Sawtooth Peak, Sequoia National Park

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Hide... View from Sawtooth Peak (12,343') on the Great Western Divide between Mineral King (East Fork of the Kaweah River), Columbine Lake (Middle Fork of the Kaweah) and Lost Canyon (the Upper Kern drainage). Initial view is east across Lost Canyon toward Mt. Whitney (left edge of skyline) and Mt. Langley (right end of highest peaks), Needham Mtn. (12,529') is the nearby peak just right of center. The cliff between forested flats is the side of the Big Arroyo; the far flat is the Chagoopa Plateau. Moving to the right is the upper part of the Soda Creek drainage and Amphitheater Lake (Olancha Peak is the peak just above timberline at the southern end of the visible Sierran crest) and the southern Great Western Divide, with Florence Peak (12,432') dominating the southern horizon. Farther right, the dark mss of Vandever Mtn. rises over Crystal Lake, contrasting with the white granites of the White Chief ridgeline farther to the right. Mineral King Valley is between the near peaks (around Crustal Lake) and the White Chief ridgeline. Left from the original starting view are the Kaweah Peaks. The gentle summit at the right is Mt. Kaweah (13,795'); Black Kaweah (13,582') is the leftmost prominent peak on the ridge. Columbine Lake at the very headwaters of Cliff Creek is visible at the bottom; Cliff Creek descends to the left. The trail up Blackrock Pass can be made out on the dark rock on the north side of Cliff Creek. Peaks far in the north are visible along the skyline left of Black Kaweah, probably including (from right to left) the Palisades, the Evolution Group (including Mt. Darwin) and Mt Goddard area, all in northern Kings Canyon N.P., and probably peaks along the southern edge of Yosemite N.P. Below these most distant peaks is the very light colored Alta Peakwith the flatter and quite bright Tablelands area to the right. Alta Peak rise out of the canyon of the Middle Fork of the Kaweah River (where Cliff Creek empties).Farther left, Moro Rock (a popular lookout in Sequoia) is at the edge of the Giant Forest, the dark flat behind and right of Morro Rock. Farther left yet is the San Joaquin Valley. 1 August 1981.

Geologically this is an interesting area. The darker rocks to the south and west are metamorphic rocks of the Mineral King roof pendant. The sequence here is rather unusual for the high country in the amount of meta-sedimentary rock present, giving the valley a distinctive appearance with limestone ledges, caves, and springs. Early volcanic rocks of the Sierra arc are also preserved in this roof pendant. Surrounding this are the plutonic (granitic) rocks of the Sierra Nevada batholith, with the large nested plutons of the Whitney intrusive complex to the east dominating the area east of the Kaweah Peaks (which themselves are early Cretaceous granitoids). The Whitney-Paradise plutons are the youngest intrusive rocks of the batholith. Granites to the west are somewhat older.