Mount Dana

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Mountain in California, United States

title: "Mount Dana" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mountains-of-yosemite-national-park", "mountains-of-the-ansel-adams-wilderness", "mountains-of-mono-county,-california", "mountains-of-tuolumne-county,-california", "mountains-of-northern-california"] description: "Mountain in California, United States" topic_path: "general/mountains-of-yosemite-national-park" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Dana" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Mountain in California, United States ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox mountain"]

Field	Value
name	Mount Dana
photo	File:Dana from Gaylor.jpg
photo_caption	Mount Dana seen from Gaylor Peak.
The hike to the top goes up this west face.
elevation_ft	13061
elevation_ref
prominence_ft	2417
prominence_ref
parent_peak	Mount Lyell
location	Mono / Tuolumne counties, California, U.S.
range	Sierra Nevada
coordinates
coordinates_ref
topo	USGS Mount Dana
type	Metamorphic rock
age	Cretaceous
first_ascent	June 28, 1863 by Whitney, Brewer, and Hoffmann
easiest_route	Hike,
listing	California highest major peaks 18th
::

Mount Dana is a mountain in the U.S. state of California. Its summit marks the eastern boundary of Yosemite National Park and the western boundary of the Ansel Adams Wilderness. At an elevation of 13061 ft, it is the second highest mountain in Yosemite (after Mount Lyell), and the northernmost summit in the Sierra Nevada which is over 13000 ft in elevation. Mount Dana is the highest peak in Yosemite that is readily accessible to summit. The mountain is named in honor of James Dwight Dana, who was a professor of natural history and geology at Yale.

Mount Dana is composed of prebatholithic rock that is mostly reddish metamorphic rock, which was composed by metavolcanics of surfacing magma from the Mesozoic Era.

Mount Dana's northern face includes a small, receding glacier known as the Dana Glacier. The Dana Meadows lie at the foot of the mountain. From the top, lakes throughout Dana Meadows, Mono Lake, Tioga Peak and many other mountains are in view.

Hike

From the Tioga Pass Road there are many easy routes () that lead to the summit along the mountain's western or southern slopes. These routes rise 3108 ft in elevation in 2.9 mi, (a 20.3% average grade). The trail is not frequently maintained.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Mount-dana-topo.jpg" caption="Mount Dana Topographic Map"] ::

There is a clearly marked path leading just above tree line. After topping a ridge, a set of use-paths and ducked routes are present, with the main path running along the easterly ridgeline. Additionally, numerous alternate trail segments begin and end at various points on the southwestern face, making parts of this hike a difficult class 2. The path segments turn into scree toward the summit, where a shallow stone-walled shelter and register are found. Significant snow fields on the mountain slopes can exist late into the summer season. Total round trip hiking time can be anywhere between 3 and 12 hours depending many factors, such as acclimatization to elevation.

After reaching a plateau above the tree line, most vegetation disappears with the exception of lichen and a few high alpine plants such as Sky Pilot (Polemonium eximium). Fauna are largely limited to spiders and insects, such as black/brown grasshoppers. The only mammals other than humans are American Pikas (which are lagomorphs, related to rabbits) and marmots.

Thunderstorms are known to arise suddenly, making the rocks slippery, and the hiking dangerous year round.

Even experienced hikers can face altitude sickness, due to the high elevation.

In the summer of 2009, an NPS employee died after falling on a technical rock climbing route on the northeast face of Mount Dana.

Climate

|location = Mount Dana 37.9018 N, 119.2233 W, Elevation: 12385 ft (1991–2020 normals) |single line = y

|source=PRISM Climate Group{{cite web |url= http://prism.oregonstate.edu/explorer/ |title= PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University |publisher= PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University |access-date= October 6, 2023 |quote= To find the table data on the PRISM website, start by clicking Coordinates (under Location); copy Latitude and Longitude figures from top of table; click Zoom to location; click Precipitation, Minimum temp, Mean temp, Maximum temp; click 30-year normals, 1991-2020; click 800m; click Retrieve Time Series button.}}

Gallery

References

{{cite ngs
{{cite peakbagger
{{cite loj
Farquhar, Francis P.. (March 1925). "Exploration of the Sierra Nevada". California Historical Society Quarterly.
{{cite Secor
Browning, Peter. (1986). "Place Names of the Sierra Nevada". [[Wilderness Press]].
(September 20, 2002). "America's Volcanic Past - Yosemite National Park". USGS/Cascades Volcano Observatory.
"Biology 314 — Sierra Nevada". Sonoma State University.
"Medical Problems in High Mountain Environments. A Handbook for Medical Officers". US Army Research Inst. of Environmental Medicine Thermal and Mountain Medicine Division Technical Report.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::