Pilot Knob is a mountain summit located in Fresno County in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in northern California, United States. It is situated at the intersection of Piute Canyon and French Canyon, in the John Muir Wilderness, on land managed by the Sierra National Forest. It is set south of Merriam Peak and three miles north of the Matthes Glaciers. Pilot Knob is the 360th-highest peak in California, and itstopographic relief is significant as the west aspect rises above Hutchinson Meadow in approximately one mile. This mountain was likely named by the USGS during the 1907–09 survey for the Mt. Goddard Quadrangle,Peter Browning (1986), Place Names of the Sierra Nevada: From Abbot to Zumwalt, Wilderness Press, , p. 170 and the toponym has been officially adopted by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.
Climate According to the Köppen climate classification system, Pilot Knob is located in an alpine climate zone. Most weather fronts originate in the Pacific Ocean, and travel east toward the Sierra Nevada mountains. As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks (orographic lift), causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snowfall onto the range. Precipitation runoff from this mountain drains into Piute Creek which is a tributary of the South Fork San Joaquin River.
Gallery
See also
List of mountain peaks of California
References