Mokelumne Wilderness

Mokelumne Wilderness
Round Top Peak in the Mokelumne Wilderness
A map of the United States showing the location of the Mokelumne Wilderness
A map of the United States showing the location of the Mokelumne Wilderness
Map of the United States
LocationSierra Nevada Mountain Range, Alpine / Amador / Calaveras counties, California, United States
Nearest citySouth Lake Tahoe, California (north), Markleeville, California (east)
Coordinates38°35′00″N 119°58′43″W / 38.58333°N 119.97861°W / 38.58333; -119.97861
Area105,165 acres (425.59 km2)
Established1964
Governing bodyU.S. Forest Service

The Mokelumne Wilderness is a 105,165-acre (164 sq mi; 426 km2)[1] federally designated wilderness area located 70 miles (110 km) east of Sacramento, California. It is within the boundaries of three national forests: Stanislaus, Eldorado and Toiyabe. First protected under the Wilderness Act of 1964, the Mokelumne's borders were expanded under the California Wilderness Act of 1984 with the addition of 55,000[2] acres. The wilderness takes its name from the Mokelumne River, which was named after a Mi-wok Indian village located on the riverbank in California's Central Valley.[3]

The wilderness encompasses an area of the Sierra Nevada mountain range between Ebbetts Pass and Carson Pass. There are two sections separated by the Blue Lakes Road and an Off-Road Vehicle corridor.

Elevations range from 4,000 feet (1,200 m) to 10,381 feet (3,164 m). The highest point is Round Top (10,364 feet[4]), a remnant volcano from which the wilderness area's volcanic soils are derived.

  1. ^ "Official site -Stanislaus NF, Mokelumne History page". Archived from the original on 2008-09-25. Retrieved 2008-10-16.
  2. ^ California Wilderness Act of 1984, P.L. 98-425 Sec.101(16)
  3. ^ Sierra Nevada Wild webpage on Mokelumne Wilderness Archived 2008-10-14 at the Wayback Machine accessed 16 October 2008
  4. ^ "GNIS Detail – Round Top". geonames.usgs.gov. Archived from the original on 2021-10-11. Retrieved 2008-12-10.