Preston Peak
| Preston Peak | |
|---|---|
 South face of Preston Peak |
|
| Elevation | 7,313 ft (2,229 m) NAVD 88[1] |
| Prominence | 2,509 ft (765 m) [2] |
| Location | |
| Location | Siskiyou County, California, USA |
| Range | Klamath Mountains |
| Coordinates | 41°50′06″N 123°36′43″W / 41.835064822°N 123.611937922°WCoordinates: 41°50′06″N 123°36′43″W / 41.835064822°N 123.611937922°W[1] |
| Topo map | USGS Preston Peak |
Preston Peak is a dominant feature of the Siskiyou Wilderness. Many peaks in the wilderness rise to over 6,000 feet but none come to within 500 feet of approaching the height of Preston Peak. From the summit on a clear day the Pacific Ocean is visible along with peaks in the Klamath Mountains and Cascade Range.
John Hart, in his book Hiking the Bigfoot Country says of the peak:
- "At a mile and some above sea level it is by no means the highest peak in the Klamath Mountains...Yet there is no mountain in northern California which I remember with more pleasure. They say that early travellers on the Klamath River, glimpsing the mountain above them, thought it was 10,000 feet tall."[3]
The Forest Service designated the peak and watershed around the peak the Preston Peak Botanical and Geological Area because of the rare plants and associations of plants that can be found. Here the Alaska cedar and noble fir reach the southern terminus of their range[4] and share habitat with the northwest California endemic Brewer spruce and Port Orford cedar. There is also an interesting population of high elevation Pacific yew on the peak that, along with a few other population in the Klamath Mountains, may justify reclassification as at least a subspecies.[5] A few other rare plants living on or around the peak are the phantom orchid and Siskiyou frittilary.
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Preston Pk". NGS data sheet. U.S. National Geodetic Survey. http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=MX1242. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
- ^ "Preston Peak, California". Peakbagger.com. http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=1112. Retrieved 2009-04-11.
- ^ Hart, John (1975). Hiking the Bigfoot Country. San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books. p. 182. ISBN 0871561271.
- ^ Sawyer, J. O. (2004). "Conifers of the Klamath Mountains". Vegitation Ecology, Proceedings of the second conference on Klamath-Siskiyou ecology, Siskiyou Field Institute (Cave Junction: Siskiyou Field Institute): 128–135.
- ^ Burns, Russell M.; Barbara H Honkala (1990). Silvics of North America. Volume 1, conifers . Agriculture Handbook 654. Washington: U.S.D.A., Forest Service. ISBN 0160271452. http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/misc/ag_654_vol1.pdf.
[edit] External links
- "Preston Peak". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:254626. Retrieved 2009-04-11.
- "Preston Peak Botanical and Geological Area ~ Siskiyou Wilderness". Conifer Country. http://blog.conifercountry.com/2009/05/28/preston-peak-botanical-and-geological-area.aspx. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
- (Shockwave) Preston Peak Botanical and Geological Area. Conifer Country. http://www.conifercountry.com/videos/Preston-Botanical/index.html. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
