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219:. It rises nearly a vertical mile only 3 miles (4.8 km) from the coast as the crow flies. This is one of the steepest gradients from ocean to summit in the contiguous United States. The average gradient from sea level to summit is around 33%, which is steeper than the average gradient from Owens Valley to the summit of Mount Whitney. Near the mountain summit, the oak woodland and chaparral transitions to a pine forest with a few rare
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built in 1923. The original 13 by 13 feet (4.0 by 4.0 m) wooden-sided ground-level cab house was built on a rock foundation. It originally had a hipped "dunce cap" roof, and was called a "California
Lookout" design. The building was hauled in pieces by mules up the steep and narrow 2 miles
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destination. From that point the summit is 2.25 miles (3.62 km) hike along the Cone Peak Trail (4E12). There are two trails from the coast to the summit of Cone Peak: via the Stone Ridge/Gamboa Trail or the
Vicente Flat Trail.
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helicopter. The wood siding was replaced with metal which protected the structure from fire and vandalism. The lookout was last staffed in 1990. As of 2018, the building houses
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and then turning north 6 miles (9.7 km) on Forest Route 22S05. The very rough Coast Ridge Road rises to 3,800 feet (1,200 m). The peak is a popular
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The lookout atop Cone Peak was one of six active fire lookouts in the
Monterey Ranger District of the Los Padres National Forest. The others were located on
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In 1959. the U.S. Forest
Service replaced the hipped roof with a flat roof that could be used to land a
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equipment and cannot be easily reactivated for use as a fire tower once again.
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at 5,865 feet (1,788 m) is the highest peak in the coastal region.
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303:) forest along with many colonies of Santa Lucia fir (Bristlecone fir,
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256:(3.2 km) trail. During World War II, it was the site of an
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Cone Peak (center) is visible from the
Vicente Flat Trail
475:"Cone Peak Lookout | National Historic Lookout Register"
570:"Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station"
505:"DCQ Winter Solstice '98 - Ventana Double Cone Lookout"
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The mountain slopes contain an old-growth Sugar pine (
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Monterey Ranger
District, Los Padres National Forest
251:The peak is topped by the decommissioned Cone Peak
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621:"Abies bracteata (bristlecone fir) description"
33:Decommissioned forest fire lookout on Cone Peak
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568:Griffin, James R.; Critchfield, William B.
234:Arthur Stone at the Cone Peak Lookout, 1928
540:Double Cone Quarterly, Volume IV, Number 3
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681:Mountains of Monterey County, California
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392:United States Department of the Interior
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415:"Cone Peak "Sea to Sky" – Vicente Flat"
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238:The peak is accessible by driving the
207:is the second highest mountain in the
546:from the original on January 24, 2010
452:from the original on 23 February 2019
16:Mountain in California, United States
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383:Geographic Names Information System
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515:from the original on 20 April 2016
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440:Hext, Rebecca (12 November 2016).
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485:from the original on 2 March 2020
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696:Mountains of Northern California
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442:"Conquering Cone Peak, Big Sur"
388:United States Geological Survey
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575:. United States Forest Service
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536:"The Story of Comings Cabin"
335:Mountain peaks of California
49:5,155 ft (1,571 m)
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217:Los Padres National Forest
92:36.0520218°N 121.4962059°W
64:2,915 ft (888 m)
240:Nacimiento-Fergusson Road
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258:Aircraft Warning Service
97:36.0520218; -121.4962059
642:"Cone Peak, California"
534:Wood, Lea (Fall 2001).
354:"Cone Peak, California"
321:in September 1847, and
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600:www.stevenkharper.com
378:"Ventana Double Cone"
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167:Santa Lucia Mountains
319:Karl Theodor Hartweg
706:Fire lookout towers
509:www.ventanawild.org
419:CascadeClimbers.com
294:, and Three Peaks.
288:Ventana Double Cone
225:Junipero Serra Peak
198:Road and trail hike
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260:observation post.
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213:Ventana Wilderness
52: NAVD 88
39:Highest point
686:Santa Lucia Range
596:"Santa Lucia Fir"
421:. 13 January 2010
317:in 1832 or 1833,
300:Pinus lambertiana
209:Santa Lucia Range
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664:SummitPost.org
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635:External links
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193:Easiest route
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161:Parent range
660:"Cone Peak"
605:20 November
292:Pinyon Peak
284:Chews Ridge
95: /
83:121°29′46″W
70:Coordinates
675:Categories
651:2020-06-17
397:2023-11-17
363:2020-06-16
341:References
144:California
80:36°03′07″N
60:Prominence
579:7 October
325:in 1849.
205:Cone Peak
181:Cone Peak
133:Cone Peak
108:Geography
45:Elevation
22:Cone Peak
544:Archived
519:21 April
513:Archived
489:21 April
483:Archived
479:nhlr.org
456:20 April
450:Archived
425:20 April
329:See also
186:Climbing
174:Topo map
701:Big Sur
446:BayArea
273:Bell-47
253:Lookout
215:of the
211:in the
244:hiking
573:(PDF)
607:2018
581:2018
552:2009
521:2020
491:2020
458:2020
427:2020
179:USGS
148:U.S.
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.