Toro Peak, in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

, is the highest mountain in the Santa Rosa Mountain Range. It is located south of

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...

, west of the

Salton Sea The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly salinity, saline endorheic lake in Riverside County, California, Riverside and Imperial County, California, Imperial counties in Southern California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the S ...

, and east of

Temecula Temecula (; , ; Luiseño: ''Temeekunga'') is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The city had a population of 110,003 as of the 2020 census and was incorporated on December 1, 1989. The city is a tourist and ...

, in the

County of Riverside, California Riverside County is a County (United States), county located in the Southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, its population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most ...

. Part of the mountain is under the jurisdiction of the

San Bernardino National Forest The San Bernardino National Forest is a United States national forest in Southern California encompassing of which are federal. The forest is made up of two main divisions, the eastern portion of the San Gabriel Mountains and the San Bernar ...

. Another portion, including the 8,717 ft summit and the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

marker on the summit (registered in 1939), is gated and controlled by the Santa Rosa Indian Reservation. A third portion of the mountain is administered by the

Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument is a U.S. National Monument, national monument in Southern California. It includes portions of the Santa Rosa Mountains (California), Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains, San Jacinto mo ...

Location

The mountain is accessible from California State Route 74 (also known as the Pines to Palms Highway) via a dirt road approximately 5 miles east of Route 74's junction with Route 371. The dirt road begins at an elevation of 4,700 feet and heads towards the summit for approximately 13 miles. A 4x4 or off-road vehicle is recommended because the road is steep and rocky. It comes to a locked gate around 8,200 ft and from there it is a 500-foot hike to the summit up a rough maintenance road that passes the former MCI (now owned by

Verizon Communications Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

) primary power generator that provides electricity to the summit.

Top of the peak

From Toro Peak's summit one can see the Santa Rosa Mountain Range to

, and neighboring mountains such as

San Jacinto Peak San Jacinto Peak ( ; often designated Mount San Jacinto) is a peak in the San Jacinto Mountains, in Riverside County, California. Lying within Mount San Jacinto State Park it is the highest both in the range and the county, and serves as the s ...

, Mount San Gorgonio,

Palomar Mountain Palomar Mountain ( ; ) is a mountain ridge in the Peninsular Ranges in northern San Diego County, California. It is known as the location of Palomar Observatory and Hale Telescope, and known for Palomar Mountain State Park. History The Luise� ...

, and Hot Springs Mountain. To the east/southeast, the Salton Sea and

Imperial Valley The Imperial Valley ( or ''Valle Imperial'') of Southern California lies in Imperial and Riverside counties, with an urban area centered on the city of El Centro. The Valley is bordered by the Colorado River to the east and, in part, the S ...

are visible. From the peak in good weather Charleston Peak in Nevada is also visible.

Vegetation

Toro Peak and the Santa Rosa Mountains come under the category of

sky island Sky islands are isolated mountains surrounded by radically different lowland environments. The term originally referred to those found on the Mexican Plateau and has extended to similarly isolated high-elevation forests. The isolation has s ...

mountains. Vegetation on the mountain is a mixed variety of trees: Incense Cedar,

White Fir ''Abies concolor'', the white fir, concolor fir, or Colorado fir, is a coniferous tree in the pine family Pinaceae. This tree is native to the mountains of western North America, including the Sierra Nevada and southern Rocky Mountains, and int ...

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 t ...

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 Conifer cone, cones of any conifer. It is native to coastal and inland mountain areas along the Pacific coa ...

and on the highest slopes

Limber Pine ''Pinus flexilis'', the limber pine, is a species of pine tree in the family Pinaceae that occurs in the mountains of the Western United States, Mexico, and Canada. It is also called Rocky Mountain white pine. A limber pine in Eagle Cap Wilder ...

, which is an ice age remnant species. Typical of mountains closest to the Pacific in California, these trees ignore the elevation separations of vegetation (known as

life zones The life zone concept was developed by C. Hart Merriam in 1889 as a means of describing areas with similar plant and animal communities. Merriam observed that the changes in these communities with an increase in latitude at a constant elevation a ...

) that are found on many other mountains. For example, in the adjacent picture, trees such as

and Incense Cedar, are seen growing on the lowest extent of the mountain beside dryer, weather-tolerant trees such as

and

Climate

In winter, the weather on Toro Peak and the Santa Rosa Mountains can be difficult. Snow falls on the mountain more than a few times during the winter and accounts for most of the annual precipitation, with a second percentage coming from monsoonal thunderstorms during the summer. Nighttime and daytime seasonal lows in the winter and seasonal summer highs are taken from the Long Valley Ranger Station on neighboring Mount San Jacinto. This mountain is one of the many scattered sky islands in the southwest. Toro Peak's high elevation helps clear the smog emitted from

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and the

Inland Empire The Inland Empire (commonly abbreviated as the IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County and Or ...

. There is limited human activity beyond a few remote campsites on various parts of the mountain. The peak has a warm-summer

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

( Csb). File:Toro Peak 277.jpg File:Toro Peak 976.jpg File:Toro Peak 884.jpg File:Toro Peak 922.jpg File:Toro Peak 527.jpg File:Toro Peak 925.jpg File:Toro Peak 635.jpg File:Toro Peak 566.jpg

External links

San Bernardino National Forest

Album of Toro Peak pictures, August 2009

Topo map of Toro Peak
* *

References

{{reflist Mountains of Riverside County, California Santa Rosa Mountains (California) Mountains of Southern California