Mount Mystery | |
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![]() Mount Mystery's west face | |
Highest point | |
Elevation | 7,639 ft (2,328 m)[1] |
Prominence | 1,119 ft (341 m)[1] |
Parent peak | Mount Deception[2] |
Isolation | 1.32 mi (2.12 km)[2] |
Coordinates | 47°47′45″N 123°13′17″W / 47.795903°N 123.221465°W[1] |
Geography | |
Country | United States |
State | Washington |
County | Jefferson |
Protected area | Olympic National Park |
Parent range | Olympic Mountains |
Topo map | USGS Mount Deception |
Geology | |
Age of rock | Eocene |
Type of rock | Tilted pillow Basalt |
Climbing | |
Easiest route | class 3 scrambling[2] |
Mount Mystery is a prominent 7,639-foot (2,328-metre) mountain summit located in the Olympic Mountains in Jefferson County of Washington state. It is located within Olympic National Park on the Olympic Peninsula. Mount Mystery is the sixth-highest peak of the Olympic Mountains, after Mount Olympus, Mount Deception, Mount Constance, Mount Johnson, and Inner Constance.[3] Its nearest higher neighbor is Mount Deception, 1.32 mi (2.12 km) to the north-northwest. Little Mystery (6,941 ft) is a subsidiary summit south of Mount Mystery.[1]
Mount Mystery is located in the eastern portion of the Olympic Mountains just south of Mount Deception at the headwaters of Deception Creek. This location puts it in the rain shadow of the Olympic Range, resulting in far less precipitation than Mount Olympus and the western Olympics receive.
Mount Mystery sits on the boundary between the drainage basins of the Dungeness River, to the north, and the Dosewallips River to the east. Deception Creek, a tributary of the Dosewallips River, drains the east and west slopes of Mount Mystery, including a small melting glacier on the east side referred to colloquially as Mystery Glacier.
Mount Mystery was given its toponym circa 1915 by G.A. Whitehead of the U.S. Forest Service because he admired its regal appearance in foggy weather.[4]