High Sierra Topix

Stumbled upon a group trying to name a peak in Yosemite - they have some details here https://www.sharsmithpeak.org/

Hi: it's been awhile since I posted here. For background I was a backcountry ranger in Yosemite (6 y ears) & Sequoia Kings (40 years) and was involved in the attempt to name a peak after Sharsmith, who I knew and knew most of the folks involved in the project. I was even riding with Sharsmith once when he pointed to Mammoth Peak and jokingly said that he and Ansel Adams were going to have it named after whicherver died first. I submitted that story, as well as Carl's long history and importance to Yosemite, to the Board of Geographic Names but, alas, to no avail.

AND I was asked about the attempt to name a peak north of Whitney after backcountry ranger Randy Morgenson (I was moderately against it as I belive Randy would have been as well). Which is all to say I do know some stuff about getting a peak or feature named officially.

Bad news: almost impossible. I say almost only in the sense that maybe it could happen but it's incredibly rare and for anything in a park and especially in a designated Wilderness Area, I'll say totally impossible. Ansel Adams had a national reputation and close association with the Sierra and California, so that eventually worked. I though Sharsmith certainly had the same deep connection to the Sierra and, especially Yosemite, but it wasn't enough for the Board of Geographic names. In spite of a fairly strong push from Yosemite folks from that period and changing the proposed location so it was no longer in the Park, it just didn't go through. There was some opposition from people in Lee Vining though I never knew why. Also, NPS never really got behind it. Sharsmith was long gone so very few realized how important he was to Yosemite's naturalist program and early history of NPS in Yosemite (he'd been there since the 30s).

Which is also to say that Giantbrookie's approach is best: have the name in your own mind and those of friends. Not to discourage you but the amount of effort to even try is major and I just don't see it happening at all. NPS is never going to back a brand new name without even any history, however nice it is to the terrain and view. In this case, it's not even in common use. Without NPS, at a minimum, you're toast. It's a nice name but perhaps find another project to put energy into??

Finally there's just the whole philosophy of naming things. Personal opinion, I'm just not into that at all anymore (of course, it could be that, as a guy of a certain age, I just don't remember them!...). But, anway, good luck! It's a nice name so at least convince us and your buddies to use it.

and a success story, though not in a wilderness- https://midsierramusing.blogspot.com/20 ... -1957.html

Yes.
I tried for a while to have an unnamed peak named "Fallen Firefighter Peak" after some fellow firefighters were killed. It took quite a while to find an appropriate promontory that checked all the boxes. Not in a Wilderness, no existing name, distinctive from surrounding peaks, etc.
I had verbal support from the Forest Service and county Board of Supervisors.
For unknown reasons, I could not get either to take a formal stance and pass a resolution or issue a letter of approval. My efforts died when I retired.

On another note, shortly before I retired I was updating some GIS files and realized there was a whole slew of small lakes and creeks in one area without any names at all. I had a short-timer attitude by then, and was in a whimsical mood. So I started adding names to the GIS file. My wife, my kids, and my dog all were added as place names to the file.
I did not expect anything to come from it. I certainly had no official authority to do so. I figured in a year or so when anyone updated the file again the unofficial names would be removed.

heh heh... Imagine my pleasant surprise a couple years later when an updated map was issued, and all those lakes had my names printed. Then a subsequent edition several years later did not list the names. oh well, it was amusing while it lasted.