Tree line
The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions; the tree line is sometimes distinguished from a lower timberline or forest line, the line below which trees form a forest with a closed canopy. At the tree line, tree growth is sparse and deformed by wind and cold; this is sometimes known as krummholz. The tree line appears well-defined, but it can be a more gradual transition. Trees grow shorter and at lower densities as they approach the tree line, above which they cease to exist. Several types of tree lines are defined in ecology and geography: An alpine tree line is the highest elevation that sustains trees; the climate above the tree line of mountains is called an alpine climate, the terrain can be described as alpine tundra. Treelines on north-facing slopes in the northern hemisphere are lower than on south-facing slopes, because the increased shade on north-facing slopes means the snowpack takes longer to melt.
This shortens the growing season for trees. In the southern hemisphere, the south-facing slopes have the shorter growing season; the alpine tree line boundary is abrupt: it forms a transition zone between closed forest below and treeless alpine tundra above. This zone of transition occurs "near the top of the tallest peaks in the northeastern United States, high up on the giant volcanoes in central Mexico, on mountains in each of the 11 western states and throughout much of Canada and Alaska". Environmentally dwarfed shrubs form the upper limit; the decrease in air temperature due to increasing elevation causes the alpine climate. The rate of decrease can vary in different mountain chains, from 3.5 °F per 1,000 feet of elevation gain in the dry mountains of the western United States, to 1.4 °F per 1,000 feet in the moister mountains of the eastern United States. Skin effects and topography can create microclimates. Compared with arctic timberlines, alpine timberlines may receive fewer than half of the number of degree days based on air temperature, but because solar radiation intensities are greater at alpine than at arctic timberlines the number of degree days calculated from leaf temperatures may be similar.
Summer warmth sets the limit to which tree growth can occur, for while timberline conifers are frost-hardy during most of the year, they become sensitive to just 1 or 2 degrees of frost in mid-summer. A series of warm summers in the 1940s seems to have permitted the establishment of "significant numbers" of spruce seedlings above the previous treeline in the hills near Fairbanks, Alaska. Survival depends on a sufficiency of new growth to support the tree; the windiness of high-elevation sites is a potent determinant of the distribution of tree growth. Wind can mechanically damage tree tissues directly, including blasting with windborne particles, may contribute to the desiccation of foliage of shoots that project above snow cover. At the alpine timberline, tree growth is inhibited when excessive snow lingers and shortens the growing season to the point where new growth would not have time to harden before the onset of fall frost. Moderate snowpack, may promote tree growth by insulating the trees from extreme cold during the winter, curtailing water loss, prolonging a supply of moisture through the early part of the growing season.
However, snow accumulation in sheltered gullies in the Selkirk Mountains of southeastern British Columbia causes the timberline to be 400 metres lower than on exposed intervening shoulders. In a desert, the tree line marks; these tend to be called the "lower" tree line, occur below about 5,000 ft elevation in the desert of the southwestern United States. The desert tree line tends to be lower on pole-facing slopes than equator-facing slopes, because the increased shade on the former keeps them cooler and prevents moisture from evaporating as giving trees a longer growing season and more access to water. In some mountainous areas, higher elevations above the condensation line, or on equator-facing and leeward slopes, can result in low rainfall and increased exposure to solar radiation; this dries out the soil. Many south-facing ridges of the mountains of the Western U. S. have a lower treeline than the northern faces because of aridity. Different tree species have different tolerances to cold. Mountain ranges isolated by oceans or deserts may have restricted repertoires of tree species with gaps that are above the alpine tree line for some species yet below the desert tree line for others.
