View source for Junipero Serra Peak

{{short description|Mountain in California, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox mountain
 | name              = Junipero Serra Peak
 | photo             = Junipero Serra Peak 2015 2.jpg
 | photo_caption     = Junipero Serra Peak in 2015
 | elevation_ft      = 5857
 | elevation_ref     = {{NAVD88}}<ref name="ngs">{{cite ngs |id=GU3676 |name=Santa Lucia |access-date=2009-08-07}}</ref>
 | prominence_ft     = 4447
 | prominence_ref    = <ref name="pb">{{cite peakbagger |pid=1205 |name=Junipero Serra Peak, California |access-date=2009-08-07}}</ref>
 | listing           = {{unbulleted list
                        | [[List of the most isolated major summits of North America|North America isolated peaks]] 99th
                        | [[List of highest points in California by county|California county high points]] 36th 
                       }}
 | location          = [[Monterey County, California|Monterey County]], [[California]], [[United States|U.S.]]
 | range             = [[Santa Lucia Mountains]]
 | map               = USA California#USA
 | map_caption       = none
 | map_size          = 220
 | coordinates       = {{coord|36.14560555|N|121.419008781|W|type:mountain_region:US-CA_scale:100000_source:NGS|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
 | coordinates_ref   = <ref name="ngs"/>
 | topo              = Junipero Serra Peak
 | first_ascent      = 
 | easiest_route     = Trail hike
}}

'''Junipero Serra Peak''' is the highest [[mountain]] in the [[Santa Lucia Mountains|Santa Lucia range]] of central [[California]] with a height of {{convert|1,785|m|ft|abbr=off}}.<ref name="ngs">{{cite ngs |id=GU3676 |name=Santa Lucia |access-date=2009-08-07}}</ref> It is also the highest peak in [[Monterey County, California|Monterey County]], and is located within the boundaries of [[Los Padres National Forest]].<ref name="pb"/> It is named after Saint [[Junípero Serra]], the Spanish Franciscan priest who founded the [[California Missions]] in the 18th century. There is a fire lookout, with a tower and building, near the peak that was constructed around 1935. An unauthorized skiing operation on the summit was reported sometime before 1970. Good astronomical observing conditions were an early attraction to the peak. Astronomers scratched a trail to the summit in January 1880 to observe a total eclipse of the sun.<ref>Davidson, George 1882. The total solar eclipse of January 11, 1880, observed at Mount Santa Lucia, California. p. 463-464. [[United States Coast and Geodetic Survey|U.S. Coast and Geod. Sur.]] Annu. Rep. for 1882.</ref> Observations from the peak were also made on the transit of [[Venus]] in 1882.

== Toponymy ==
It was originally named Santa Lucia Peak, as it is the highest point in the range of the same name. Wanting to honor [[Junípero Serra]], the [[Native Sons of the Golden West|Native Daughters of the Golden West]] had bestowed his name upon a [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]] peak in June 1905. However, the [[Sierra Club]] recommended that the name be transferred to Santa Lucia Peak. The [[United States Board on Geographic Names]] officially approved the name change in 1906<ref name="gnis">{{cite gnis |id=271844 |name=Junipero Serra Peak |access-date=2009-08-07}}</ref>
finding that Junípero Serra was familiar with the Santa Lucia Mountains, but in all likelihood he had never encountered the Sierra Nevada.<ref name="gudde">
  {{cite book
  | last = Gudde
  | first = Erwin G.
  | title = California Place Names
  | publisher = [[University of California Press]]
  | year = 1949
  | location = Berkeley, California
  | page = 169
  | oclc = 1197857 }}</ref>

The peak was named ''Pimkolam'' by the [[Salinan]] Native Americans.<ref>{{cite podcast |last=Jewell |first=Jennifer |url=https://soundcloud.com/user-179107226/cultivating-place-botanical-artistry-of-october-part-2-obi-kaufmann-the-california-field-atlas |title=Obi Kaufmann & The California Field Atlas; Botanical Artistry Of October, Part 2 |website=Cultivating Place |publisher=[[North State Public Radio]] |date=October 12, 2018 |access-date=February 13, 2019 |via=[[SoundCloud]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kaufmann |first=Obi |title=The California Field Atlas |publisher=[[Heyday Books]] |year=2017a |isbn=978-1-59714-402-5 }}</ref>

