Location: Riverside County, California

Ernest Maxwell, of the Izaak Walton League in Idyllwild, remembers that Butterfly Peak was named by USFS Ranger Jim Wellman in 1949. They were fighting a fire when there was a question as to what to call it since the bum wasn't near any named spot. Just then some butterflies wafted by and both the fire and the burning peak received a name. This "unofficial" penciled-in use-name was then lifted and applied to the next Forest map. Again, without any official deliberation, this name was subsequently employed by the USGS in 1959.

First cited on USGS Idyllwild topo (1959).

Peak was added to the HPS Peak List in 1961.