Francis Drake also 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
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United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
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Mountain range
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A mountain range is a geographic area containing numerous geologically related mountains. A mountain system or system of ranges, sometimes is used to combine several geological features that are geographically related. Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys, individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology. They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes, for example thrust sheets, uplifted blocks, fold mountains, most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earths land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide Belt. The Andes is 7,000 kilometres long and is considered the worlds longest mountain system. The Alpide belt includes Indonesia and southeast Asia, through the Himalaya, the belt also includes other European and Asian mountain ranges. The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, mountain ranges outside of these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera, the Urals, the Appalachians, the Scandinavian Mountains, the Altai Mountains and the Hijaz Mountains. If the definition of a range is stretched to include underwater mountains. The mountain systems of the earth are characterized by a tree structure, the sub-range relationship is often expressed as a parent-child relationship. For example, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge Mountains are sub-ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, equivalently, the Appalachians are the parent of the White Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains, and the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are children of the Appalachians. The position of mountains influences climate, such as rain or snow, when air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools producing orographic precipitation. As the air descends on the side, it warms again and is drier. Often, a shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to forces which work to tear them down. Erosion is at work while the mountains are being uplifted and long after until the mountains are reduced to low hills, rivers are traditionally believed to be the principle erosive factor on mountain ranges, with their ability of bedrock incision and sediment transport. The rugged topography of a range is the product of erosion. The basins adjacent to a mountain range are filled with sediments which are buried and turned into sedimentary rock. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example and this mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift
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Sierra Nevada (U.S.)
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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, Sequoia, 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
17.
Topographic map
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Traditional definitions require a topographic map to show both natural and man-made features. A topographic map is published as a map series, made up of two or more map sheets that combine to form the whole map. A contour line is a line connecting places of equal elevation, however, in the vernacular and day to day world, the representation of relief is popularly held to define the genre, such that even small-scale maps showing relief are commonly called topographic. The study or discipline of topography is a broader field of study. Topographic maps are based on topographical surveys, performed at large scales, these surveys are called topographical in the old sense of topography, showing a variety of elevations and landforms. This is in contrast to older cadastral surveys, which primarily show property, the first multi-sheet topographic map series of an entire country, the Carte géométrique de la France, was completed in 1789. Topographic surveys were prepared by the military to assist in planning for battle, as such, elevation information was of vital importance. As they evolved, topographic map series became a resource in modern nations in planning infrastructure. Excluding borders, each sheet was 44 cm high and up to 66 cm wide, although the project eventually foundered, it left an indexing system that remains in use. TIGER was developed in the 1980s and used in the 1990, digital elevation models were also compiled, initially from topographic maps and stereographic interpretation of aerial photographs and then from satellite photography and radar data. Since all these were government projects funded with taxes and not classified for security reasons. Initial applications were mostly professionalized forms such as innovative surveying instruments, by the mid-1990s, increasingly user-friendly resources such as online mapping in two and three dimensions, integration of GPS with mobile phones and automotive navigation systems appeared. As of 2011, the future of standardized, centrally printed topographical maps is left somewhat in doubt, the various features shown on the map are represented by conventional signs or symbols. For example, colors can be used to indicate a classification of roads and these signs are usually explained in the margin of the map, or on a separately published characteristic sheet. Topographic maps are commonly called contour maps or topo maps. In the United States, where the national series is organized by a strict 7. 5-minute grid. Topographic maps conventionally show topography, or land contours, by means of contour lines, contour lines are curves that connect contiguous points of the same altitude. In other words, every point on the line of 100 m elevation is 100 m above mean sea level
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United States Geological Survey
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The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its resources. The organization has four science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology. The USGS is a research organization with no regulatory responsibility. The USGS is a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior, the USGS employs approximately 8,670 people and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. The USGS also has major offices near Lakewood, Colorado, at the Denver Federal Center, the current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is science for a changing world. The agencys previous slogan, adopted on the occasion of its anniversary, was Earth Science in the Public Service. Prompted by a report from the National Academy of Sciences, the USGS was created, by a last-minute amendment and it was charged with the classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain. This task was driven by the need to inventory the vast lands added to the United States by the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the legislation also provided that the Hayden, Powell, and Wheeler surveys be discontinued as of June 30,1879. Clarence King, the first director of USGS, assembled the new organization from disparate regional survey agencies, after a short tenure, King was succeeded in the directors chair by John Wesley Powell. Administratively, it is divided into a Headquarters unit and six Regional Units, Other specific programs include, Earthquake Hazards Program monitors earthquake activity worldwide. The National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines detects the location, the USGS also runs or supports several regional monitoring networks in the United States under the umbrella of the Advanced National Seismic System. The USGS informs authorities, emergency responders, the media, and it also maintains long-term archives of earthquake data for scientific and engineering research. It also conducts and supports research on long-term seismic hazards, USGS has released the UCERF California earthquake forecast. The USGS National Geomagnetism Program monitors the magnetic field at magnetic observatories and distributes magnetometer data in real time, the USGS operates the streamgaging network for the United States, with over 7400 streamgages. Real-time streamflow data are available online, since 1962, the Astrogeology Research Program has been involved in global, lunar, and planetary exploration and mapping. USGS operates a number of related programs, notably the National Streamflow Information Program. USGS Water data is available from their National Water Information System database
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Geologic time scale
