Tuolumne Meadows is a gentle, dome-studded, sub-alpine meadow area along the Tuolumne River in the eastern section of Yosemite National Park in the United States. Its approximate location is 37°52.5′N119°21′W. Its approximate elevation is 8,619 feet (2,627 m). The term Tuolumne Meadows is also often used to describe a large portion of the Yosemite high country around the meadows, especially in context of rock climbing.
The Cathedral Range is a mountain range immediately to the south of Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park. The range is an offshoot of the Sierra Nevada. The range is named after Cathedral Peak, which resembles a cathedral spire.
The exposed geology of the Yosemite area includes primarily granitic rocks with some older metamorphic rock. The first rocks were laid down in Precambrian times, when the area around Yosemite National Park was on the edge of a very young North American continent. The sediment that formed the area first settled in the waters of a shallow sea, and compressive forces from a subduction zone in the mid-Paleozoic fused the seabed rocks and sediments, appending them to the continent. Heat generated from the subduction created island arcs of volcanoes that were also thrust into the area of the park. In time, the igneous and sedimentary rocks of the area were later heavily metamorphosed.
Mount Lyell is the highest point in Yosemite National Park, at 13,114 feet (3,997 m). It is located at the southeast end of the Cathedral Range, 1+1⁄4 miles northwest of Rodgers Peak. The peak as well as nearby Lyell Canyon is named after Charles Lyell, a well-known 19th century geologist. The peak had one of the last remaining glaciers in Yosemite, Lyell Glacier. The Lyell Glacier is currently considered to be a permanent ice field, not a living glacier. Mount Lyell divides the Tuolumne River watershed to the north, the Merced to the west, and the Rush Creek drainage in the Mono Lake Basin to the southeast.
Yosemite National Park is located in the central Sierra Nevada of California. Three wilderness areas are adjacent to Yosemite: the Ansel Adams Wilderness to the southeast, the Hoover Wilderness to the northeast, and the Emigrant Wilderness to the north.
Jules Marquard Eichorn was an American mountaineer, environmentalist, and music teacher.
The Cathedral Peak Granodiorite (CPG) was named after its type locality, Cathedral Peak in Yosemite National Park, California. The granodiorite forms part of the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite, one of the four major intrusive suites within the Sierra Nevada. It has been assigned radiometric ages between 88 and 87 million years and therefore reached its cooling stage in the Coniacian.
Glen Dawson was an American rock climber, mountaineer, antiquarian bookseller, publisher and environmentalist.
Vogelsang Pass is a mountain pass in the Cathedral Range of Yosemite National Park, at 10,680 ft (3,260 m). It lies between the cirque containing Vogelsang Lake and the valley with Lewis Creek. The pass also lies on the ridge between Fletcher Peak and Vogelsang Peak.
Matthes Crest is an approximately mile-long fin of rock with two summits separated by a deep notch. It is a part of the Cathedral Range, which is a mountain range in the south-central portion of Yosemite National Park. The range is part of the Sierra Nevada.
Half Dome Granodiorite is granodiorite found in a region on and near Half Dome, in Yosemite National Park, California, United States. The granodiorite forms part of the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite, one of the four major intrusive suites within the Sierra Nevada.
El Capitan Granite is a type of granite, in a large area near El Capitan, in Yosemite National Park, California, United States. The granite forms part of the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite, one of the four major intrusive suites within the Sierra Nevada.
Kuna Crest Granodiorite, is found, in Yosemite National Park, United States. The granodiorite forms part of the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite, one of the four major intrusive suites within the Sierra Nevada. Of the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite, it is the oldest and darkest rock.
Sentinel granodiorite is a type of granodiorite found in Yosemite National Park. It is a poorly understood western "outlier" of the ~93-85-Ma Tuolumne Intrusive Suite of the Sierra Nevada batholith. It is only slightly older than the undated Yosemite Creek Granodiorite and the Kuna Crest Granodiorite.
The Tuolumne Intrusive Suite is the youngest and most extensive of the intrusive suites of Yosemite National Park, and also comprises about 1/3 of the park's area. The Suite includes Half Dome Granodiorite, Cathedral Peak Granite, and Kuna Crest Granodiorite.
Hiking, rock climbing, and mountain climbing around Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park has many options.
Tuolumne Peak is a mountain, in Yosemite National Park, in the area of Tuolumne Meadows. It is a fractured granite, twin summited peak, and is close to geographic center of the park. Tuolumne Peak is located approximately 2.5 miles (4.0 km) northeast of Mount Hoffmann via a granite ridge-line. It is climbed less often than Hoffman, probably due to a more difficult approach.
Kuna Crest is a mountain range near Tuolumne Meadows, in Yosemite National Park, California.
Finger Peaks is a granitic mountain summit with an elevation of 11,498 feet (3,505 m) located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, in northern California, United States. The three peaks are situated in Yosemite National Park and Tuolumne County. The landform is set immediately west of Burro Pass, 1.5 mile south of Eocene Peak, and 1.4 mile southwest of Matterhorn Peak. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises 1,700 feet above Piute Creek in one-half mile. The first ascent of the summit was made July 19, 1931, by Jules Eichorn, Glen Dawson, and Walter Brem. This landform's toponym has been in publications since at least 1925, and was officially adopted by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names in 1932.
Johnson Granite Porphyry is found in Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park.
