Klamath Mountains

File:Alexlockhart Mt Ashland 06-01-21.jpg, the highest point of the Siskiyou Mountains]]

Physiographically, the Klamath Mountains include the Siskiyou Mountains, the Marble Mountains, the Scott Mountains, the Trinity Mountains, the Trinity Alps, the Salmon Mountains, and the northern Yolla-Bolly Mountains.Sawyer (2006), p. 104 They are a section of the larger Pacific Border province, which in turn is part of the Pacific Mountain System (Pacific Coast Ranges) physiographic division.Benke, et al., p. 543 Klamath Mountains is the name given to one of California's eleven geomorphic provinces.{{Cite web|url=https://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/Documents/Publications/CGS-Notes/CGS-Note-36.pdf|title=California Geological Survey: Note 36 (California Geomorphic Provinces)|date=December 1, 2002|website=California Department of Conservation|access-date=February 12, 2019}}

These are the ten highest points in the Klamath Mountains:

1. Mount Eddy (Trinity County and Siskiyou County, California; {{convert|9029|ft|m}})
2. Thompson Peak (Trinity and Siskiyou County, California; {{convert|9002|ft|m}})
3. Mount Hilton (Trinity and Siskiyou County, California; {{convert|8934|ft|m}})
4. Caesar Peak (Trinity and Siskiyou County, California; {{convert|8920|ft|m}})
5. Sawtooth Mountain (Trinity County, California; {{convert|8891|ft|m}})
6. Wedding Cake Mountain (Trinity County, California; {{convert|8570|ft|m}})
7. Caribou Mountain (Siskiyou County, California; {{convert|8564|ft|m}})
8. China Mountain (Siskiyou County, California; {{convert|8551|ft|m}})
9. Gibson Peak (Trinity County, California; {{convert|8403|ft|m}})
10. Boulder Peak (Siskiyou County, California; {{convert|8299|ft|m}})

A large portion of the Klamath Mountains is managed by the United States Forest Service. Several national forests lie in the Klamath Mountains region, including the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Siskiyou National Forest, Klamath National Forest, Six Rivers National Forest, and Mendocino National Forest.{{cite web|url=http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r6/home/?cid=fsbdev2_026675|title=Pacific Northwest Forest Areas|publisher=U.S. Forest Service|access-date=March 28, 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r5/news-events/mediatools?cid=STELPRDB5392280|title=Map of the National Forests and Other Public Lands of California|publisher=U.S. Forest Service|access-date=March 28, 2013}}

The Klamath Mountains contain 11 wilderness areas in both Oregon and California:{{cite web|url=http://www.oregonwild.org/wilderness|title=Wilderness|publisher=Oregon Wild|access-date=March 28, 2013}}{{cite web|title=Wilderness Areas in California|url=http://www.wilderness.net/NWPS/stateViewStatic?state=ca&map=canorth|publisher=Wilderness.net|access-date=March 28, 2013|archive-date=March 31, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130331012759/http://www.wilderness.net/NWPS/stateViewStatic?state=ca&map=canorth|url-status=dead}}

{{Div col}}

• Chanchelulla Wilderness
• Kalmiopsis Wilderness
• Marble Mountain Wilderness
• Mount Lassic Wilderness
• North Fork Wilderness
• Red Buttes Wilderness
• Russian Wilderness
• Siskiyou Wilderness
• Soda Mountain Wilderness
• Trinity Alps Wilderness
• Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness

{{div col end}}

There are extensive hiking trail systems, recreation areas, and campgrounds both primitive and developed in the Klamaths. A {{convert|211|mi|km|adj=on}} stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) passes through these mountains as well. This section of the PCT is known locally as "The Big Bend" and is the transition from the California Floristic Province to the Cascades.

The Bigfoot Trail is a {{convert|400|mi|km|adj=on}} trail through the Klamath Mountains from the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness to Crescent City, California.