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The table of geologic time spans, presented here, agrees with the nomenclature, dates and standard color codes set forth by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. Evidence from radiometric dating indicates that Earth is about 4.54 billion years old, the geology or deep time of Earth’s past has been organized into various units according to events which took place in each period. Older time spans, which predate the reliable record, are defined by their absolute age. Some other planets and moons within the Solar System have sufficiently rigid structures to have preserved records of their own histories, for example, Venus, Mars, dominantly fluid planets, such as the gas giants, do not preserve their history in a comparable manner. Apart from the Late Heavy Bombardment, events on other planets probably had little influence on the Earth. Construction of a scale that links the planets is, therefore, of only limited relevance to the Earths time scale. The existence, timing, and terrestrial effects of the Late Heavy Bombardment is still debated, the largest defined unit of time is the supereon, composed of eons. Eons are divided into eras, which are in turn divided into periods, epochs, the terms eonothem, erathem, system, series, and stage are used to refer to the layers of rock that correspond to these periods of geologic time in Earths history. Geologists qualify these units as early, mid, and late when referring to time, and lower, middle, for example, the lower Jurassic Series in chronostratigraphy corresponds to the early Jurassic Epoch in geochronology. The adjectives are capitalized when the subdivision is formally recognized, and lower case when not, thus early Miocene but Early Jurassic. Geologic units from the time but different parts of the world often look different and contain different fossils. For example, in North America the Lower Cambrian is called the Waucoban series that is subdivided into zones based on succession of trilobites. In East Asia and Siberia, the unit is split into Alexian, Atdabanian. A key aspect of the work of the International Commission on Stratigraphy is to reconcile this conflicting terminology, the term Anthropocene is used informally by popular culture and a growing number of scientists to describe the current epoch in which we are living. The term was coined by Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer in 2000 to describe the current time, others say that humans have not even started to leave their biggest impact on Earth, and therefore the Anthropocene hasnt even started yet. Whatever the case, the ICS has not officially approved the term, leonardo da Vinci concurred with Aristotles interpretation that fossils represented the remains of ancient life. The 11th-century Persian geologist Avicenna and the 13th-century Dominican bishop Albertus Magnus extended Aristotles explanation into a theory of a petrifying fluid. Avicenna also first proposed one of the principles underlying geologic time scales, the Chinese naturalist Shen Kuo also recognized the concept of deep time
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Cretaceous
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The Cretaceous is a geologic period and system that spans 79 million years from the end of the Jurassic Period 145 million years ago to the beginning of the Paleogene Period 66 Mya. It is the last period of the Mesozoic Era, the Cretaceous Period is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation Kreide. The Cretaceous was a period with a warm climate, resulting in high eustatic sea levels that created numerous shallow inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now-extinct marine reptiles, ammonites and rudists, during this time, new groups of mammals and birds, as well as flowering plants, appeared. The Cretaceous ended with a mass extinction, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, in which many groups, including non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs. The end of the Cretaceous is defined by the abrupt Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, the name Cretaceous was derived from Latin creta, meaning chalk. The Cretaceous is divided into Early and Late Cretaceous epochs, or Lower and Upper Cretaceous series, in older literature the Cretaceous is sometimes divided into three series, Neocomian, Gallic and Senonian. A subdivision in eleven stages, all originating from European stratigraphy, is now used worldwide, in many parts of the world, alternative local subdivisions are still in use. As with other geologic periods, the rock beds of the Cretaceous are well identified. No great extinction or burst of diversity separates the Cretaceous from the Jurassic and this layer has been dated at 66.043 Ma. A140 Ma age for the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary instead of the usually accepted 145 Ma was proposed in 2014 based on a study of Vaca Muerta Formation in Neuquén Basin. Víctor Ramos, one of the authors of the study proposing the 140 Ma boundary age sees the study as a first step toward formally changing the age in the International Union of Geological Sciences, due to the high sea level there was extensive space for such sedimentation. Because of the young age and great thickness of the system. Chalk is a type characteristic for the Cretaceous. It consists of coccoliths, microscopically small calcite skeletons of coccolithophores, the group is found in England, northern France, the low countries, northern Germany, Denmark and in the subsurface of the southern part of the North Sea. Chalk is not easily consolidated and the Chalk Group still consists of sediments in many places. The group also has other limestones and arenites, among the fossils it contains are sea urchins, belemnites, ammonites and sea reptiles such as Mosasaurus. In southern Europe, the Cretaceous is usually a marine system consisting of competent limestone beds or incompetent marls
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Granite
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Granite is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture. Granites can be white, pink, or gray in color. The word granite comes from the Latin granum, a grain, in reference to the structure of such a holocrystalline rock. By definition, granite is a rock with at least 20% quartz. The term granitic means granite-like and is applied to granite and a group of igneous rocks with similar textures and slight variations in composition. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a texture is known as a granite porphyry. Granitoid is a general, descriptive field term for lighter-colored, coarse-grained igneous rocks, petrographic examination is required for identification of specific types of granitoids. The extrusive igneous rock equivalent of granite is rhyolite, Granite is nearly always massive, hard and tough, and therefore it has gained widespread use throughout human history, and more recently as a construction stone. The average density of granite is between 2.65 and 2.75 g/cm3, its compressive strength usually lies above 200 MPa, and its viscosity near STP is 3–6 •1019 Pa·s. The melting temperature of dry granite at ambient pressure is 1215–1260 °C, it is reduced in the presence of water. Granite has poor primary permeability, but strong secondary permeability, true granite according to modern petrologic convention contains both plagioclase and alkali feldspars. When a granitoid is devoid or nearly devoid of plagioclase, the rock is referred to as alkali feldspar granite, when a granitoid contains less than 10% orthoclase, it is called tonalite, pyroxene and amphibole are common in tonalite. A granite containing both muscovite and biotite micas is called a binary or two-mica granite, two-mica granites are typically high in potassium and low in plagioclase, and are usually S-type granites or A-type granites. A worldwide average of the composition of granite, by weight percent, based on 2485 analyses. Much of it was intruded during the Precambrian age, it is the most abundant basement rock that underlies the relatively thin veneer of the continents. Outcrops of granite tend to form tors and rounded massifs, granites sometimes occur in circular depressions surrounded by a range of hills, formed by the metamorphic aureole or hornfels. Granite often occurs as small, less than 100 km² stock masses
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First ascent
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In climbing, a first ascent is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain, or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First ascents are notable because they entail genuine exploration, with risks, challenges. The person who performs the first ascent is called the first ascensionist, the details of the first ascents of even many prominent mountains are scanty or unknown, sometimes the only evidence of prior summiting is a cairn, artifacts, or inscriptions at the top. Today, first ascents are generally recorded and usually mentioned in guidebooks. Overwhelmingly, the idea of a first ascent is a one, especially in places such as Africa. There may be little or no evidence or documentation about the climbing activities of indigenous peoples living near the mountain. The term is used when referring to ascents made using a specific technique or taking a specific route, such as via the North Face. In rock climbing, some of the earlier first ascents, particularly for difficult routes, involved a mix of free, as a result, purist free climbers have developed the designation first free ascent to acknowledge ascents intentionally made more challenging by using equipment for protection only. Some other first ascents could be recorded for particular mountains or routes, one is the First Winter Ascent, which is, as the name easily suggests, the first ascent made during winter season. This is most important where the climate of winter is a factor in increasing the difficulty grade of the route, in the Northern Hemisphere conventional winter ascents are made between December 21 and March 21 and are not related to the conditions. Also in the Himalayan area, although Nepal and Chinas winter season permits start on December 1, another is the First Solo Ascent, which is the first ascent made by a single climber. This is most important on high-level rock climbing, when the climber has to provide his own security or even when climbing without any protection at all, another type of ascent, also known as FFA is the first female ascent. The term last ascent has been used to refer to an ascent of a mountain or face that has changed to such an extent – often because of rockfall – that the route no longer exists. It can also be used facetiously to refer to a climb that is so unpleasant or unaesthetic that no one would willingly repeat the first ascent partys ordeal. List of first ascents List of first ascents in the Alps List of first ascents in the Himalaya Glossary of climbing terms Alpinist Magazine – Peter Mortimers First Ascent, Issue 17
