Kendrick Peak or
Kendrick Mountain (35.4081°N, 111.8507°W) is one of the highest peaks in the
San Francisco volcanic fieldThe San Francisco volcanic field is an area of volcanoes in northern Arizona, north of Flagstaff, USA. The field covers 1,800 square miles of the southern boundary of the Colorado Plateau. The field contains 600 volcanoes ranging in age from less than 6 million years old to less than 1,000 years ,...
north of the
cityA city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
of
FlagstaffFlagstaff is a city located in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2010, the city's population was 65,870. The population of the Metropolitan Statistical Area was at 134,421 in 2010. It is the county seat of Coconino County...
in the
U.S. StateA U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of
ArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
and is located on the
Coconino PlateauThe Coconino Plateau is found south of the Grand Canyon and north—northwest of Flagstaff, in northern Arizona of the Southwestern United States.-Geography:...
in
Coconino County-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*61.7% White*1.2% Black*27.3% Native American*1.4% Asian*0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.1% Two or more races*5.2% Other races*13.5% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
.
Kendrick Peak rises to a height of 10,418 feet (3175.4 meters) above
sea levelMean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
, which makes it the 11th or 12th tallest summit (depending on the source) in
ArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. Kendrick Peak is between 2.7 and 1.4 million years old and consists primarily of
daciteDacite is an igneous, volcanic rock. It has an aphanitic to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite. The relative proportions of feldspars and quartz in dacite, and in many other volcanic rocks, are illustrated in the QAPF diagram...
and
rhyoliteThis page is about a volcanic rock. For the ghost town see Rhyolite, Nevada, and for the satellite system, see Rhyolite/Aquacade.Rhyolite is an igneous, volcanic rock, of felsic composition . It may have any texture from glassy to aphanitic to porphyritic...
flows that were partly buried by
andesiteAndesite is an extrusive igneous, volcanic rock, of intermediate composition, with aphanitic to porphyritic texture. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between basalt and dacite. The mineral assemblage is typically dominated by plagioclase plus pyroxene and/or hornblende. Magnetite,...
according to the USGS.
Kendrick Peak is wholly contained within the
Kendrick Mountain WildernessKendrick Mountain Wilderness is a wilderness area in the U.S. State of Arizona. It lies north of the city of Flagstaff on the Coconino Plateau in Coconino County. Kendrick Mountain Wilderness was designated a protected Wilderness area by Congress in 1984. About two thirds of the wilderness is...
. A
fire lookoutA fire lookout is a person assigned the duty to look for fire from atop a building known as a fire lookout tower. These towers are used in remote areas, normally on mountain tops with high elevation and a good view of the surrounding terrain, to spot smoke caused by a wildfire.Once a possible fire...
, manned by the
United States Forest ServiceThe United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...
during the week and by volunteers on the weekends, has stood on top of Kendrick Peak since the early 1900s.
There are three maintained trails to the topographical summit of Kendrick Peak - Kendrick Mountain Trail, Pumpkin Trail and Bull Basin Trail.
Along the Kendrick Mountain Trail, near the summit of Kendrick Peak, there is a
Colorado PinyonThe Colorado Pinyon, Two-needle Pinyon, or Piñon Pine, ', is a pine in the pinyon pine group whose ancestor was a member of the Madro-Tertiary Flora and is native to the United States....
(
Pinus edulis) growing at an altitude of nearly 10,400 feet (3,169.9 meters). This is a rare high-elevation example of this species growing amongst
engelmann sprucePicea engelmannii is a species of spruce native to western North America, from central British Columbia and southwest Alberta, southwest to northern California and southeast to Arizona and New Mexico; there are also two isolated populations in northern Mexico...
(
Picea engelmannii) and
limber pineThe Limber Pine, Pinus flexilis, is a species of pine tree-the family Pinaceae that occurs in the mountains of the Western United States, Mexico, and Canada. It is also called Southwestern White Pine and Rocky Mountain White Pine...
(
Pinus flexilis).
In the year 2000 the Kendrick Wilderness and Kendrick Peak were involved in a large
wildfireA wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...
, the results of which are still quite evident to hikers or visitors to the peak. In an effort to return the forest to its "pre-fire" state,
cattleCattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
are sometimes grazed near the Kendrick Mountain Trail trailhead.
This peak should not be confused with a peak named Kendrick Peak in
Yosemite National ParkYosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
at 38.1248°N, 119.6380°W.
Geology
Kendrick Peak is a dome volcano, with some having multiple extrusion vents. Other Arizona examples of dome volcanoes are
Mount EldenMount Elden, or Elden Mountain, is located in central Coconino County northeast of Flagstaff, Arizona. It takes its name from one of the region's earliest Anglo settlers, John Elden, who, along with his family, established a homestead on the mountain’s lower slopes and grazed sheep on the open...
, Bill Williams Mountain, and Sitgreaves Mountain.
External links