Location: Santa Barbara County, California
Named for one of the prevalent life forms in this area: the Small-scaled Tree Lizard (Vrosaurus microscutatus), and because to some, the appearance of this summit resembles its name. The lizard is universally associated with light and the sun and in Europe is representative of the yearning of the soul to cleave with the divinity. Apollo as the lizard-slayer is emblematic of this desire. The molting of its skin suggested the lizard as a Christian symbol of rejuvenation, rebirth, and resurrection. The lizard is everywhere described as having a close affinity to man, either because of similarities in morphology, especially the hand, or symbolically as the repository of the alternate soul. In a Chumash legend, Lizard succeeded in having his own hands serve as the model for human hands, but only after conceding to the reservation of Coyote: that henceforth men would live as mortals.
Name first appears on Army Service map Service Moro Hill topo (1943).
Peak was added to the HPS Peak List in 1958.
Sign up to post your trip reports, photos and comments, and to receive occasional updates about news and events
