The Caliente Range is a west-east trending zone of uplift mountains in the California Coast Ranges, in central

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 ...

. The highest peak of the range is Caliente Mountain at in elevation, located in southeastern San Luis Obispo County.

Geology

The range is an anticlinal structure with a sharp southern boundary defined by the Morales Thrust Fault, along which runs the Cuyama River. The Cuyama Valley separates the Caliente Range from the Sierra Madre Mountains in neighboring

Santa Barbara County Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria. Santa Barba ...

to the south. To the northeast, the range is bounded by the Carrizo Plain. To the northwest, the range is abutted by the La Panza and

Santa Lucia Range The Santa Lucia Mountains (sæntə luˈsiːə) or Santa Lucia Range is a rugged mountain range in coastal central California, running from Carmel southeast for to the Cuyama River in San Luis Obispo County. The range is never more than fro ...

s, two northwest-southeast trending units of the Pacific Coast Ranges. The rocks of the Caliente range are dominated by marine and terrestrial sedimentary deposits laid down over the last 30 million years. Within them are some volcanic units, prominent particularly in the foothills beginning at the Carrizo Plain. These volcanic rocks are of

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non- avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

age, and are mostly

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% of a ...

.Jennings, Geologic Map of California, Los Angeles Sheet

Land use and accessibility

Most of the Caliente Range is public land, owned and managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Portions are privately owned, and some of the foothills in the northeast are within the protection of the Carrizo Plain National Monument. The peak is accessible to non-motorized traffic via a gated road. The skeleton of an old cabin remains on the peak. This cabin was a lookout point during the Second World War, as an observer on this prominent peak would have been able to see and report Japanese airplanes coming inland to bomb the important oil fields in Kern County. Dips and rises along the ridgeline road leading to the lookout point equal about in elevation gain in the course of the round-trip journey from the locked gate to the peak and back.

Climate

The higher peaks of the range get more precipitation than the lowlands due to

orographic lift Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...

of passing storms. Some snow falls on the highest parts of the range.

References

* Charles W. Jennings and Rudolph G. Strand. ''Geologic Map of California, Los Angeles Sheet.'' State of California, Division of Mines and Geology. 1969. {{authority control California Coast Ranges Mountain ranges of San Luis Obispo County, California Bureau of Land Management areas in California Cuyama Valley