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Mount Whitney Trail
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The Mount Whitney Trail is a trail that climbs Mount Whitney. It starts at Whitney Portal,13 miles west of the town of Lone Pine, the hike is about 22 mi round trip, with an elevation gain of over 6,100 feet. It is a popular trail, and its access is restricted by quotas from May to October. The original pack trail from Lone Pine to the summit of Mount Whitney was designed by local engineer Gustave Marsh and this original trail, opened on July 22,1904, was the basis for most of todays Mount Whitney Trail. The Mount Whitney Trail starts at Whitney Portal, almost anyone in good physical shape with a desire to succeed has a good chance of hiking to the summit. The trail does not head up the route to the summit by the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek. Instead, it follows the main branch of Lone Pine Creek to its source. The trail then travels very close to the crest of the range reaching the summit plateau. This longer dogleg route makes possible a standard hiking trail, during peak season the trail is well-maintained and easy to follow. When the mountain clears of snow and ice, usually in early to mid summer, beyond Trail Crest pass the trail loses a small amount of elevation that is gained on the return. In this final stretch of the trail, on the west side of Whitneys needle-like south ridge, the views here of the interior High Sierra can be extraordinary, due in part to the precipitous exposure. The crowning views are had on the summit of Whitney, where the ends at the Smithsonian Institution Shelter. A single day hike of the trail starts between 2 and 4 AM. Most day hikers will complete the trip in between 10 and 20 hours, because of the length, distance and high altitude of the trail, hiking it in a single day requires some fitness and endurance. The Mount Whitney Trail, from above Lone Pine Lake to Trail Crest, due to the high volume of trail users, the Forest Service enforces special regulations here to preserve Whitneys wild character. Wilderness permits are required to use the trail, and between May 1 and November 1, a quota permits only 60 overnight users and 100 day users per day. Beginning in 2012, the Mt. Whitney permit lottery switched over from mail-in applications to an online format. Camping is allowed along most of the trail, more than 100 ft from water, Outpost Camp, the lower of the two camps, is 3.8 mi by trail from Whitney Portal, at 10,365 ft
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Contiguous United States
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The contiguous United States consists of the 48 adjoining U. S. states plus Washington, D. C. on the continent of North America. S. The greatest distance entirely within the 48 contiguous states is 2,802 miles, the greatest north-south line is 1,650 miles. Together, the 48 contiguous states and Washington, D. C. occupy an area of 3,119,884.69 square miles. Of this area,2,959,064.44 square miles is land, composing 83. 65% of U. S. land area, officially,160,820.25 square miles is water area, composing 62. 66% of the nations total water area. The contiguous United States would be placed 5th in the list of states and dependencies by area. The 2010 census population of area was 306,675,006, comprising 99. 33% of the nations population. While conterminous U. S. has the meaning of contiguous U. S. other terms commonly used to describe the 48 contiguous states have a greater degree of ambiguity. The term was in use prior to the admission of Alaska and Hawaii as states of the United States, the District of Columbia is not always specifically mentioned as being part of CONUS. OCONUS is derived from CONUS with O for outside added, thus referring to Outside of Continental United States, the term Lower 48 is also used to refer to the conterminous United States. The National Geographic style guide recommends the use of contiguous or conterminous United States instead of lower 48 when the 48 states are meant, both Alaskans and Hawaiians have unique labels for the contiguous United States because of their own locations relative to them. Alaska became the 49th state of the United States on January 3,1959, Alaska is on the northwest end of the North American continent, but separated from the rest of the United States Pacific coast by the Canadian province of British Columbia. In Alaska, given the ambiguity surrounding the usage of continental, several other terms have been used over the years. Hawaii became the 50th state of the United States on August 21,1959 and it is the southernmost and so far, the latest state to join the Union. Not part of any continent, Hawaii is located in the Pacific Ocean, about 2,200 miles from North America, in Hawaii and overseas American territories, for instance, the terms the Mainland or U. S. Mainland are often used to refer to the continental United States, apart from off-shore US islands, a few continental portions of the contiguous US are accessible by road only by traveling through Canada. Point Roberts, Washington, Elm Point, Minnesota, and the Northwest Angle in Minnesota are three such places, alburgh, Vermont, is not directly connected by land, but is accessible by road via bridges from within Vermont and from from New York. The 48 contiguous United States are, Washington, D. C. is distinct from the state of Washington, extreme points of the United States Mainland Definition of continental Definition of contiguous Definition of coterminous and conterminous
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Central California
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Central California is a subregion of Northern California, generally thought of as the middle third of the state, north of Southern California. It includes the portion of the San Joaquin Valley, the Central Coast, the central hills of the California Coast Ranges. Central California is considered to be west of the crest of the Sierra Nevada, the largest cities in the region are Fresno, Modesto, Salinas, Visalia, Clovis, Merced, Turlock, Madera, Tulare, Porterville, and Hanford. Central California can have varying definitions depending on the context. Some divide the state by lines of latitude making northern, central, others divide by county lines or watershed boundaries. Some definitions include more of the San Joaquin Valley and even portions of the Central Valley. Some have less or none of Central Coast, generally the widest definition of central California is the middle third of the state by latitude. The northern boundary of area at 38°51 crosses just north of the Sacramento metro area. That leaves the most accepted definitions of central California to the south of there. Central California as defined above includes the following 10 counties, Area cities, the University of California has one campus in the region. University of California, Merced opened on a newly constructed site on the east side of Merced in 2005, the California State University system has four campuses in the region. California State University, Monterey Bay opened on the site of the former Fort Ord army base in 1994, California State University, Stanislaus in Turlock opened in 1957. California State University, Fresno opened in 1911, the Monterey Institute of International Studies is a graduate school of Middlebury College. San Joaquin College of Law is a private, nonprofit law school located in Clovis, Fresno Pacific University is a private university in Fresno. The Naval Postgraduate School and Defense Language Institute are located in Monterey, most of the major highways in the region run north-south around the mountains. Interstate 5 and State Route 99 are the highways in the San Joaquin Valley. US101 and State Route 1 are the coastal highways. Passenger rail in the consists of the Amtrak long-haul Coast Starlight
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Inyo County, California
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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, however, 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
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Tulare County, California
