Have you ever tried to name a geographic feature?

[jmherrell]

A couple more examples:
It took over 50 years of lobbying to have Mount Ansel Adams officially named.
When Ferdinand Castillo died there was considerable lobbying to have a feature on Tioga Pass named after him to no avail.

[Enigmagic]

It took over 50 years of lobbying to have Mount Ansel Adams officially named.

might not be the best example of bureaucratic efficiency... per Peter Browning's Place names of the Sierra Nevada:

The name remained unofficial, since BGN regulations do not permit naming a geographic feature for a living person

Ansel Adams died in April 1984 and the feature was approved later in the year. https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz- ... c6f7c/view

[JasonG]

@cgundersen . You should read Kim Stanley Robinson's "The High Sierra. A love story" He talks a great deal about naming in the high sierra.
He actually was able to unofficially? name Mt Thoraeu. Which is peak 12691, just south of the Piute pass trail.
Its recognized on the Caltopo Mapbuilder layer : https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=37.2249 ... z=16&b=mbt


I too visited your well-named Black Diamond Lake two seasons ago. A wonderfully ominous and seemingly unvisited zone in the sierra. We took RoguePhotonic & alpinemike 's Black Divide Crossing over into Ionian Basin. A great class 3 pass with plenty of challenge but never too much exposure

[cgundersen]

Hi Again,

First, thanks to all of you who have chimed in, and yes, I realize that this is a low-probability, quixotic quest, but that’s exactly what I like about backpacking, so as a naïve neophyte I’ll feed the maw of the bureaucracy and see what gets spit out. Nothing ventured, nothing gained? With that preface, I’ll comment on a few of the comments:

SSSDave: Ok, you’re my hero. Besides your photographs, that compilation of names you created surpasses anything I’ve come close to. But it also highlight the fact that the DNC will have plenty of chances to add place names for decades to come. You could keep them busy for years!

Balzac: "Giantbrookie, I've always called your Emerald Staircase the Barret Lakes, since they are all part of that creek's drainage. Your name is far more poetic."
I concur!

Enigmagic: I may be blissfully ignorant in my understanding of the protocol the DNC has in place, but I’m also keen to see what hoops they erect above and beyond the relatively simple form that they want filled out. Either way this plays out, it should be instructive for anyone else on HST who may want to try “formalizing” a name. Also, thanks for your later comment concerning Ansel Adams peak!

Gogd: Ed, I definitely celebrated the reversion of McKinley to Denali, and if a similar trend were to re-write the names in the Sierra, I’d not quibble. But I suspect that a lot of those names have been lost to time though if the DNC demands that I do some research to confirm that hunch, I’d get off my buns and start poking around. Right now, I’m taking the lazy route. Finally, it’s great to hear that you developed your mountaineering skills in the pursuit of herb gardening. Yours is not the first time I’ve heard a story like that, but it’s certainly the most elaborate!

Sgodgreeneyed: Gracias!

JasonG: All I can say is hot dang, great trip and knock-your-socks-off photos. Thanks!

I’m going to let this thread run a bit longer and then submit the paperwork. Cheers, Cameron

[limpingcrab]

I've read through most of their "principles, policies and procedures" document for naming geographic features. One of the standout points is that it seems like they won't accept requests if it's in a designated wilderness, which cuts out much of the Sierra. It also seemed like one of the most likely pathways is to show that it's a name that's been widely used by people in the region for a long time, so it's more of documenting the name than actually naming it yourself.

To test this out I put a register on a peak about 8 years ago and added it to websites like Peakery and SummitPost. My plan is to wait 15 years total and then provide the "documentation" that it's the locally accepted name by photographing the summit register with over a decade of signatures, and links to websites that people use. It's a long game and a long shot but if you can wait another 7 years I'll let you know how it goes, ha!

[cgundersen]

limpingcrab,

That's very helpful! If (as I suspect) my initial application gets denied, I'll see whether fellow HSTers can do the same thing you're doing: namely, add Black Diamond Lake to the vernacular. And then try again in 2030. Or 2040? Cameron

[Love the Sierra]

I forget the name of the documentary, but it was about people who lived in the bush in AK. Their young daughter was killed, tragically, in a high flowing creek. It had not name and they tried to get it named after her but never could.

[Love the Sierra]

Cameron, if you do want to try to name it and need a consensus, I would give you my vote. Sssdave, very nice topo!

[Harlen]

GB wrote:

I like descriptive names of geographic places/features, such as you propose, because we have so few of them in our culture. The vast majority of our place names are named after people, or something related to various aspects of human history, be it somewhat significant or notorious (Convict Lake), or in some cases absurd and related to one person's personal experience (such as "Broken Finger Peak"). We tend lack names such as Denali (The Great One) or Goddess Mother of the Snow (Chomolungma = Mt Everest) or Machapuchare (The Fish's Tail) of the sort that are the norm in other cultures. We have a few precious ones such as Cloudripper, Picture Puzzle, Cathedral Peak, Unicorn Peak, Bridalveil Falls, the Minarets (collectively rather than individually), Thousand Island Lake, but these constitute such a tiny fraction of our place names

Black Diamond Lake sounds good to me. I don't think anybody will confuse that name with a corporate sponsorship (of a gear company).

John, Cameron, Paul/balzacom, et. al, we admire your stance on the naming of mountains, rivers, and other natural elements. I have always much preferred natural names to people's names, though I am sure in some cases the names are relevant-- "Michael Minaret," "Clyde Spires," "Mount Mary Austin".... I too have noticed happily that many other cultures name the elements more poetically, or at least naturally. I first noticed this with Mt Denali in AK, and then in NZ'land where "Mt. Cook" was named by the original people as "Aorangi," meaning "The Cloud Piercer." I call Mt Everest by the native names John mentioned, though it feels a bit pretentious until I explain the meanings. In parts of Europe mountains are often named more naturally; e.g., in France and Switzerland many peaks are _ _ _ _ _ horn," or "Aiguille _ _ _ _ " (aiguille meaning "needle.").

So, we are all for your naming project Cameron, and would be willing to help out with it. "Black Diamond Lake" is a wonderful name, and it happens to be a place I intend to visit. When there, I will be referring to it as Black Diamond Lake profusely-- we will say the name over and over, so then you can add in your presentation the fact that the name has been used hundreds of times. Cheers, Ian.

[cgundersen]

Ian, Aura et al., Thanks for your enthusiasm. And like a lot of folk on this site, I should really be banging around in those hills rather than trying to name spots, but it is a great distraction from city life........Cameron