Merced Peak is located close to southern border of Yosemite National Park, near the Ottoway Lakes.

[7] In 1871, influential Scottish-American naturalist John Muir discovered an active alpine glacier below Merced Peak, which helped his theory that Yosemite Valley was formed by glacial action gain acceptance.

[8] Most weather fronts originate in the Pacific Ocean, and travel east toward the Sierra Nevada mountains.

As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks (orographic lift), causing moisture in the form of rain or snowfall to drop onto the range.

This Merced County, California-related article is a stub.