Hozomeen Mountain is a double-summited rock peak on the east side of Ross Lake

Ross Lake

Ross Lake is a large reservoir in the North Cascade mountains of northern Washington state, USA, and southwestern British Columbia, Canada. The lake runs approximately north-south, is 23 miles long, up to 1.5 miles wide, and the full reservoir elevation is 1,604 feet above sea level .The U.S...

 in the North Cascades

North Cascades

The North Cascades are a section of the Cascade Range of western North America. They span the border between the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington and are officially named in Canada as the Cascade Mountains...

 of Washington state. Despite its low absolute elevation, it is notable for the large, steep drops from both of its summits to the surrounding terrain.

The name "Hozomeen" is derived from Salish, a geographically broad language group of the indigenous bands of southern British Columbia and northern Washington State. The name appeared on a sketch map prepared for members of the first boundary survey of the 49th parallel, ca. 1857-1860, designating the name of the mountain. The map was drawn by Thiusoloc, one of surveyor and topographer Henry Custer's Salish guides, and like other geographic features labeled on the map, it recorded Salish place names. According to Annie York, a native Salish speaker, "Hozomeen" refers to "sharp, like a sharp knife." and links the name to the ca. 9,000 year long tradition of indigenous use of Hozomeen chert (a flint-like mineral) to make a variety of subsistence and hunting tools.

Hozomeen North Peak (the main summit) was first climbed on September 6, 1904 by Sledge Tatum and George E. Loudon, Jr. of the Boundary Survey, from the northeast. Other routes exist on the South Ridge and Southwest Buttress.

Hozomeen South Peak, elevation 8003 feet (2,439.3 m), lies approximately 1 miles (1.6 km) southeast of the higher North Peak. It was first climbed on May 30, 1947 by Fred Beckey

Fred Beckey

Fred Beckey is an American mountaineer and author, who has made hundreds of first ascents, more than any other North American climber.-Early years:...

, Melvin Marcus, Jerry O'Neil, Ken Prestrud, Herb Staley, and Charles Welsh, via the Southwest Route. While lower than the North Peak, it has a north face which is "almost completely vertical for 1,000 feet."

Hozomeen Mountain is also mentioned often in the latter portions of Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac

Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...

's 1965 novel Desolation Angels

Desolation Angels (novel)

Desolation Angels, published in 1965, yet written years earlier around the time On the Road was in the process of publication, is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac, which makes up part of his Duluoz Legend...

, when the protagonist is stationed at a fire lookout

Fire lookout

A fire lookout is a person assigned the duty to look for fire from atop a building known as a fire lookout tower. These towers are used in remote areas, normally on mountain tops with high elevation and a good view of the surrounding terrain, to spot smoke caused by a wildfire.Once a possible fire...

 on nearby Desolation Peak

Desolation Peak

Desolation Peak is in the North Cascade Mountains of Washington state, about south of the Canadian border and in the Ross Lake National Recreation Area. It was first climbed in 1926 by Lage Wernstedt, who named it for the destruction caused by a forest fire that swept the slopes bare that same...

. A rhyme in the novel goes "Hozomeen, Hozomeen, the most mournful mountain I've ever seen".