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Mountain Field Guide
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May 18 2024
Gold Hill
Gold Hill Gold Hill is a small but distinctive summit tucked into the rugged highlands of far northern Scottsdale, Arizona. Rising to approximately 4,585 feet (1,397 meters), the hill lies immediately south of Butte Peak in a surprisingly wild landscape of chaparral, granite, rocky ridges, springs, old roads, and desert-mountain terrain. Gold Hill does not …
May 18 2024
Apache Peak
Apache Peak Apache Peak is a rugged desert summit rising above the far northern reaches of Scottsdale, Arizona. Located immediately south of Gold Hill and Butte Peak, the mountain reaches approximately 4,561 feet (1,390 meters) and forms part of an increasingly wild landscape where the Sonoran Desert begins transitioning into the mountains and chaparral of …
May 10 2024
East End (Arizona)
East End (Arizona) East End is the highest point in Arizona’s McDowell Mountains, rising above the Sonoran Desert northeast of Scottsdale and Phoenix. Modern lidar measurements place the summit at approximately 4,074 feet (1,242 meters), a few feet higher than the 4,067- to 4,069-foot elevations found on older maps and references. The mountain occupies the …
May 10 2024
Troon Mountain
Troon Mountain Troon Mountain is a rugged granite summit rising from the high Sonoran Desert of northern Scottsdale, Arizona. Reaching approximately 3,520 feet (1,073 meters), the mountain is surrounded by enormous rounded boulders, steep rocky slopes, saguaros, desert scrub, and the residential communities of Troon Village. Although considerably lower than nearby East End, the highest …
May 10 2024
Pinnacle Peak (Arizona)
Pinnacle Peak Pinnacle Peak is a dramatic granite summit rising from the Sonoran Desert in northern Scottsdale, Arizona. Reaching approximately 3,170 feet (966 meters), the mountain is immediately recognizable for its steep summit tower, enormous rounded boulders, rugged granite walls, and slopes dotted with saguaros. Although Pinnacle Peak is considerably lower than nearby Troon Mountain …
May 02 2024
Mount Sinai (Jabal Musa): Sacred Mountain of Egypt
Mount Sinai, known in Arabic as Jabal Musa or Gebel Musa—“Mountain of Moses”—is one of the world’s most culturally significant mountains. Rising to 2,285 meters (7,496 feet) in Egypt’s southern Sinai Peninsula, the rugged granite summit has been revered for centuries as the traditional location of the biblical Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Tablets …
May 02 2024
Mount Rushmore: History, Geology, Presidents & Black Hills Guide
Mount Rushmore is one of the most recognizable mountains in the United States. Four enormous presidential faces—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln—look out from a granite cliff in the Black Hills of South Dakota, creating a landmark that combines mountain geology, monumental sculpture, American history, and a far older Indigenous cultural landscape. …
May 02 2024
Dykh-Tau
Dykh-Tau Dykh-Tau Dykh-Tau is one of the great high mountains of the Caucasus, rising to 5,205 meters (17,076 feet) in the rugged mountains of Kabardino-Balkaria in southern Russia. Only Mount Elbrus rises higher in Russia—and, under the most commonly used boundary between Europe and Asia, Dykh-Tau is also the second-highest mountain in Europe. Unlike the …
May 02 2024
Koshtan-Tau
Koshtan-Tau Koshtan-Tau Koshtan-Tau is one of the great ice-covered giants of the Central Caucasus, rising to 5,152 meters (16,903 feet) in the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria. Towering above a landscape of glaciers, steep ridges, and some of the highest mountains in Europe, it belongs to the extraordinary concentration of 5,000-meter summits surrounding the Bezengi region. …
Apr 23 2024
Mount Kazbek
Mount Kazbek Rising above the high valleys of northern Georgia, Mount Kazbek is one of the great peaks of the Greater Caucasus. Its broad, glacier-covered summit reaches 5,054 meters (16,581 feet), placing it among the highest mountains in both Georgia and the Caucasus as a whole. Kazbek is more than an impressive high-altitude summit. It …
