Siskiyou Mountains
Day Drive from Applegate to Ashland. Picture taken August 11, 2008
The Siskiyou Mountains are a coastal mountain range in the northern Klamath Mountains in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the United States. They extend in an arc for approximately 100 miles (160 km) from east of Crescent City, California northeast along the north side of the Klamath River into Josephine and Jackson counties in Oregon. The mountain range forms a barrier between the watersheds of the Klamath River to the south and the Rogue River to the north.
The highest peaks in the range include Mt. Ashland at elevation 7,533 feet (2,296 m), Dutchman Peak at 7,410 feet (2,260 m), Siskiyou Peak at 7,147 feet (2,178 m), and Wagner Butte at 7,140 feet (2,180 m), all of which are in Oregon. The highest peak in the California portion of the range is Preston Peak at 7,309 feet (2,228 m). Due to this high elevation and proximity to the Pacific Ocean, the peaks get high precipitation (rainfall and snowfall) and thus its forests are a lush green.[2]
These mountains are not the highest or most dramatic in the Klamath Mountains but are subtly beautiful, botanically diverse, and the wildest the region has to offer. Diversity abounds because western canyons can receive over 100 inches (2,500 mm) of rain in some winters while eastern areas are slightly more arid. Because the Siskiyous trend both north and south and then east and west, it holds species that range from coastal, like coast redwood, to Cascadian, like Alaska yellow-cedar and Pacific silver fir.
Much of the range is within the Rogue River-Siskiyou and Klamath national forests. The Pacific Crest Trail follows a portion of the ridge of the range. The Klamath-Siskiyou forests are noted for their high biodiversity.
