Mount Whitney
Whitney, Mount, the highest mountain peak in California. It is in the Sierra Nevada, and rises 14,494 feet (4,418 m) above sea level. The only higher United States peaks are in Alaska. Mount Whitney stands on the boundary of Tulare and Inyo counties in Sequoia National Park. Only 80 miles (130 km) to the southeast is Death Valley, 282 feet (86 m) below sea level—the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. Mount Whitney was named for Josiah D. Whitney, a geologist and leader of the expedition that sighted it in 1864. It was first climbed in 1873.
