Mather Pass

Mather Pass is a high mountain pass in the U.S. state of California's Sierra Nevada mountain range. It lies within far eastern Fresno County, inside Kings Canyon National Park and the Sequoia-Kings Canyon Wilderness. The pass lies at an elevation of 12,068 feet (3,678 m), separating Palisade Basin (containing the Palisade Lakes and Palisade Creek) to the north and Upper Basin (containing the headwaters of the South Fork Kings River) to the south.[1]

Mather Pass
A granite ridgeline mottled with snow with a pronounced dip on the left marks Mather Pass, rising above a green alpine landscape.
Mather Pass, the low point in the ridgeline on the left, viewed from the north on the John Muir Trail
Elevation12,068 feet (3,678 m)
Traversed by
Location
RangeSierra Nevada
Coordinates37°01′55″N 118°27′36″W
Topo mapUSGS Split Mountain
A relief map of California, showing Mather Pass in the most rugged part of the central Sierra Nevada: well east of the Central Valley and just west of Owens Valley.
A relief map of California, showing Mather Pass in the most rugged part of the central Sierra Nevada: well east of the Central Valley and just west of Owens Valley.
Location in California

The pass is traversed by the John Muir Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, which are coincident (sharing the same route) between Crabtree Meadows and Tuolumne Meadows. It is one of the six high mountain passes above 11,000 feet on the John Muir Trail, along with Donohue Pass, Muir Pass, Pinchot Pass, Glen Pass, and Forester Pass; it lies south of Muir Pass and north of Pinchot Pass. Split Mountain, one of California's fourteeners, lies immediately southeast of Mather Pass; the Palisades group of peaks contains another three to the north of the pass.

History

Early usage and trail construction

The pass was named for Stephen Mather, who served as the Assistant Secretary of the Interior and head of the National Park Service (NPS) from 1917 until 1929, by Chauncey J. Hamlin.[2] Hamlin's was the first known party to cross Mather Pass by pack train in August 1921, taking 3 days to do so, as it was necessary for them to construct a rough trail. The party was the first to make the trip north on what became the John Muir Trail from Mount Whitney, and Hamlin advocated for state funds to be used to complete the route.[3]

In 1923, Susan P. Thew led the third-ever pack train over the pass and became the first woman to cross the pass during a photography expedition through the Sierra.[4]

During construction of the John Muir Trail, "serious consideration" was given to the idea of abandoning the proposed route over Mather Pass in favor of the gentler Cartridge Pass to the southwest, indeed, the Cartridge Pass routing was listed as the official one (as well as the main one in Walter Starr’s first edition of the Guide to the John Muir Trail) in 1934, until the construction of the Golden Staircase portion of the trail north of Mather Pass.[5] The segment of the John Muir Trail which traverses Mather Pass was completed by the U.S. Forest Service during the summer of 1937, using three trail camps to construct 11.25 miles of the trail at the cost of roughly $1,400 per mile in 1937 USD. It was the final segment of the trail to be built.[6]

Modern day

In 2019, following a heavy snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, a 67-year-old man hiking alone died near Mather Pass after he slipped on ice and his head struck a rock.[7]

References
  1. "Mather Pass Feature Details". Geographic Names Information System. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
  2. "Place Names of the High Sierra (1926), "M," by Francis P. Farquhar". www.yosemite.ca.us. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
  3. "Easterners are loud in praise of mountains". Visalia Daily Times. September 5, 1921. p. 1. Retrieved November 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Woman snaps Sierra crags". The San Francisco Examiner. October 7, 1923. p. 79. Retrieved November 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. Historic American Landscapes Survey. "The John Muir Trail: A History and Survey". ArcGIS StoryMaps. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  6. "John Muir Trail Link Completed: High Sierra Route Opens New Country in Sequoia Forest". Los Angeles Times. November 14, 1937. p. 25. Retrieved November 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. Thomas, Gregory (February 20, 2021). "Dangers of hiking Pacific Crest Trail loom as 2021 season approaches". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
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