Yamsay Mountain
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| Yamsay Mountain | |
|---|---|
| Elevation | 8,196 feet (2,498 m)[1] |
| Location | Klamath County, Oregon, U.S. |
| Prominence | 3,176 feet (968 m)[2] |
| Coordinates | [3] |
| Topo map | USGS Yamsay Mountain |
| Type | Shield volcano |
| Easiest route | trail (formerly a road) |
Yamsay Mountain is a large shield volcano in the Cascade Range of south-central Oregon, located about 35 miles (56 km) east of Crater Lake on the border between Klamath County and Lake County. It is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc located 30–50 miles (50–80 km) behind the main Cascade volcanic front. The best known members of this back-arc are the massive shields of Newberry Volcano about 55 miles (89 km) farther north in Oregon and Medicine Lake Volcano about 80 miles (130 km) south in northern California. However, Yamsay is the highest volcano in the eastern arc, topping both Newberry and Medicine Lake by less than 300 feet (91 m).
The name Yamsay Mountain is a corruption of the Klamath name Yamsi, a form of Yamash, meaning "north wind." This mountain was supposed to be the home of Kmukamtch, the supreme being of Klamath mythology.[4]
Ice Age glaciers eroded several deep cirques in the northern flank of the volcano, exposing magma which hardened in the volcano's conduits to form the numerous rock pinnacles now found in the upper part of the cirque. A United States Forest Service fire lookout tower with an 80 feet (24 m) steel tower was built on the summit of Yamsay in 1929, but removed after the 1970s and only remnants of the foundation remain today. A dirt road was built to the summit to service the lookout, but this was abandoned after the tower was removed and the upper 3.5 miles (5.6 km) now form a hiking or backcountry skiing trail to the summit.
[edit] References
- ^ NGS Data Sheet for YAMSAY MT. U.S. National Geodetic Survey. Retrieved on 2008-04-03.
- ^ Yamsay Mountain, Oregon. Peakbagger.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-03.
- ^ USGS GNIS: Yamsay Mountain. Retrieved on 2008-04-03.
- ^ McArthur, Lewis A.; Lewis L. McArthur [1928] (2003). Oregon Geographic Names, Seventh Edition, Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. ISBN 0-87595-277-1 (trade paperback), ISBN 0-87595-278-X (hardcover).
- Hering, Carl William (1981). Geology and Petrology of the Yamsay Mountain Complex, South-Central Oregon : A Study Oof Bimodal Volcanism. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Oregon.
- Harris, Stephen L. (2005). Fire Mountains of the West: The Cascade and Mono Lake Volcanoes (3rd ed.). Mountain Press Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87842-511-X.
- Wood, Charles A.; Jürgen Kienle, eds. (1990). Volcanoes of North America. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43811-X.
- Kresek, Ray (1998). Fire Lookouts of the Northwest (3rd ed.). Historic Lookout Project. ISBN 0-87770-632-8.
