[1] The John Muir Trail follows Bear Creek to the west of this remote peak, providing an approach.

[2] This mountain was named by Sierra Club explorer Theodore Solomons for Eugene W. Hilgard (1833–1916), a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and considered as the father of modern soil science in the United States.

[5] The Hilgard name may have been initially meant for the current Recess Peak, according to Solomon's account.

[7] 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, causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snowfall onto the range (orographic lift).