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Tulare County is a county in the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 442,179, the county is named for Tulare Lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Great Lakes. Drained for agricultural development, the site is now in Kings County, Tulare County comprises the Visalia-Porterville, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county is located south of Fresno, spanning from the San Joaquin Valley east to the Sierra Nevada. Sequoia National Park is located in the county, as are part of Kings Canyon National Park, in its northeast corner, as of the 2010 census, the population was 442,179, up from 368,021 at the 2000 census. The land was occupied for thousands of years by varying cultures of indigenous peoples, beginning in the eighteenth century, Spain established missions to colonize California and convert the American Indians to Christianity. Comandante Pedro Fages, while hunting for deserters in the Central Valley in 1772, discovered a lake surrounded by marshes and filled with rushes. It is from this lake that the county derives its name, the root of the name Tulare is found in the Nahuatl word tullin, designating cattail or similar reeds. After Mexico achieved independence, it continued to rule California, after the Mexican Cession and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, the area became part of the United States. Tulare County was soon formed from parts of Mariposa County only 4 years later in 1852, there were two early attempts to split off a new Buena Vista County in 1855, and Coso County in 1864, but both failed. Parts of the territory were given to Fresno County in 1856, to Kern County and to Inyo County in 1866. The infectious disease Tularemia caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis is named after Tulare County, in 1908 Colonel Allen Allensworth and associates founded Allensworth as a black farming community. They intended to develop a place where African Americans could thrive free of white discrimination and it was the only community in California founded, financed and governed by African Americans. While its first years were successful, the community encountered environmental problems from dropping water tables which eventually caused it to fail. Today the historic area is preserved as the Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 4,839 square miles. It was established in 1890 as the second U. S. national park, the park is south of and contiguous with Kings Canyon National Park, the two are administered by the National Park Service as one unit, called Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. State Route 43 State Route 63 State Route 65 State Route 99 State Route 180 State Route 190 State Route 198 Tulare County Transit provides a bus service linking the population centers
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Badwater Basin
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Badwater Basin is an endorheic basin in Death Valley National Park, Death Valley, Inyo County, California, noted as the lowest point in North America, with an elevation of 282 ft below sea level. Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous 48 United States, is only 84.6 miles to the north west. The site itself consists of a small spring-fed pool of bad water next to the road in a sink, the pool does have animal and plant life, including pickleweed, aquatic insects, and the Badwater snail. Adjacent to the pool, where water is not always present at the surface, repeated freeze–thaw, the pool is not the lowest point of the basin, the lowest point is several miles to the west and varies in position, depending on rainfall and evaporation patterns. The salt flats are hazardous to traverse, and so the sign marking the low point is at the pool instead, the basin was considered the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere until the discovery of Laguna del Carbón in Argentina at −344 ft. At Badwater Basin, significant rainstorms flood the valley bottom periodically, newly formed lakes do not last long though, because the 1.9 in of average rainfall is overwhelmed by a 150 in annual evaporation rate. This is the greatest evaporation potential in the United States, meaning that a 12 ft lake could dry up in a single year, when the basin is flooded, some of the salt is dissolved, it is redeposited as clean crystals when the water evaporates. A popular site for tourists is the sign marking sea level on the cliff above the Badwater Basin, numerous evaporation cycles and a lack of outflow caused an increasing hypersalinity, typical for endorheic bodies of water. Over time, this hypersalinization, combined with sporadic rainfall and occasional aquifer intrusion, has resulted in periods of briny soup, or salty pools, on the lowest parts of Death Valleys floor. Salts began to crystallize, coating the surface with the thick crust, ranging from 3 to 60 in, Death Valley pupfish List of elevation extremes by country List of elevation extremes by region John McKinney, Californias Desert Parks, A Day Hikers Guide. Wilderness Press 2006, ISBN 0-89997-389-2, S. 54–55 Don J. Easterbrook, geological Society of America 2003, ISBN 94-592-0504-6, S. 63–64 Badwater Basin in the Encyclopædia Britannica
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Death Valley National Park
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Death Valley National Park is a national park in the United States. Straddling the border of California and Nevada, located east of the Sierra Nevada, the park protects the northwest corner of the Mojave Desert and contains a diverse desert environment of salt-flats, sand dunes, badlands, valleys, canyons, and mountains. It is the largest national park in the lower 48 states and has declared an International Biosphere Reserve. Approximately 91% of the park is a wilderness area. It is the hottest, driest and lowest of the parks in the United States. The second-lowest point in the Western Hemisphere is in Badwater Basin, the park is home to many species of plants and animals that have adapted to this harsh desert environment. Some examples include creosote bush, bighorn sheep, coyote, and the Death Valley pupfish, several short-lived boom towns sprang up during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to mine gold and silver. The only long-term profitable ore to be mined was borax, which was transported out of the valley with twenty-mule teams, the valley later became the subject of books, radio programs, television series, and movies. Tourism blossomed in the 1920s, when resorts were built around Stovepipe Wells, Death Valley National Monument was declared in 1933 and the park was substantially expanded and became a national park in 1994. The natural environment of the area has been shaped largely by its geology, the valley itself is actually a graben. The oldest rocks are metamorphosed and at least 1.7 billion years old. Ancient, warm, shallow seas deposited marine sediments until rifting opened the Pacific Ocean, additional sedimentation occurred until a subduction zone formed off the coast. This uplifted the region out of the sea and created a line of volcanoes, later the crust started to pull apart, creating the current Basin and Range landform. Valleys filled with sediment and, during the wet times of glacial periods, with lakes, in 2013, Death Valley National Park was designated as a dark sky park by the International Dark-Sky Association. There are two valleys in the park, Death Valley and Panamint Valley. Both of these valleys were formed within the last few million years, the result of this shearing action is additional extension in the central part of Death Valley which causes a slight widening and more subsidence there. Uplift of surrounding mountain ranges and subsidence of the floor are both occurring. The uplift on the Black Mountains is so fast that the fans there are small
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John Muir Trail
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The John Muir Trail is a long-distance trail in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, passing through Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. For almost all of its length, the trail is in the High Sierra backcountry, for about 160 miles, the trail, named for naturalist John Muir, follows the same footpath as the longer Pacific Crest Trail. The vast majority of the trail is situated within designated wilderness, the trail passes through large swaths of alpine and high mountain scenery, and lies almost entirely at or above 8,000 feet in elevation. About 35% of the trail, including the entirety of the last 30 miles, the official length of the JMT, as stated by the United States Geological Survey, is 210.4 miles. From its northern terminus in Yosemite Valley, the trail runs northeast, passing south of Half Dome, the trail begins at the Happy Isle bridge near the Happy Isles Nature Center. The trail ascends steeply up an incline before crossing another bridge meeting with the junction with the Mist Trail. The trail continues along a cut into Panorama Cliff, called the Ice Cut, although broad and well-traveled, hazardous winter conditions and close proximity to civilization make this one of the most dangerous parts of the trail. After some elevation gain via long switchbacks, the trail reaches the top of Nevada Falls, the trail continues into Little Yosemite Valley, past the trail junctions to Half Dome and Clouds Rest, and then into a subalpine basin and passing the Sunrise High Sierra Camp. The trail then crosses the Cathedral Range at Cathedral Pass before dropping steeply into Tuolumne Meadows, the trail passes a visitors center and some campgrounds before linking up with the Pacific Crest Trail. The John Muir Trail/Pacific Crest Trail then turns south, through the mild Lyell Canyon meadow, at the crest of Donahue Pass, the trail enters Inyo National Forest and the Ansel Adams Wilderness. The trail passes Thousand Island Lake, Garnet Lake, and a number of smaller lakes, the trail continues into Devils Postpile National Monument, where there are a number of opportunities to resupply or exit the trail. Devils Postpile is located a distance from the trail. The John Muir Trail next enters Kings Canyon National Park and Sequoia National Park crossing some spectacular alpine regions, including Evolution Basin, the Golden Staircase, the trail ends at the summit of Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States. From the summit of Mount Whitney, the closest trailhead is Whitney Portal, the lowest point on the trail is the northern terminus at Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley. The highest point on the trail is the terminus, Mount Whitney. With the exception of the first 7 miles leaving Yosemite Valley, the elevation of the trail never falls below 7,000 feet. The trail crosses six mountain passes over 11,000 feet, from north to south, Donohue Pass, Silver Pass, Selden Pass, Muir Pass, Mather Pass, Pinchot Pass, Glen Pass, and Forester Pass. At 13,153 feet, Forester Pass is also the highest point along the Pacific Crest Trail, when the United States Geological Survey calculated the official length of the trail, elevation gain and loss was not taken into consideration
