Pine Mountain Ridge (or simply Pine Mountain) is a massif of the
Transverse Ranges located in northern
Ventura County
Ventura County () is a County (United States), county in Southern California, the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, California ...
, and entirely within the
Los Padres National Forest
Los Padres National Forest is a United States national forest in southern and central California. Administered by the United States Forest Service, Los Padres includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast from Ventura to Mo ...
.
[Magney, David]
"Pine Mountain Ridge, Ventura County, California"
January 8, 2008. Accessed April 29, 2008. The ridge is a large block of
Matilija Sandstone
The Matilija Sandstone () is a sedimentary geologic unit of Eocene epoch in the Paleogene Period, found in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties in Southern California.
It consists of thick layers of sandstone, made up of grains of feldspar and qu ...
, and reaches some of the highest elevations in the southern Transverse Ranges. The north slope of the ridge is part of the Sespe Wilderness.
Major peaks on the ridge include, from west to east, Reyes Peak, Haddock Peak, and Thorn Point.
Ecology
The ridge is located in the
California montane chaparral and woodlands
The California montane chaparral and woodlands is an ecoregion defined by the World Wildlife Fund, spanning of mountains in the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, and Coast Ranges of southern and central California. The ecoregion is part of ...
ecoregion. Lower slopes are dominated by chaparral, while the upper reaches of the mountain support a thick pine forest of
Coulter pine
The Coulter pine or big-cone pine, ''Pinus coulteri'', is a native of the coastal mountains of Southern California in the United States and northern Baja California in Mexico. Isolated groves are found as far north as Clearlake, California on the ...
s and
California incense cedar
''Calocedrus decurrens'', with the common names incense cedar and California incense-cedar (syn. ''Libocedrus decurrens'' Torr.), is a species of coniferous tree native to western North America. It is the most widely known species in the genus, ...
s.
See also
*
Santa Ynez Mountains
The Santa Ynez Mountains are a portion of the Transverse Ranges, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges of the west coast of North America. It is the westernmost range in the Transverse Ranges.
The range is a large fault block of Cenozoic age create ...
- to the west
*
Topatopa Mountains
The Topatopa Mountains are a mountain range in Ventura County, California, north of Ojai, Santa Paula, and Fillmore. They are part of the Transverse Ranges of Southern California.
Etymology
A name for the mountains was first inscribed within the ...
- to the south
*
Sierra Pelona Mountains
The Sierra Pelona, also known as the Sierra Pelona Ridge or the Sierra Pelona Mountains, is a mountain ridge in the Transverse Ranges in Southern California. Located in northwest Los Angeles County, the ridge is bordered on the north by the San An ...
- to the east
*
San Emigdio Mountains
The San Emigdio Mountains are a part of the Transverse Ranges in Southern California, extending from Interstate 5 at Lebec and Gorman on the east to Highway 33–166 on the west. They link the Tehachapis and Temblor Range and form the souther ...
- to the north
References
External links
Los Padres National Forest: "Pine Mountain and Reyes Peak Campgrounds"
{{coord missing, Ventura County, California
Transverse Ranges
Mountain ranges of Ventura County, California
Los Padres National Forest
Mountain ranges of Southern California