For example, several mountain ranges in the Great Basin of North America have lower belts of Pinyon Pines and Junipers separated by intermediate brushy but treeless zones from upper belts of Limber and Bristlecone Pines. On coasts and isolated mountains the tree line is much lower than in corresponding altitudes inland and in larger, more complex mountain systems, because strong winds reduce tree growth. In addition the lack of suitable soil, such as along talus slopes or exposed rock formations, prevents trees from gaining an adequate foothold and exposes them to drought and sun; the arctic tree line is the northernmost latitude in the Northern Hemisphere where tr
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps referred to as the United States Marines or U. S. Marines, is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations with the United States Navy as well as the Army and Air Force; the U. S. Marine Corps is one of the four armed service branches in the U. S. Department of Defense and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States; the Marine Corps has been a component of the U. S. Department of the Navy since 30 June 1834, working with naval forces; the USMC operates installations on land and aboard sea-going amphibious warfare ships around the world. Additionally, several of the Marines' tactical aviation squadrons Marine Fighter Attack squadrons, are embedded in Navy carrier air wings and operate from the aircraft carriers; the history of the Marine Corps began when two battalions of Continental Marines were formed on 10 November 1775 in Philadelphia as a service branch of infantry troops capable of fighting both at sea and on shore.
In the Pacific theater of World War II the Corps took the lead in a massive campaign of amphibious warfare, advancing from island to island. As of 2017, the USMC has around some 38,500 personnel in reserve, it is the smallest U. S. military service within the DoD. As outlined in 10 U. S. C. § 5063 and as introduced under the National Security Act of 1947, three primary areas of responsibility for the Marine Corps are: Seizure or defense of advanced naval bases and other land operations to support naval campaigns. This last clause derives from similar language in the Congressional acts "For the Better Organization of the Marine Corps" of 1834, "Establishing and Organizing a Marine Corps" of 1798. In 1951, the House of Representatives' Armed Services Committee called the clause "one of the most important statutory – and traditional – functions of the Marine Corps", it noted that the Corps has more than not performed actions of a non-naval nature, including its famous actions in Tripoli, the War of 1812, numerous counter-insurgency and occupational duties, World War I, the Korean War.
While these actions are not described as support of naval campaigns nor as amphibious warfare, their common thread is that they are of an expeditionary nature, using the mobility of the Navy to provide timely intervention in foreign affairs on behalf of American interests. The Marine Band, dubbed the "President's Own" by Thomas Jefferson, provides music for state functions at the White House. Marines from Ceremonial Companies A & B, quartered in Marine Barracks, Washington, D. C. guard presidential retreats, including Camp David, the Marines of the Executive Flight Detachment of HMX-1 provide helicopter transport to the President and Vice President, with the radio call signs "Marine One" and "Marine Two", respectively. The Executive Flight Detachment provides helicopter transport to Cabinet members and other VIPs. By authority of the 1946 Foreign Service Act, the Marine Security Guards of the Marine Embassy Security Command provide security for American embassies and consulates at more than 140 posts worldwide.
The relationship between the Department of State and the U. S. Marine Corps is nearly as old as the corps itself. For over 200 years, Marines have served at the request of various Secretaries of State. After World War II, an alert, disciplined force was needed to protect American embassies and legations throughout the world. In 1947, a proposal was made that the Department of Defense furnish Marine Corps personnel for Foreign Service guard duty under the provisions of the Foreign Service Act of 1946. A formal Memorandum of Agreement was signed between the Department of State and the Secretary of the Navy on 15 December 1948, 83 Marines were deployed to overseas missions. During the first year of the MSG program, 36 detachments were deployed worldwide; the Marine Corps was founded to serve as an infantry unit aboard naval vessels and was responsible for the security of the ship and its crew by conducting offensive and defensive combat during boarding actions and defending the ship's officers from mutiny.
Continental Marines manned raiding parties, both at ashore. America's first amphibious assault landing occurred early in the Revolutionary War on 3 March 1776 as the Marines gained control of Fort Montague and Fort Nassau, a British ammunition depot and naval port in New Providence, the Bahamas; the role of the Marine Corps has expanded since then. The Advanced Base Doctrine of the early 20th century codified their combat duties ashore, outlining the use of Marines in the seizure of bases and other duties on land to support naval campaigns. Throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, Marine detachments served aboard Navy cruisers and aircraft carriers. Marine detachments served in their traditional duties as a ship's landing force, manning the ship's weapons and providing shipboard security. Marine detachments were augmented by members of the ship's company for landing parties, such as in the First Sumatran Expedition of 1832, continuing in the Caribbean and Mexican campaigns of the early 20th centuries.
