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The San Ysidro Mountains are a mountain range in southern
Lying only inland from the
San Diego County
San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the f ...
, 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 ...
and Baja California
Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
, Mexico
Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
. The mountains are a rugged coastal foothill range of the Peninsular Ranges
The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges, which ...
system. Major peaks include the highest summit of the range, Otay Mountain, and the Cerro San Isidro which forms the southern extrusion of the range on the Mexican side of the border. The majority of the range is within the Otay Mountain Wilderness
The Otay Mountain Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness Area located in San Diego County, California, 12 miles east of the city of Otay Mesa and just north of the Mexican border. Some parts of the wilderness area rise quickly from sea level, reaching ...
Area, in the United States.
Geography
Lying only inland from the Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...
, this mountain range rises out of the coastal plain of San Diego and Tijuana until it reaches a maximum height of on the summit of Otay Mountain. On the western side of the mountain lies Lower Otay Lake and Otay Mesa, with the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility
Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility (RJDCF or RJD) is a California state prison located in unincorporated southern San Diego County, California, near San Diego.Tecate Peak
Tecate Peak is a mountain in San Diego County in the U.S. state of California. Tecate Peak is four miles west of Tecate, Baja California, and is about 1/2 mile north of the United States-Mexico border.
Tecate Peak is also known as Kuuchamaa (al ...
(Kuuchamaa).
Cerro San Isidro
The Cerro San Isidro, located in Tijuana, is separated from the rest of the range by the border fence and the Rio Alamar, and forms the southern portion of the mountains. The summit of the Cerro San Isidro reaches approximately , and supports many of the same endemic and rare plants found on Otay Mountain. A '' colonia'' of Tijuana, Valle Imperial, stretches across the western slope of the mountain. On December 31, 2014, a rare snowfall event blanketed the Cerro San Isidro after low temperatures of .Ecology
The native vegetation of the San Ysidro Mountains represents thecoastal sage scrub
Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is ...
of the California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion (western faces); and plants of the California montane chaparral and woodlands ecoregion (inland). The San Ysidro Mountains are one of the few locations the rare Tecate Cypress (''Cupressus forbesii'') is found. This tree was once abundant in the higher elevations of the range as well as in its canyons. The San Ysidro Mountains were deforested of living foliage by wildfire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...
s in 2003 and 2007. ''Cupressus forbesii'' is a fire ecology dependent species, and there has been some evidence of regrowth starting.
See also
*California chaparral and woodlands
The California chaparral and woodlands is a terrestrial ecoregion of southwestern Oregon, northern, central, and southern California (United States) and northwestern Baja California (Mexico), located on the west coast of North America. It is a ...
— ''Terrestrial Biome
A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...
''
*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 ...
References
{{- Peninsular Ranges Mountain ranges of San Diego County, California Mountain ranges of Baja California Mountain Empire (San Diego County) Mountain ranges of Southern California