| Granite Chief Wilderness | |
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| Location | Placer County, California, United States |
| Nearest city | Tahoe City, California |
| Coordinates | 39°08′58″N 120°17′45″W / 39.14944°N 120.29583°W |
| Area | 19,048 acres (77.08 km2) |
| Established | January 1, 1984 |
| Governing body | U.S. Forest Service |
The Granite Chief Wilderness is a 19,048 acre (77 km2) federally designated wilderness area of the Tahoe National Forest. Created by the California Wilderness Act of 1984,[1] it is located in the Sierra Nevada mountains west of Lake Tahoe in the U.S. state of California. It is managed by the U.S. Forest Service Tahoe National Forest. Elevations range from 4,800 feet (1,500 m) to 9,019 feet (2,749 m)[2] at the summit of Granite Chief.
Events such as the Western States Endurance Run and the equestrian Western States Trail Ride, (popularly called The Tevis Cup) cross portions of the wilderness. The Pacific Crest Trail also passes through along the east edge of the wilderness.
This region is extensively glaciated and has features such as hanging valleys, cirques and U-shaped valleys, but few lakes. Just outside the wilderness boundary there are two large recreation reservoirs, Hell Hole Reservoir to the south and French Meadows Reservoir to the west.
The Sierra Club had maintained the Bradley Hut, which was a ski hut located at the Five Lakes Basin, but in 1994 the Sierra Club was asked to remove the hut by the Forest Service as it was now inside the newly created wilderness. The hut was dismantled and relocated four miles (6 km) away. Because no mechanical equipment can be used in a wilderness, the dismantling of the Bradley Hut took until the fall of 1996 to finish.[3]