Mari
Mount Whitney
Mount Whitney is the tallest mountain in California, as well as the highest summit in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada—with an elevation of 14,505 feet. It is in Central California, on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tulare counties, 84.6 miles west-northwest of the lowest point in North America at Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park at 282 ft below sea level. The west slope of the mountain is in Sequoia National Park and the summit is the southern terminus of the John Muir Trail which runs 211.9 mi from Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley. The east slope is in the Inyo National Forest in Inyo County; the summit of Mount Whitney is on the Great Basin Divide. It lies near many of the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada; the peak rises above the Owens Valley, sitting 10,778 feet or just over two miles above the town of Lone Pine 15 miles to the east, in the Owens Valley. It rises more on the west side, lying only about 3,000 feet above the John Muir Trail at Guitar Lake.
The mountain is dome-shaped, with its famously jagged ridges extending to the sides. Mount Whitney has an alpine climate and ecology. Few plants grow near the summit: one example is the sky pilot, a cushion plant that grows low to the ground; the only animals are transient, such as the butterfly Parnassius phoebus and the gray-crowned rosy finch. The mountain is the highest point on the Great Basin Divide. Waterways on the west side of the peak flow into Whitney Creek; the Kern River terminates in the Tulare Basin. During wet years, water overflows from the Tulare Basin into the San Joaquin River which flows to the Pacific Ocean. From the east, water from Mount Whitney flows to Lone Pine Creek, which joins the Owens River, which in turn terminates at Owens Lake, an endorheic lake of the Great Basin; the estimated elevation of the summit of Mount Whitney has changed over the years. The technology of elevation measurement has become more refined and, more the vertical coordinate system has changed.
The peak was said to be at 14,494 ft and this is the elevation stamped on the USGS brass benchmark disk on the summit. An older plaque on the summit reads "elevation 14,496.811 feet" but this was estimated using the older vertical datum from 1929. Since the shape of the Earth has been estimated more accurately. Using a new vertical datum established in 1988 the benchmark is now estimated to be at 14,505 ft; the eastern slope of Whitney is far steeper than its western slope because the entire Sierra Nevada is the result of a fault-block, analogous to a cellar door: the door is hinged on the west and is rising on the east. The rise is caused by a normal fault system that runs along the eastern base of the Sierra, below Mount Whitney. Thus, the granite that forms Mount Whitney is the same as the granite that forms the Alabama Hills, thousands of feet lower down; the raising of Whitney is due to the same geological forces that cause the Basin and Range Province: the crust of much of the intermontane west is being stretched.
The granite that forms Mount Whitney is part of the Sierra Nevada batholith. In Cretaceous time, masses of molten rock that originated from subduction rose underneath what is now Whitney and solidified underground to form large expanses of granite. In the last 2 to 10 million years, the Sierra was pushed up which enabled glacial and river erosion to strip the upper layers of rock to reveal the resistant granite that makes up Mount Whitney today. In July 1864, the members of the California Geological Survey named the peak after Josiah Whitney, the State Geologist of California and benefactor of the survey. During the same expedition, geologist Clarence King attempted to climb Whitney from its west side, but stopped just short. In 1871, King returned to climb what he believed to be Whitney, but having taken a different approach, he summited nearby Mount Langley. Upon learning of his mistake in 1873, King completed his own first ascent of Whitney, but did so a month too late to claim the first recorded ascent.