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Happy Isles
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Happy Isles is a group of small isles in the Merced River in Yosemite National Park, California, USA. They are located at the easternmost end of the Yosemite Valley floor and this scenic spot is the starting point for the Mist Trail, and is also the northern trailhead for the John Muir Trail. Happy Isles is located where the slope of the Merced River changes from the much steeper upper main stem to the essentially flat Valley floor, at Happy Isles, the river gradient is approximately 2%. The steeper gradient and composition of streambed materials together impede meandering patterns from developing in this area, the area near Happy Isles sustained damage in 1996 during a rockslide. A number of signposts near the Isles are dedicated to the rockfall
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Yosemite Valley
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Yosemite Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of Northern California. The valley is about 8 miles long and up to a deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Half Dome and El Capitan. The valley is drained by the Merced River and a multitude of streams and waterfalls including Tenaya, Illilouette, Yosemite, Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in North America, and is a big attraction especially in the spring when the water flow is at its peak. The valley is renowned for its beauty, and is widely regarded as the centerpiece of Yosemite National Park. The Valley is the attraction in the park for the majority of visitors. On July 2,2011 there was a record 20,851 visitors to the valley, most visitors enter the valley from roads to the west and pass through the famous Tunnel View entrance. Visitor facilities are located in the center of the valley, there are both hiking trail loops that stay within the valley and trailheads that lead to higher elevations, all of which afford glimpses of the parks many scenic wonders. Yosemite Valley is located on the slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains,150 miles due east of San Francisco. It stretches for 7.5 miles in a roughly east-west direction, Yosemite Valley represents only one percent of the park area, but this is where most visitors arrive and stay. More than half a dozen creeks tumble from hanging valleys at the top of cliffs that can rise 3000–4000 feet above the valley floor. These streams combine into the Merced River, which flows out from the end of the valley. The flat floor of Yosemite Valley holds both forest and large meadows, which provide breathtaking views of the surrounding crests and waterfalls. The first view of Yosemite Valley many visitors see is the Tunnel View, so many paintings were made from a viewpoint nearby that the National Park Service named that viewpoint Artist Point. The view from the end of the Valley contains the great granite monolith El Capitan on the left. Just past this spot the Valley suddenly widens with the Cathedral Spires, to this point, the Valley has been curving gently to the left, to the north. Now a grand curve back to the right begins, with Yosemite Falls on the north, followed by the Royal Arches, opposite to the south is Glacier Point,3,200 feet above the Valley floor. At this point the Valley splits into two, one section slanting northeast, with the other curving from south to southeast, between them both, at the eastern end of the valley, is Half Dome, the most famous and most recognizable natural feature in the Sierra Nevada. Above and to the northeast of Half Dome is Clouds Rest, at 9926 feet, snow melting in the Sierra forms creeks and lakes
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Polemonium eximium
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Polemonium eximium, the skypilot or showy sky pilot, is a perennial plant in the phlox family that grows at high altitudes. It is endemic to the Sierra Nevada in California where it grows in the talus of the mountain slopes. Wildflower enthusiasts consider it to be among the best of the Sierra wildflowers and it mostly occurs at elevations from 10,000 to 14,000 feet in the Central and Southern Sierra Nevada. It mostly occurs in colonies in stark surroundings, above 10,000 feet, in areas that appear mostly devoid of soil. Most notably, it can be found at the upper reaches of Mt. Whitney, additionally, it resides near the summit of Mount Dana in Yosemite National Park. It is a sticky, aromatic smelling 4 to 16 inches tall perennial plant with a base from. Basal leaves are glandular-hairy, 4–13 centimetres long, and 4–9 centimetres wide, each made up of 20-35 leaflets, the showy inflorescence is a crowded head of many flowers. The bright deep blue to whitish-blue to pink-lavender flowers are fragrant, each flower has a tubular calyx of hairy sepals and a funnel-shaped corolla spreading to lobes. The flowers are at full bloom for one day apiece in the very short period of appropriate flowering conditions. The plant has a scent reminiscent of urine which attracts pollinators to its short-lived flowers. It blooms from June to August, Photo gallery at CalPhotos Photo gallery at Flickr
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Owens Valley
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The mountain peaks on either side reach above 14,000 feet in elevation, while the floor of the Owens Valley is at 4,000 feet, making the valley one of the deepest in the United States. The Sierra Nevada casts the valley in a shadow, which makes Owens Valley the Land of Little Rain. The bed of Owens Lake, now a predominantly dry endorheic alkali flat and these episodes inspired aspects of the film Chinatown. Towns in the Owens Valley include Bishop, Lone Pine, Independence, the major road in the valley is U. S. Route 395. Owens Valley is a graben—a downdropped block of land between two vertical faults, Owens Valley is the westernmost graben in the Basin and Range Province. It is also part of a trough which extends from Oregon to Death Valley called the Walker Lane, the western flank of much of the valley has large moraines coming off the Sierra Nevada. These unsorted piles of rock, boulders, and dust were pushed to where they are by glaciers during the last ice age, an excellent example of a moraine is on State Route 168 as it climbs into Buttermilk Country. This graben was formed by a series of earthquakes, such as the 1872 Lone Pine earthquake. The topmost part of this escarpment is exposed at Alabama Hills, the Owens Valley is also part of the Long Valley Caldera, a super-volcano that last erupted 260,000 years ago. It is filled with many mini-volcanoes, which look like hills, see also, Inyo and Mono Craters. Smaller versions of the Devils Postpile, can be found, for example, the valley contains plants adapted to alkali flat habitat. One of these, the Owens Valley checkerbloom, is endemic to Owens Valley, the valley was inhabited in late prehistoric times by the Timbisha in the extreme south end around Owens Lake and by the Mono tribe in the central and northern portions of the valley. The Timbisha speak the Timbisha language, classified in the Numic branch of Uto-Aztecan language family, the closest related languages are Shoshoni and Comanche. The Eastern Mono speak a dialect of the Mono language which is also Numic, the Timbisha presently live in Death Valley at Furnace Creek although most families also have summer homes in the Lone Pine colony. The Eastern Mono live in colonies from Lone Pine to Bishop. Trade between Native Americans of the Owens Valley between coastal tribes such as the Chumash has been indicated by the archaeological record, on May 1,1834, Joseph R. Walker entered Owens Valley at the mouth of Walker Pass. He and his group of 52 men traveled up the valley on their way back to the Humboldt Sink, fremont named the Owens valley, river and lake for Richard Owens, one of his guides. Camp Independence was established on Oak Creek nearby modern Independence, California, on July 4,1862, from 1942 to 1945 during World War II, the first Japanese American Internment camp operated in the valley at Manzanar near Independence, California
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Lone Pine, California
