Pilot Knob is the 360th-highest peak in California,[4] and topographic relief is significant as the west aspect rises 2,800 feet (850 meters) above Hutchinson Meadow in approximately one mile.

Goddard Quadrangle,[2] and the toponym has been officially adopted by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.

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

Precipitation runoff from this mountain drains into Piute Creek which is a tributary of the South Fork San Joaquin River.