Just a month earlier, on August 18, 1873, Charles Begole, A. H. Johnson, John Lucas, all of nearby Lone Pine, had become the first to reach the highest summit in the contiguous United States; as they climbed the mountain during a fishing trip to nearby Kern Canyon, they called the mountain Fisherman's Peak. In 1881 Samuel Pierpont Langley, founder of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory remained for some time on the summit, making daily observations on the solar heat. Accompanying Langley in 1881 was another party consisting of Judge William B. Wallace of Visalia, W. A. Wright and Reverend Frederick Wales. Wallace wrote in his memoirs that "The Pi Ute Indians called Mt. Whitney "Too-man-i-goo-yah," which means "the old man." They believe that the Great Spirit who presides over the destiny of their people once had his home in that mountain." The spelling Too-man-i-goo-yah is a transliteration from the indigenous Paiute Mono language. Other variations are Tumanguya. In 1891, the United States Geological Survey's Board on Geographic Names decided to recognize the earlier name Mount Whitney.
Despite losing out on their preferred name, residents of Lone Pine financed the first trail to the summit, engineered by Gustave Marsh, completed on July 22, 1904. Just four days the new trail enabled the first recorded death on Whitney. Having hiked the trail, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries employee Byrd Surby was struck and killed by lightning while eating lunch
Topographic isolation
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, can be calculated for submarine summits; the following sortable table lists the Earth's 40 most topographically isolated summits. The nearest peak to Germany's highest mountain, the 2,962-metre-high Zugspitze, that has a 2962-metre-contour is the Zwölferkogel in Austria's Stubai Alps; the distance between the Zugspitze and this contour is 25.8 km. 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, because there is no agreed definition – as half the earth's circumference. After Mount Everest, the highest mountain of the American continents, has the greatest isolation of all mountains.
There is no higher 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. Kukurtlu, which rises near Mount Elbrus, is the reference peak for Mont Blanc. Musala is the highest peak in Rila mountain, in Bulgaria and the Balkan Peninsula, standing at 2,925 m it is the 4th most topographically isolated peak in Continental Europe.. Rila is the 6th highest mountain in Europe. With a topographic prominence of 2473 m, Musala is the 6th highest peak by topographic prominence in mainland Europe. Table of the most isolated major summits of North America Table of the most isolated major summits of the United States Most isolated mountain peaks of Canada Most isolated mountain peaks of Mexico geodesy physical geography summit topographic elevation topographic prominence topography bivouac.com Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia peakbagger.com peaklist.org peakware.com World Mountain Encyclopedia summitpost.org^ ^ "Europe Ultra-Prominences".
Peaklist. Retrieved 26 February 2015
Transverse Ranges
The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie within Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties; the Peninsular Ranges lie to the south. The name Transverse Ranges is due to their east–west orientation, making them transverse to the general northwest–southeast orientation of most of California's coastal mountains; the ranges extend from west of Point Conception eastward 500 kilometers into the Mojave and Colorado Desert. The geology and topography of the ranges express three distinct segments that have contrasting elevations, rock types, vegetation; the western segment extends to the San Gabriel Mountains and San Gabriel fault. The central segment includes; the eastern segment extends from the San Andreas fault eastward to the Colorado Desert. The central and eastern segments have the highest elevations.
Most of the ranges lie in the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion. Lower elevations are dominated by chaparral and scrubland, while higher elevations support large conifer forests. Most of the ranges in the system are fault blocks, were uplifted by tectonic movements late in the Cenozoic Era. West of Tejon Pass, the primary rock types are varied, with a mix of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, while regions east of the pass are dominated by plutonic granitic and metasedimentary rocks; the western and central segments of the Transverse Ranges are bounded to the north and east by the San Andreas Fault, which separates those segments from the Mojave Desert. The eastern segment bounds the southern Mojave Desert. Notable passes along the San Andreas fault include Tejon Pass, Cajon Pass, San Gorgonio Pass. Components of Transverse Ranges to the north and east of the fault include the San Bernardino Mountains, Little San Bernardino Mountains and Eagle Mountains; the western and southern boundaries are acknowledged to be the Pacific Ocean and the northern Channel Islands.