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Lone Pine is a census designated place in Inyo County, California, United States. Lone Pine is located 16 miles south-southeast of Independence, at an elevation of 3727 feet, the population was 2,035 at the 2010 census, up from 1,655 at the 2000 census. The town is located in the Owens Valley, near the Alabama Hills, from possible choices of urban, rural, and frontier, the Census Bureau identifies this area as frontier. The local hospital, Southern Inyo Hospital, offers standby emergency services, on March 26,1872, the very large Lone Pine earthquake destroyed most of the town and killed 27 of its 250 to 300 residents. The Paiute people inhabited the Owens Valley area from prehistoric times and these early inhabitants are known to have established trading routes which extended to the Pacific Central Coast, delivering materials originating in the Owens Valley to such tribes as the Chumash. A cabin was built here during the winter of 1861–62, a settlement developed over the following two years. The Lone Pine post office opened in 1870, in 1864, a geological survey team from California discovered Mt. Whitney and named the peak after the teams leader, Josiah Whitney. One member of the team, Clarence King, made two unsuccessful attempts at climbing the mountain. Returning in 1871, he summited what was believed to be Mt. Whitney. John Muir made his first ascent on October 21,1873, seeing the demand for an eastern trail to the summit, the residents of Lone Pine raised the necessary funds to finance a pack-train route up the east side, which was completed on July 22,1904. The trail was engineered by Lone Pine resident Gustave F. Marsh—much of the trail is still in use today, the lower portion of the trail from Lone Pine to Whitney Portal was named a National Historic Trail by the Smithsonian Institution. On March 16,1872, at 2,30 am, at the time, the town consisted of 80 buildings made of mud and adobe, only 20 structures were left standing. As a result of the quake, which formed Diaz Lake, a mass grave located just north of town commemorates the site of the main fault. One of the few remaining structures predating the earthquake is the 21-inch-thick Old Adobe Wall located in the alley behind La Florista, a flower shop. During the 1870s, Lone Pine was an important supply town for nearby mining communities, including Kearsarge, Cerro Gordo, Keeler, Swansea. The Cerro Gordo mine high in the Inyo Mountains was one of the most productive mines in California. The silver was carried in ore buckets on a cable to Keeler. Railroads played a role in the development of Lone Pine
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Tree line
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The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and in frigid environments, beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions. The tree line should not be confused with a lower timberline or forest line, at the tree line, tree growth is often sparse and stunted, with the last trees forming densely matted bushes, known as krummholz. The tree line, like other natural lines, appears well-defined from a distance. Trees grow shorter towards the inhospitable climate until they stop growing. The climate above the line of mountains is called an alpine climate. In the northern hemisphere treelines on north-facing slopes are lower than on south-facing slopes because the increased shade on north-facing slopes means the snowpack takes longer to melt and this shortens the growing season for trees. In the southern hemisphere, the slopes have the shorter growing season. The alpine tree line boundary is seldom abrupt, it forms a transition zone between closed forest below and treeless alpine tundra above. Environmentally dwarfed shrubs commonly forms the upper limit, the decrease in air temperature due to increasing elevation causes the alpine climate. Skin effects and topography can create microclimates that alter the general cooling trend, however, the number of degree days calculated from leaf temperatures may be very similar in the two kinds of timberlines. A series of warm summers in the 1940s seems to have permitted the establishment of “significant numbers” of spruce seedlings above the treeline in the hills near Fairbanks. Survival depends on a sufficiency of new growth to support the tree, the windiness of high-elevation sites is also a potent determinant of the distribution of tree growth. However, snow accumulation in sheltered gullies in the Selkirk Mountains of southeastern British Columbia causes timberline to be 400 metres lower than on exposed intervening shoulders. In a desert, the line marks the driest places where trees can grow. These tend to be called the tree line and occur below about 5,000 ft elevation in the Desert Southwestern United States. In some mountainous areas, higher elevations above the line or on equator-facing and leeward slopes can result in low rainfall. This dries out the soil, resulting in an arid environment unsuitable for trees
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Alpine climate
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Alpine climate is the average weather for the regions above the tree line. This climate is referred to as a mountain climate or highland climate. There are multiple definitions of alpine climate, one simple definition is the climate which causes trees to fail to grow due to cold. According to the Holdridge life zone system, alpine climate occurs when the mean biotemperature of a location is between 1.5 and 3 °C, which prevents tree growth. Biotemperature is defined as the temperature, except all temperatures below 0 °C are treated as 0 °C, in the Köppen climate classification, the alpine climate is part of Group E, along with the polar climate, where no month has a mean temperature higher than 10 °C. The temperature profile of the atmosphere is a result of an interaction between radiation and convection, sunlight in the visible spectrum hits the ground and heats it. The ground then heats the air at the surface, however, when air is hot, it tends to expand, which lowers its density. Thus, hot air tends to rise and transfer heat upward and this is the process of convection. Convection comes to equilibrium when a parcel at air at a given altitude has the density as its surroundings. Air is a conductor of heat, so a parcel of air will rise. This is known as a process, which has a characteristic pressure-temperature curve. As the pressure gets lower, the temperature decreases, the rate of decrease of temperature with elevation is known as the adiabatic lapse rate, which is approximately 9.8 °C per kilometre of altitude. Note that the presence of water in the atmosphere complicates the process of convection, water vapor contains latent heat of vaporization. As air rises and cools, it becomes saturated and cannot hold its quantity of water vapor. The water vapor condenses, and releases heat, which changes the rate from the dry adiabatic lapse rate to the moist adiabatic lapse rate. The actual lapse rate, called the lapse rate, is not constant. Therefore, moving up 100 metres on a mountain is roughly equivalent to moving 80 kilometres towards the pole and this relationship is only approximate, however, since local factors, such as proximity to oceans, can drastically modify the climate. As the altitude increases, the form of precipitation becomes snow
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Alpine tundra
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Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high altitude. The high altitude causes an adverse climate, which is too cold, Alpine tundra transitions to sub-alpine forests below the tree line, stunted forests occurring at the forest-tundra ecotone are known as Krummholz. With increasing elevation it ends at the line where snow. Alpine tundra occurs in mountains worldwide, the flora of the alpine tundra is characterized by dwarf shrubs close to the ground. The cold climate of the tundra is caused by the lack of greenhouse effect at high altitude. Alpine tundra occurs at high altitude at any latitude. Portions of Montane grasslands and shrublands ecoregions worldwide include alpine tundra, Alpine tundra occupies high-mountain summits, slopes, and ridges above timberline. Aspect plays a role as well, the treeline often occurs at higher elevations on warmer equator-facing slopes, with limited access to infrastructure, only a handful of human communities exist in alpine zones. Many are small and have heavily specialized economies, often relying on such as agriculture, mining. An example of such a town is La Rinconada, Peru, a gold-mining town. A counterexample is El Alto, Bolivia, at 4,150 metres, which has a diverse service and manufacturing economy. Alpine climate is the weather for the alpine tundra. The climate becomes colder at high elevations—this characteristic is described by the rate of air, air tends to get colder as it rises. The dry adiabatic lapse rate is 10 °C per km of elevation or altitude, therefore, moving up 100 metres on a mountain is roughly equivalent to moving 80 kilometers towards the pole. This relationship is only approximate, however, since local factors such as proximity to oceans can drastically modify the climate, typical high-elevation growing seasons range from 45 to 90 days, with average summer temperatures near 10 °C. Growing season temperatures frequently fall below freezing, and frost occurs throughout the season in many areas. Precipitation occurs mainly as snow, but soil water availability is highly variable with season, location. For example, snowfields commonly accumulate on the lee sides of ridges while ridgelines may remain nearly snow free due to redistribution by wind, some alpine habitats may be up to 70% snow free in winter
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Cushion plant
