Cone Peak is the highest coastal Mountain in the lower 48 states at about 5,100 feet above sea level (1,524 meters). It is the taller sharp peak just left of the sky-glow light-pollution from Monterey Peninsula and Salinas, some 45 – 50 miles away.

All the stars appear to be rotating around Polaris, Earth’s North Star, from the location where I took the photograph.

From the point of view of our Moon, the stars are essentially motionless compared to our Earth which is rotating dramatically (~1,000 mph at the equator relative to our Moon).

You can’t quite drop a rock into the ocean from Cone Peak’s top, but one can easily glide a hang glider to the beach.

Mt St. Elias, Mt Logan and Mt Fairweather are the highest North American coastal peaks.