Onshore the Los Angeles Basin lies at the southern boundary of the western and central segments of the ranges. Major passes not along the San Andreas Fault include Gaviota Pass, San Marcos Pass, the Conejo Grade, Newhall Pass, Cahuenga Pass; the Transverse Ranges manifest themselves as a series of parallel ridges with an average height of 3,000–8,000 feet. The ranges are dissected by young, steep streams of low flow rate; the mountains are notable for being difficult to traverse. There are few passes that are sufficiently low or wide enough to accommodate significant volumes of traffic; this has resulted in situations where major cities are linked to the rest of the state by few roads. This results in significant traffic issues throughout Southern California when a pass has to be shut down due to heavy snow or construction. Major cities, such as Santa Barbara during the 2005 La Conchita landslide, may be cut off from timely road access to the rest of Southern California. Major peaks of the Transverse Ranges with at least 500 feet of prominence, listed by height: This segment begins at Point Conception in Santa Barbara County, include the Santa Ynez Mountains that run parallel to the coast behind Santa Barbara.
The western Transverse Ranges include the Topatopa Mountains and the Santa Susana Mountains of Ventura County and Los Angeles County, the Simi Hills, the Santa Monica Mountains that run along the Pacific coast behind Malibu, whose eastern portion are known as the Hollywood Hills, the Chalk Hills. The northern Channel Islands of California are part of the Transverse Ranges; the Ranges include the steep San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles, the Verdugo Mountains, the Liebre-Sawmill Mountains, the San Rafael Hills, Puente Hills, San Jose Hills, Chino Hills. The San Bernardino Mountains, Little San Bernardino Mountains, the Pinto and Orocopia Mountains are within the eastern segment; the Mojave Desert and California's low desert, including the Coachella Valley, are at the eastern end of the ranges. Ranges north of the western segment that are nearly transverse but are part of the California Coast Ranges include the San Rafael Mountains and the Sierra Madre Mountains; the Tehachapi Mountains north of the Mojave Desert, although nearly transverse, are the southern end of the Sierra Nevada.
The climate in most of the range is Csb under the Köppen climate classification. Snow falls above 6,000 feet most winters, above 3,000 feet every few years, it is rare for elevations above 8,000 feet to go multiple winters without snow during severe droughts. Due to low humidity, the regional snow line lies at about 14,000–16,000 feet, above the highest elevation of the range.
March Air Reserve Base
March Air Reserve Base known as March Air Force Base is located in Riverside County, California between the cities of Riverside, Moreno Valley, Perris. It is the home to the Air Force Reserve Command's Fourth Air Force Headquarters and the host 452d Air Mobility Wing, the largest air mobility wing of the Fourth Air Force. In addition to multiple units of the Air Force Reserve Command supporting Air Mobility Command, Air Combat Command and Pacific Air Forces, March ARB is home to units from the Army Reserve, Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, California Air National Guard and the California Army National Guard. For 50 years, March AFB was a Strategic Air Command base during the Cold War; the host unit at March is the Air Force Reserve's 452d Air Mobility Wing, which in addition to its operational flying mission provides host base support for numerous tenant units. March JARB is the home to Headquarters, Fourth Air Force of the Air Force Reserve Command and multiple units of the California Air National Guard.
452d Air Mobility Wing 452nd Operations Group 336th Air Refueling Squadron 729th Airlift Squadron 912th Air Refueling Squadron 452nd Maintenance Group 452nd Mission Support Group 452nd Medical Group 4th Combat Camera Squadron Fourth Air Force 163d Attack Wing, California Air National Guard 144th Fighter Wing Detachment 1, California Air National Guard 701st Combat Operations Squadron, 610th Air Operations Group, Tenth Air Force 362d Air Force Recruiting Squadron, 372nd Recruiting Group, Air Force Recruiting Service AFN Broadcast Center/Defense Media Center Defense Visual Information Center, Defense Media Activity 653rd Area Support Group, Army Reserve Center 304th Sustainment Brigade 358th Civil Affairs Brigade, 351st Civil Affairs Command, United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center Air and Marine Operations Center, CBP Air and Marine Operations Civil Air Patrol, California Wing, Inland Empire Group III, Composite Squadron 45 Defense Commissary Agency Army & Air Force Exchange Service March Joint Powers AuthoritySince 1995, March ARB has hosted alert site operations of the California Air National Guard's 144th Fighter Wing, operationally-gained by Air Combat Command.