== Climate ==
Since the peak is over {{convert|5,000|ft|m}}, temperatures in winter are low enough to support snowfall and relatively high amounts of precipitation compared to the Salinas Valley and places farther east in the Coast Ranges.<ref>
  {{cite web
  | title = Subsection 261Aj - North Coastal Santa Lucia Range
  | url = http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/projects/ecoregions/261aj.htm
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050315224046/http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/projects/ecoregions/261aj.htm
  | archive-date = 2005-03-15
  | publisher = U.S. Forest Service
  | access-date = 2014-02-22}}</ref> Although by far the tallest of the Santa Lucia Range peaks, Junipero Serra Peak appears to have a drier climate than the others. No long-term weather data are available. Walker (1970), an astronomer who spent several seasons on the summit, measured {{convert|51|cm|in|abbr=on}} of rain plus {{convert|93|cm|in|abbr=on}} of snow during the 1965–66 season. In adjacent regions this was an "average" season. In the wet 1966–67 season he measured {{convert|100|cm|in|abbr=on}} of rain plus 304&nbsp;cm (1 19.7 inches) of snow.<ref>Griffin, J.R., 1975. Plants of the highest Santa Lucia and Diablo range peaks, California (Vol. 110). Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, US Department of Agriculture. {{PD-notice}}</ref>

There is no surface water above 5,000&nbsp;ft in summer. In years with above-average rainfall some creeks may start at {{convert|4,800|ft|m|abbr=on}}; permanent creeks flow at {{convert|4,500|ft|m|abbr=on}}.

== Ecology ==
Montane pine forest dominated by [[Pinus lambertiana|sugar pine]] covers areas of the peak's north summit and the upper reaches of water courses on the north slope. Junípero Serra Peak and nearby [[Cone Peak]] sugar pine forests are isolated from the next sugar pine stands by 220&nbsp;km.<ref name="ReferenceA">Griffin, J. R. 1975a. Plants of the highest Santa Lucia and Diablo Range Peaks, California. USDA</ref> An interesting feature of this sugar pine population is the unexpectedly high frequency of a major gene for resistance to [[Cronartium ribicola|white pine blister rust]]. This fatal disease, caused by an exotic pathogen, has caused high mortality to sugar pine and other white pine in North America. Natural resistance in other sugar pine populations ranges from near 0% in the South Cascade Range to 8% in the southern Sierra Nevada; on Junipero Serra, it is 8.9%. No blister rust has as yet been reported in this stand.<ref>Kinloch Jr, B.B., 1992. Distribution and frequency of a gene for resistance to white pine blister rust in natural populations of sugar pine. Canadian Journal of Botany, 70(7), pp.1319-1323.</ref> The Junípero Serra Peak pines are surrounded by a vast area of scrubby mixed hardwood forest and chaparral. Understory shrubs and herbs associated with the pine forest are also isolated from distant forests, and many of them differ from the nearby isolated montane species on Cone Peak. The most interesting disjunct is [[Cycladenia|''Cycladenia humilus'' var. ''venusta'']], which has one population under the pines on the summit of Junipero Serra Peak and three tiny colonies on Cone Peak.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=2550|title = Cycladenia humilis var. Venusta Calflora}}</ref> The type specimen of this variety is collected at the peak of Junipero Serra Peak.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

[[Mountain chickadee]], common in southern California and [[Sierra Nevada]] montane forest, is present in the South Coast Ranges only in the Junipero Serra Peak and Cone Peak forests.

== Fire history ==
Junipero Serra Peak has a long history of wildfires. Between 1640 and 1907 fires hot enough to produce basal scars on pines in a small isolated sugar pine forest in the [[Santa Lucia Range]] of central California occurred on average once every 21 years. Except for two small lightning fires that were quickly extinguished, no fires occurred in the pine forest after 1907 until the lightning-caused [[Marble Cone Fire]] burned the entire forest in 1977. This was the most intense burn recorded within the life of the present forest. It caused significant loss of pines, particularly within the 40 percent of the forest on the north summit above 1600 m elevation. Changes in forest composition resulting from the Marble Cone Fire suggest that several more fires following 50-75 year intervals may eliminate sugar pine forest above 1600 m on Junípero Serra Peak.<ref>Talley, S.N. and Griffin, J.R., 1980. Fire ecology of a montane pine forest, Junipero Serra Peak, California. Madrono, pp.49-60.</ref>

More recently, the [[Dolan Fire]] burned the southern slopes and upper portions of the northern summit in the fall of 2020. Along with much of the southern [[Ventana Wilderness]], Junipero Serra was also burned extensively in the 2008 [[Indians Fire]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2008}}

==See also==
* [[List of highest points in California by county]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{cite summitpost |id=150486 |title=Junipero Serra Peak}}
* {{cite web
  | url = http://www.ventanawild.org/trails/trailconditionsmain/vw-trails/119-santa-lucia-trail-pimkolam-summit
  | title = Santa Lucia Trail (Pimkolam Summit) 
  | publisher = Ventana Wilderness Alliance }}

{{Big Sur |state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Mountains of Monterey County, California]]
[[Category:Santa Lucia Range]]
[[Category:Monterey Ranger District, Los Padres National Forest]]
[[Category:Mountains of Northern California]]
[[Category:Big Sur]]
[[Category:Junípero Serra]]