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A cushion plant is a compact, low growing, mat forming plant that is found in alpine, subalpine, arctic, or subarctic environments around the world. Cushion plants form large, low-growing mats that can grow up to 3 metres in diameter, the typical form is a compact mass of closely spaced stems with minimal apical dominance that terminate in individual rosettes. Each stem grows at a consistent rate so that no one rosette is more exposed than the rest of the cushion, observations on senescence have concluded that cushion plants typically die en masse rather than individual rosettes dying at separate times. Underneath the living rosettes, the plants typically produce nonphotosynthetic material or allow previous leaves to die, in the case of Silene acaulis, growth rates have been measured at 0.06 cm to 1.82 cm per year. Coinciding with this growth is increased longevity, with the largest cushions of some species attaining ages of up to 350 years. Cushion plants commonly grow in rapidly draining rocky or sandy soils in exposed and arid subalpine, alpine, in certain habitats, such as peaty fens or bogs, cushion plants can also be a keystone species in a climax community. As such, the plants are often colonizers of bare habitat with little or no soil, due to their role as initiators of primary succession in alpine habitats, the plants have specific adaptations to the desiccation and mechanically harsh environment of windy alpine slopes. The establishment of a new plant on a windy slope. The established plants may be hundreds of old, although they extend only a few inches above the surface. The plants are spreading and are wider than they are tall, the plant will grow for many years before it is ready to begin its first reproductive cycle. The plant actively grows only in the season where enough warmth and sunlight are available for photosynthesis. During the summer or warm months or weeks, the form is well adapted to trapping air within its body to extend the time during which it can photosynthesize. The size and density typically changing with elevation, the cushions becoming smaller and denser with higher elevation, plants growing in the alpine or subalpine regions face the challenge of obtaining and retaining water. One solution for obtaining water is the growth of a root system. A small alpine forget-me-not may stand only inches above the ground, besides obtaining water, the plant must also retain moisture to survive in a dry and desiccating environment. The compact growth form of cushion plants reduces air flow over the surface of the epidermis, additionally, many cushion plants have small and fleshy leaves which reduce the surface area of the plant, which reduces transpiration and conserves water. Many alpine cushion plants also have thick matted hairs that warm up and these hairs also act as a greenhouse by preventing the warmer air from rising away from the plant, and they also act as wind breaks, preventing the wind from blowing away the trapped heat. The cushion plant may have flowers that are large and showy for such a small perennial and this is necessary to attract pollinators over long distances, and in the short season of growth
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Parnassius phoebus
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Parnassius phoebus, known as the Phoebus Apollo or small Apollo, is a butterfly species of the family of swallowtail butterflies found in Eurasia and North America. P. phoebus is found in the Alps, Urals, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, Alaska and Canada south through the United States to Utah and New Mexico. Saxifraga species Sedum species Sempervivum montanum Bernard Turlin et Luc Manil,2005 Étude synoptique et répartition mondiale des espèces du genre Parnassius Latreille 1804 Luc Manil, evans, Arthur V. Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America. Media related to Parnassius phoebus at Wikimedia Commons Data related to Parnassius phoebus at Wikispecies European Butterflies and Moths Rusinsects Text, tree line and Parnassius phoebus smintheus
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Gray-crowned rosy finch
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The gray-crowned rosy finch, or gray-crowned rosy-finch, is a species of passerine bird in the family Fringillidae native to Alaska, western Canada, and the north-western United States. Due to its remote and rocky alpine habitat it is rarely seen, there are currently six recognized subspecies. It is one of four species of rosy finches, the gray-crowned rosy finch was first classified by English ornithologist William John Swainson in 1832. Recent mitochondrial DNA evidence shows the rosy finches are all indeed very closely related, along with four Asian rosy finches, the three North American rosy finches form the mountain finch genus Leucosticte. Alternative common names include, Roselin à tête grise, Schwarzstirn-Schneegimpel, six subspecies of the gray-crowned rosy finch are now recognized, though proposals for additional subspecies have been recognized. L. t. griseonucha Commander Island, and Aleutian Islands east to Alaskan Peninsula, L. t. umbrina O. Murie,1944 Hall Island, St. Matthew Island and Pribilof Islands, in Bering Sea. L. t. littoralis S. F. L. t. L. t. wallowa A. H. Miller,1939 breeds northeast Oregon, winters South to west-central Nevada, L. t. dawsoni J. Grinnell,1913 eastern California. Within the finch family, the gray-crowned rosy finch is medium-large with a long notched tail. Adults are brown on the back and breast and mainly pink on the rest of the underparts, the forehead and throat are black, the back of the head is grey. They have short legs and a long forked tail. There is some variability in the amount of grey on the head, adult females and juveniles are similar. Overall length is 140 to 160 mm, wingspan 33 mm, the Pribilof and Aleutian subspecies have a length of 170 to 210 mm and weight of 42 to 60 g, about twice the size of the other subspecies. The black rosy finch has a black instead of brown body, the ancestor of the three species of North American rosy finches migrated from Asia. All rosy finches live in an alpine or tundra environment, the gray-crowned rosy finch has a wide range and large numbers throughout Alaska, and western Canada and the United States. L. t. griseonucha permanently resides in the Aleutian Islands, a small number of gray-crowned rosy finches winters on the mainland in South-Central Alaska and visits feeders there. The other taxa, littoralis, tephrocotis, wallowa, and dawsoni are found from the Canadian and American Rockies, L. t. tephrocotis summers from Montana to the Yukon, while littoralis breeds closer to the coast, from northern California to west-central Alaska. Due to its habitat, few of its nests have been found, it is rarely spotted. They are invariably found amongst rocks, the areas the subspecies breed in rarely overlap during breeding season
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Kern River
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The Kern River is a river in the U. S. state of California, approximately 165 miles long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfield, fed by snowmelt near Mount Whitney, the river passes through scenic canyons in the mountains and is a popular destination for whitewater rafting and kayaking. It is the major river in the Sierra Nevada mountain range that drains in a southerly direction. Buena Vista Lake, when overflowing, first backed up into Kern Lake and then upon rising higher drained into Tulare Lake via Buena Vista Slough, the lakes were part of a partially endorheic basin that sometimes overflowed into the San Joaquin River. This basin also included the Kaweah and Tule Rivers, as well as southern distributaries of the Kings that all flowed into Tulare Lake, the lakes were created in 1973 for recreational use. The lakes hold 6,800 acre·ft combined, crops are grown in the rest of the former lakebed. In extremely wet years the river will reach the Tulare Lake basin through a series of sloughs, despite its remote source, nearly all of the river is publicly accessible. The Kern River is particularly popular for hiking and whitewater rafting. The Upper Kern River is paralleled by trails to within a half-mile of its source, even with the presence of Lake Isabella, the river is perennial down to the lower Tulare Basin. Its swift flow at low elevation makes the river below the reservoir an extremely popular location for rafting, the Kern River is the southernmost river in the San Joaquin Valley. It begins in the Sierra Nevada on the side of Tulare County. The main branch of the river rises from small lakes west of Mount Whitney in the high Sierra Nevada mountains in northeastern Tulare County. It flows south through the mountains, passing through Inyo and Sequoia national forests, the Little Kern River joins from the northwest at a site called Forks of the Kern. At Kernville the river emerges from its narrow canyon into a valley where it is impounded in Lake Isabella. The area was known as Whiskey Flat, the former location of the town of Kernville. The South Fork Kern River joins in Lake Isabella, like the North Fork, the South Fork rises in Tulare County and flows mainly south, through Inyo National Forest. After entering Kern County the South Fork curves to the west, despite being dammed upstream, this part of the river has remarkably swift flow even in the driest summers. In Bakersfield proper, the river loses most of its remaining flow, in this region near Bakersfield the Kern River once spread out into vast wetlands and seasonal lakes
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Tulare Lake