Prior to 2013, the 144 FW stationed F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft consisting of F-16C/D Block 25 F-16C/D Block 32, on alert at March. Following the wing's transition to the F-15 Eagle, the 144 FW now stations an air defense alert detachment F-15C/D Eagle aircraft at this operating location in support of USNORTHCOM and NORAD. Civilian agency flight activities include a permanently based U. S. Customs and Border Protection Air Unit, as well as a California Department of Forestry air unit that uses the base on an intermittent basis. Dragon Flight is a civilian formation flight demonstration team, based at March, sponsored by the March Field Aero Club; the team uses the T-34 Mentor, making numerous appearances throughout the southwest United States each year. The March Field Airfest known as Thunder Over the Empire, is a biennial air show held at March; the air show is among the largest events in the Inland Riverside County. The show has featured such performers as the United States Air Force Thunderbirds, the F-22 Raptor and many other military and civilian demonstrations.
2010 saw the Patriots Jet Team as the highlight demonstration team of the show. Attendance for the 2010 show was estimated at over 150,000. March is one of the oldest airfields operated by the United States military, being established as Alessandro Flying Training Field in February 1918, it was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the United States entry into World War I in April 1917. The airfield was renamed March Field the following month for 2d Lieutenant Peyton C. March, Jr. the deceased son of then-Army Chief of Staff Peyton C. March, killed in an air crash in Texas just fifteen days after being commissioned; the establishment of March Air Force Base began in the early 20th century at a time when the United States was rushing to build up its military forces in anticipation of an entry into World War I. In 1917, in response to news from the front lines, Congressional appropriations attempted to back the plans of General George O. Squier, the Army's chief signal officer, to "put the Yankee punch into the war by building an army in the air".
At the same time, the War Department announced its intentions to build several new military installations. Efforts by Frank Miller owner of the Mission Inn in Riverside, Hiram Johnson and others, succeeded in gaining War Department approval to construct an airfield at Alessandro Field located near Riverside, an airstrip used by aviators from Rockwell Field on cross-country flights from San Diego; the Army set about establishing the new air field. Sergeant Charles E. Garlick, who had landed at Alessandro Field in a Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" in November 1917, was selected to lead the advance contingent of four men to the new base from Rockwell Field. On 26 February 1918, Garlick and his crew and a group of muleskinners from nearby Colton, known to be experts in clearing land as well as for their colorful syntax, began the task of excavating the building foundations, on 1 March 1918, Alessandro Flying Training Field was opened. On 20 March 1918, Alessandro Flying Training Field became March Field, named in honor of Second Lieutenant Peyton C.
March, Jr. son of the Army Chief of Staff, killed when his Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" crashed in Fort Worth, Texas the previous month. His crash occurred two weeks after he had been commiss
San Jacinto Peak
San Jacinto Peak is the highest peak of the San Jacinto Mountains, of Riverside County, California. It lies within Mount San Jacinto State Park. Naturalist John Muir wrote of San Jacinto Peak, "The view from San Jacinto is the most sublime spectacle to be found anywhere on this earth!"San Jacinto Peak is one of the most topographically prominent peaks in the United States. It is ranked sixth among peaks in the 48 contiguous states. According to John W. Robinson and Bruce D. Risher, authors of The San Jacintos, "No Southern California hiker worth his salt would miss climbing'San Jack' at least once."Known for its spectacular north escarpment, the peak rises 10,000 feet above San Gorgonio Pass. It plays host to the famous Cactus to Clouds Trail. To the east, the peak towers over the city of Palm Springs; the peak is frequently called Mount San Jacinto. The steep escarpment of its north face, above Snow Creek, climbs over 10,000 feet in 7 miles; this is one of the largest gains in elevation over such a small horizontal distance in the contiguous United States.
