Ritter Range

Ritter Range
Mount Davis and the Ritter Range
Highest point
PeakMount Ritter
Elevation13,143 ft (4,006 m)
Dimensions
Length15 mi (24 km) NS
Width9 mi (14 km) EW
Geography
Ritter Range is located in California
Ritter Range
Ritter Range
Location of Ritter Range in California[1]
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
RegionAnsel Adams Wilderness
CountyMadera County
Range coordinates37°41′38″N 119°11′53″W / 37.6938223°N 119.1979189°W / 37.6938223; -119.1979189[1]
Parent rangeSierra Nevada
Geology
Rock ageCretaceous

The Ritter Range is a small mountain range within California's Sierra Nevada. Most of the mountain range lies within the Ansel Adams Wilderness.

The John Muir Trail passes by many lakes within the Ritter Range. The most prominent peaks of the Ritter Range are Mount Ritter, at 13,143 feet, Banner Peak, at 12,936 feet, Rodgers Peak, and the Minarets, a group of sharp peaks south of Mt. Ritter. Thousand Island Lake, Ediza Lake, Garnet Lake, Lake Catherine, Minaret Lake, Cecile Lake, and Shadow Lake all lie within the Ritter Range, and are accessible by trail.

The range is named for Carl Ritter, who had been a teacher of Josiah Whitney when he was a student in Berlin in the 1840s."[2]

The Ritter Range, near the Minarets and Minaret Lake, was the site of the plane crash of Steve Fossett in 2007.[3]

  1. ^ a b "Ritter Range". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
  2. ^ Browning, Peter (1986) Place Names of the Sierra Nevada. Berkeley: Wilderness Press. p. 183.
  3. ^ Fagan, Kevin (October 3, 2008). "Plane wreckage Fossett's - bone fragment found". San Francisco Chronicle.