Mount Gibbs is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, 2.6 miles (4 km) south of Mount Dana

Mount Dana

Mount Dana is a mountain on the eastern edge of Yosemite National Park in the U.S. state of California. At an elevation of , it is the second highest mountain in Yosemite . Mount Dana is the highest peak in Yosemite that is a simple hike to the summit...

. The mountain was named after Oliver Gibbs

Oliver Wolcott Gibbs

For the writer, see Wolcott Gibbs.Oliver Wolcott Gibbs was an American chemist. He is known for performing the first electrogravimetric analyses, namely the reductions of copper and nickel ions to their respective metals.- Biography:Oliver Wolcott Gibbs was born in New York City in 1822 to...

, a professor at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 and friend of Josiah Whitney

Josiah Whitney

Josiah Dwight Whitney was an American geologist, professor of geology at Harvard University , and chief of the California Geological Survey...

. Its peak lies on the boundary between Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...

 and Inyo National Forest

Inyo National Forest

Inyo National Forest is a federally administered forest in the United States. The forest covers parts of the eastern Sierra Nevada of California, and the White Mountains of California and Nevada. It contains two wilderness areas: the John Muir Wilderness and the Ansel Adams Wilderness...

.

The peak is accessible either from the west, starting at Tioga Pass Road, or from the east, via Bloody Canyon from the trailhead at Walker Lake. (Overnight camping is not permitted on the western side of the mountain, which is part of the protected watershed of Dana Meadows and Tioga Pass.) In the summer the mountain has only patchy snow, on the northern slope. The easiest ascent is via the ridge extending west from the peak; there is a steep section of loose, unstable rocks, leading to the gentle ridge that forms the top of the mountain. Although the top is above the tree line, there is some sparse plant life, including wildflowers. The view of Mono Lake

Mono Lake

Mono Lake is a large, shallow saline lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in a basin that has no outlet to the ocean...

from the summit is partially obstructed by an outcropping to the northeast.