The San Rafael Mountains are a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have ari ...

in central Santa Barbara County,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, U.S., separating the drainages of the Santa Ynez River and the Santa Maria River. They are part of the

Transverse Ranges The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie within Santa ...

system of

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

which in turn are part of the Pacific Coast Ranges system of western

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

Geography

Most of the mountain range is 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 ...

, and the northern slopes are included in the remote San Rafael Wilderness area. The highest peaks include Big Pine Mountain (6,820 ft, 2,079 m), San Rafael Mountain (6,593 ft, 2,010 m) and McKinley Mountain (6,220 ft, 1,896 m), none of which are easily accessible except by foot or horse. The highest peak at the southern edge of the range is Little Pine Mountain. Hurricane Deck is a spectacular block of sandstone that can be found deep in the San Rafael Wilderness. The Sisquoc River headwaters are on the north slopes of Big Pine Mountain. It is a designated Wild and Scenic River of the United States, and a tributary of the Santa Maria River. Sisquoc Falls, high, is located on a tributary of the Sisquoc River to the west of Big Pine Mountain. Climate is moderate, with hot dry summers (rare thunderstorms) and cool to cold wet winters. Snow sometimes falls on the higher slopes between December and March during frontal passages. Annual precipitation totals are between 15 and 25 inches.

Peaks

The six highest peaks of the San Rafael Mountains with more than of prominence, listed by height: # Big Pine Mountain, # San Rafael Mountain, # Madulce Peak, # Monte Arido, # Ortega Peak, # Figueroa Mountain

Geology

The mountains mainly consist of

sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

and metamorphic rocks, of

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

age or younger, though there are a few regions of

igneous Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...

intrusions. Several prominent faults exist, including the Big Pine Fault, which trends eastward towards the

San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is right-lateral strike-slip (horizontal) ...

about forty miles away.

Habitats

The mountains are steep and rugged, and the lower slopes are dominated by

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranea ...

. This ecosystem is naturally adapted to large, high-severity fires every 30 to 100 years or more. Nearly every area within the San Rafael Mountains has burned within the last century, largely due to an increase in human-caused ignitions. In the more shaded and moist canyons and northern slopes oak woodlands, bigcone Douglas-fir, and

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 ...

are found. Gray pine is also interspersed across the chaparral-dominated slopes. Above the montane chaparral and woodlands

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...

zone are stands of

conifer Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All ext ...

s of the mixed evergreen forest ecosystem. These stands are composed of

Jeffrey pine ''Pinus jeffreyi'', also known as Jeffrey pine, Jeffrey's pine, yellow pine and black pine, is a North American pine tree. It is mainly found in California, but also in the westernmost part of Nevada, southwestern Oregon, and northern Baja Califo ...

ponderosa pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...

, Coulter pine,

sugar pine ''Pinus lambertiana'' (commonly known as the sugar pine or sugar cone pine) is the tallest and most massive pine tree, and has the longest cones of any conifer. The species name ''lambertiana'' was given by the Scottish botanist David Douglas, ...

, singleleaf pinyon pine, white fir, and incense cedar. Snow is common in the winter above about 6,000 feet (1,800 m), though overall the climate of the mountain range is

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

, with mild rainy winters and warm, dry summers.

Human history

The earliest known residents of the San Rafael Mountains were the

Chumash Chumash may refer to: *Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism *Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California *Chumashan languages, indigenous languages of California See also *Chumash traditional n ...

Indians, and evidence of their habitation consists of

pictograph A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and g ...

rock paintings in remote areas. In historic times, mercury mining was conducted on portions of the southern slopes. Tailings from these old mines sometimes contain high levels of mercury, and environmental investigations have been conducted to determine if cleanup is necessary and feasible. The central part of the mountains is included into Santa Ynez Recreation area, a part of Los Padres National Forest, and is a popular hiking destination, with a dozen of campgrounds. San Rafael Mountains

References

External links

* {{Authority control Transverse Ranges Mountain ranges of Santa Barbara County, California Los Padres National Forest Santa Barbara Ranger District, Los Padres National Forest Mountain ranges of Southern California