From the peak, San Gorgonio Mountain can be seen across the San Gorgonio Pass. Visible below is the Coachella Valley and the Salton Sea. In addition, much of the Inland Empire, including Ontario to the west, can be viewed on a clear day. Mount San Jacinto is one of the "Four Saints," a name used to describe the high points of the four mountains over 10,000 feet named for Catholic saints in Southern California: San Jacinto Peak, Mount San Gorgonio, San Bernardino Peak, Mount San Antonio. To the Cahuilla Indians, the peak was known as I a kitch, meaning "smooth cliffs." It was the home of the meteor and legendary founder of the Cahuilla. In 1878, a Wheeler Survey topographical party led by rancher Charles Thomas of Garner Valley climbed the peak; the Wheeler Survey gave the mountain the name "San Jacinto Peak" The earliest recorded ascent of the peak was made in September, 1874 by "F. of Riverside," according to a description of his ascent in the San Diego Union. The first successful ascent of the difficult northeast escarpment was made in 1931 by Floyd Vernoy and Stewart White of Riverside.
The peak is flanked by Marion Mountain. These peaks were named in 1897 by USGS topographer Edmund Taylor Perkins, Jr. Perkins named Jean Peak for his sweetheart and future bride, Jean Waters of Plumas County, whom he married in 1903, he named Marion Mountain after Marion Kelly, his girlfriend, a teacher for the Indian Bureau at the Morongo Valley Reservation. According to a local legend, Perkins spent the summer of 1897 deciding which woman to marry while he conducted his topographical survey of San Jacinto Peak and its environs. Nearby Cornell Peak is named for the alma mater of geologist Robert T. Hill. Perkins and Hill were camping in Round Valley when Hill remarked that the peak looked like the campanile tower at Cornell. Perkins named the peak Cornell Peak. In 1931 and 1932, the San Jacinto Mountain Chamber of Commerce sponsored a Labor Day footrace from Idyllwild to San Jacinto Peak and back, a distance of 18 miles and 5,300 feet; the 1931 race was won by Tom Humphreys, a Hopi, in 3:36:30.
Humphreys won the race again in 1932 with a time of 3:12. Near the summit of San Jacinto peak is a stone hut, built in 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corps under the direction of Serbo-Croatian immigrant Alfred Zarubicka, a stonemason known in Idyllwild as "Zubi." San Jacinto Peak is accessible, as many trails penetrate the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. The most popular route starts with a ride on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway from Valley Station at 2,643 feet near Palm Springs up to Mountain Station at 8,516 feet. From there, one can climb the mountain face via trails. Another route is to hike the Marion Mountain Trail from near the mountain town of Idyllwild. There is a reproducing but introduced population of Sequoiadendrons planted in 1974 located here hundreds of miles from native populations; the Cactus to Clouds Trail involves an arduous climb of 10,700 feet from the desert floor in Palm Springs to the summit at 10,834 feet. This trail has no water sources until 8,500 feet, so early starts are advised to avoid the temperatures which soar above 100 °F.
List of highest points in California by county List of Ultras of the United States "Mount San Jacinto State Park". California State Parks. Retrieved 2009-08-17. Mount San Jacinto State Park map. Mount San Jacinto State Park. Retrieved 2015-11-24. "San Jacinto Peak". SummitPost.org. Retrieved 2011-05-07. "Cactus to Clouds Hiking Guide". Mt. San Jacinto Message Board. Archived from the original on 2009-10-25. Retrieved 2009-08-17. "Main page". Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit. Retrieved 2009-08-17. "Forum Index". Mt. San Jacinto Outdoor Recreation. Retrieved 2009-08-17. Howser, Huell. "Mt. San Jacinto – California's Gold". California's Gold. Chapman University Huell Howser Archive
