Junipero Serra Peak, Mountain summit in Santa Lucia Range, California, US

Junipero Serra Peak is the highest summit of the Santa Lucia Range and of Monterey County, reaching 1,785 metres within Los Padres National Forest. A fire lookout tower and building stand near the top, built around 1935. Sugar pines grow on the north summit and upper north-slope drainages, isolated from other stands by about 220 km and surrounded by chaparral and mixed hardwood scrub.

The mountain was formerly known as Santa Lucia Peak until it was renamed in 1906 by the United States Board on Geographic Names. The change followed a recommendation from the Sierra Club, which sought to link it with a historical religious figure.

The Salinan name for the peak is Pimkolam. In 1905 the Native Daughters of the Golden West gave the name Junípero Serra to a Sierra Nevada peak; the Sierra Club proposed moving it to Santa Lucia Peak, and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names approved the change in 1906, judging that Serra knew the Santa Lucia Mountains but probably never saw the Sierra Nevada.

The hike is demanding and requires sturdy boots, plenty of water, and long sleeves for protection against poison oak. Start early to give yourself enough daylight for both the climb and the return journey.

In the 1880s, astronomers built a trail to the summit to observe a total solar eclipse. A few years later, the same group returned to study Venus as it passed in front of the sun.