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Tulare Lake, named Laguna de Tache by the Spanish, is a freshwater dry lake with residual wetlands and marshes in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California, United States. A remnant of Pleistocene-era Lake Corcoran, Tulare Lake dried up after its tributary rivers were diverted for agricultural irrigation, the lake was named for the tule rush that lined the marshes and sloughs of its shores. It was separated from the rest of the San Joaquin Valley by tectonic subsidence and alluvial fans extending out from Los Gatos Creek in the Coast Ranges, above a threshold elevation of 207 to 210 feet, it overflowed into the San Joaquin River. This happened in 19 of 29 years from 1850 to 1878, Tulare Lake was the largest of several similar lakes in its lower basin. Most of the Kern Rivers flow first went into Kern Lake and Buena Vista Lake via the Kern River and Kern River Slough southwest, if they overflowed, it was through the Kern River channel northwest through tule marshland and Goose Lake, into Tulare Lake. For centuries, the Tachi tribe or Tache, a Yokut people, built reed boats and fished in this lake in their homeland, until after the arrival of Spanish, the Yokut had once numbered about 70,000. They had one of the highest regional population densities in precontact North America, the Yokuts also hunted deer, elk, and antelope, which were numerous along the lakes shoreline. During wet years, the lake was the terminus of the Western Hemispheres southernmost Chinook salmon run via the San Joaquin River and it was also the source of a regional favorite, western pond turtles, which were relished as terrapin soup in San Francisco and elsewhere. The lake and surrounding wetlands were a significant stop for hundreds of thousands of birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway, Tulare Lake was written about by Mark Twain. Once the largest freshwater lake west of the Great Lakes, in 1849, the lake was 1,476 km2, following the floods of 1861–62 and 1867–68, the highest water on record reached between 216 and 220 ft above sea level. At that elevation, the lake overtopped the spillway and flowed northward into the sea via the Boggs and Fresno sloughs, the San Joaquin River. In February and March 1938, heavy rains flooded the San Joaquin Valley, causing Tulare Lake to break the levee near Corcoran and flood 28,000 acres of cropland. The expression out in the tules, referring to the 3–10-foot sedges lining the lakeshore, is common in the dialect of old Californian families. In the wake of the United States Civil War, late 19th-century settlers drained the marshes for early agriculture. The government dammed the Kaweah, Kern, Kings, and Tule Rivers upstream in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, in the San Joaquin Valley, the state and counties built canals to deliver that water and divert the remaining flows for agricultural irrigation and municipal water uses. Tulare Lake was nearly dry by the early 20th century, enough water remained so the Alameda Naval Air Station used Tulare Lake as an outlying seaplane base during World War II and the early years of the Cold War. Flying boats could land on Tulare Lake when landing conditions were unsafe on San Francisco Bay, the lake bed is now a shallow basin of fertile soil, within the Central Valley of California, the most productive agricultural region of the United States. Farmers have irrigated the area for a century, so soil salination is becoming a concern
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San Joaquin River
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The San Joaquin River /ˈsæn wɑːˈkiːn/ is the longest river of Central California in the United States. An important source of water as well as a wildlife corridor. People have inhabited the San Joaquin Valley for more than 8,000 years, the newcomers quickly appropriated the rich natural and hydrologic resources of the watershed for use in farms and cities, but found themselves plagued by flood and drought. Because of the topography of the San Joaquin Valley, floods once transformed much of the lower river into a huge inland sea. In the 20th century, many levees and dams were built on the San Joaquin and these engineering works changed the fluctuating nature of the river forever, and cut off the Tulare Basin from the rest of the San Joaquin watershed. The river was called many different names, at different parts of the river were known by different names. The present name of the dates to 1805–1808, when Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga was surveying east from Mission San José in order to find possible sites for a mission. Moraga named a tributary of the river for Saint Joachim, husband of Saint Anne and father of Mary, the name Moraga chose was later applied to the entire river, it was in common use by 1810. In the Mono language, the river is called typici h huu, a member of the Pedro Fages party in 1772, Crespis vantage point was the hilltops behind modern San Francisco. Another early name was Rio San Juan Bautista, the origin of which is unknown.8 mi southeast of Mount Lyell, the Middle Fork is usually considered part of the main stem. The South Fork, which begins at Martha Lake in Kings Canyon National Park and flows through Florence Lake, from the mountainous alpine headwaters, the San Joaquin flows generally south into the foothills of the Sierra, passing through four hydroelectric dams. It eventually emerges from the foothills at what was once the town of Millerton, the location of Friant Dam since 1942, which forms Millerton Lake. Below Friant Dam, the San Joaquin flows west-southwest out into the San Joaquin Valley – the southern part of the Great Central Valley – passing north of Fresno, from Mendota, the San Joaquin swings northwest, passing through many different channels, some natural and some man-made. Northeast of Dos Palos, it is joined by the Fresno. Fifty miles downstream, the Merced River empties into an otherwise dry San Joaquin, the majority of the river flows through quiet agricultural bottomlands, and as a result its meandering course manages to avoid most of the urban areas and cities in the San Joaquin Valley. About 11 mi west of Modesto, the San Joaquin meets its largest tributary, near Vernalis, it is joined by another major tributary, the Stanislaus River. About 40 mi from the mouth, the river draws abreast to the flank of Stockton. From here to the mouth, the river is dredged as part of a navigation project, past the head of tide, amid the many islands of the delta, the San Joaquin is joined by two more tributaries, the Calaveras River and the larger Mokelumne
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Owens River
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The Owens River is a river in southeastern California in the United States, approximately 183 miles long. It drains into and through the Owens Valley, a basin between the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada and the western faces of the Inyo and White Mountains. The river terminates at the endorheic Owens Lake south of Lone Pine, in the early 1900s the Owens was the focus of the California Water Wars, fought between the city of Los Angeles and the inhabitants of Owens Valley over the construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Since 1913, the Owens River has been diverted to Los Angeles, causing the ruin of the valleys economy, the river rises in the Sierra Nevada in southwestern Mono County, approximately 15 miles south of Mono Lake and 35 miles east of Yosemite Valley. In the area around Bishop, it is diverted through many ditches to irrigate the surrounding farming region and it flows south-southeast through the Owens Valley between the Sierra Nevada on the west and the White and Inyo Mountains on the east, past Big Pine. The remaining river flows through the valley, flanked by the Los Angeles Aqueduct, past Lone Pine. The river flows through two major valleys of the extreme southwestern Great Basin – the Long Valley and Owens Valley, the north to south drainage basin is in portions of Mono and Inyo Counties and terminates in the now-dry Owens Lake. To the northwest of the valley is the Long Valley Caldera which is only a fraction of the size of the Owens Valley. The Owens River enters Owens Valley from the northwest, while the Spring Valley Wash drains the northernmost part of the valley, the river flows mainly on the east side of the valley, because alluvial deposits from Sierra Nevada streams have forced the river channel in that direction. Vertical relief in the basin is immense – elevations range from 14,494 feet at Mount Whitney, the Owens River itself heads at an elevation of 7,291 feet. Few people inhabit the sparse, open grasslands and steep mountainsides of the watershed, the largest city on the river is Bishop, with a population of slightly less than 3,600. Other significant towns include Lone Pine, Big Pine, and Independence, the Owens River flows through part of the Basin and Range Province of North Americas Great Basin. The Owens Valley is a graben or rift valley, a section of land that has dropped down between two faults, while the land on either side has risen. This has resulted in the floor and steep, towering walls of the present-day valley. Further to the north, the Owens River basin encompasses predominantly igneous rocks, the upper 30 miles of the river run through the Long Valley Caldera, an enormous 20-mile -wide crater formed by a volcanic eruption some 760,000 years ago. The eruptions resulting ash cloud covered much of the southwestern United States, mammoth Mountain, to the southwest also formed from eruptions related to the Long Valley Caldera. To the north of the Caldera, extending to the Mono Lake area, lie the chain of Mono-Inyo Craters, the increased volume of the river caused Owens Lake to rise as well, eventually spilling out the south side of the valley into the Mojave Desert. This great inland sea was fed by the Mojave River from the south, the Amargosa River from the east
Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Whitney, Mount". Encyclopedia Americana.
Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "
Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Whitney, Mount". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