The rocks of the Klamath Mountains originated as island arcs and continental fragments in the Pacific Ocean. The island masses consisted of rifted fragments of pre-existing continents and volcanic island masses created over subduction zones. These island masses contain rocks as old as 500 million years, dating to the early Paleozoic Era.Bishop, pp. 29–31 A succession of eight island terranes moved eastward on the ancient Farallon Plate and collided with the North American Plate between 260 and about 130 million years ago.{{cite web|url=http://geopubs.wr.usgs.gov/open-file/of99-374/|title=Plutons and Accretionary Episodes of the Klamath Mountains, California and Oregon|first1=William P.|last1=Irwin|first2=Joseph L|last2=Wooden|publisher=U.S. Geological Survey|id=Open-File Report 99-374}} Each accretion left a terrane of rock of a single age. During the accretion, subduction of the plate metamorphosed the overlying rock and produced magma which intruded the overlying rock as plutons. Serpentinite, produced by the metamorphism of basaltic oceanic rocks, and intrusive rocks of gabbroic to granodiorite composition are common rocks within the Klamath terranes.{{cite web | url= http://www.oregongeology.org/sub/learnmore/KlamathMountains.HTM | publisher= Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries | title= Klamath Mountains | access-date= December 11, 2011 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120507153200/http://www.oregongeology.org/sub/learnmore/KlamathMountains.HTM | archive-date= May 7, 2012 | url-status= dead }}{{cite web|title=Serpentine and Serpentinite|url=http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/LivingWith/VolcanicPast/Notes/serpentine.html|publisher=U.S. Geological Survey|access-date=December 11, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111019015059/http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/LivingWith/VolcanicPast/Notes/serpentine.html|archive-date=October 19, 2011|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|last=Hirt|first=William|title=Geologic Overview of the Eastern Klamath Mountains|url=http://www.siskiyous.edu/class/xnh0340/EasternKlamathMar11.pdf|publisher=College of the Siskiyous Department of Natural Sciences|location=Weed, CA|page=4|format=PDF|access-date=December 11, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318075350/http://www.siskiyous.edu/class/xnh0340/EasternKlamathMar11.pdf|archive-date=March 18, 2014|url-status=dead}}

Subsequent lava flows from active volcanoes in the Cascade Range and the erosion of the Oregon Coast Range to the north partially covered these rocks with basalt and sediments.

{{Further|Klamath Mountains (ecoregion)}}

File:Incensecedar sanjacintomts.JPG]]

As a consequence of the geology, the mountains harbor rich biodiversity, with several distinct plant communities, including temperate rain forests, moist inland forests, oak forests and savannas, high elevation forests, and alpine grasslands. These communities form the Klamath Mountains ecoregion. One of the principal plant communities in the Klamath Mountains is Mediterranean California Lower Montane Black Oak-Conifer Forest.{{cite web|first=C. Michael|last=Hogan|date=August 29, 2008|title=California Black Oak: Quercus kelloggii|work=GlobalTwitcher|publisher=N. Stromberg|url=http://www.globaltwitcher.com/artspec_information.asp?thingid=82385|access-date=March 28, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213134008/http://www.globaltwitcher.com/artspec_information.asp?thingid=82385|archive-date=February 13, 2012|url-status=dead}}

The ecoregion includes several endemic or near-endemic species, such as Port Orford cedar or Lawson's cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana), foxtail pine (Pinus balfouriana spp. balfouriana), and Brewer's spruce (Picea breweriana), forming one of the largest collections of different conifers in the world. The flowering plant Kalmiopsis leachiana, also endemic to the Klamaths, is limited to the Siskiyou sub-range in Oregon.Sawyer (2004), pp. 128–135

{{cite book

| last = Kauffmann

| first = Michael

| title = Conifer Country

| year = 2012

| location = Kneeland, CA

| publisher = Backcountry Press

| isbn = 9780578094168

| oclc = 798852130}}

;Conifers

A large concentration of diverse coniferous species of trees exists in these mountains.{{cite web|url=http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/beauty/serpentines/center/|title=A Center of Diversity, Endemism, and Rarity|publisher=U.S. Forest Service|access-date=April 12, 2013}} Thirty conifer species (or more, depending on where one delineates the region) inhabit the area, including two endemic species, the Brewer's spruce and the Port Orford cedar, making the Klamath Mountains one of the richest coniferous forest regions of the world in terms of concentrated species diversity. The region also has several edaphic plant communities, adapted to specific soil types, notably serpentine outcrops.Briles, et al., p. 590Axelrod, p. 51

File:Russian Peak.jpg]]

In 1969, Drs. John O. Sawyer and Dale Thornburgh discovered 17 species of conifers in {{convert|1|sqmi|km2}} around Little Duck Lake and Sugar Creek in the Russian Wilderness. They called this diverse area the Miracle Mile.{{cite web|url=http://yournec.org/content/kin-earth-remembering-john-sawyer|publisher=Northcoast Environmental Center|title=Kin to the Earth - Remembering John Sawyer|first=Michael|last=Kauffmann|date=October 2012|access-date=March 31, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318062913/http://yournec.org/content/kin-earth-remembering-john-sawyer|archive-date=March 18, 2014|url-status=dead}} In 2013 Richard Moore identified an 18th species, western juniper, in the Sugar Creek canyon.{{cite web|url=http://blog.conifercountry.com/2013/02/10/18th-conifer-in-the-miracle-mile.aspx|title=Field Notes From Plant Explorations|first=Michael|last=Kauffmann|work=Conifer Country|access-date=March 17, 2014|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313021800/http://blog.conifercountry.com/2013/02/10/18th-conifer-in-the-miracle-mile.aspx|archive-date=March 13, 2013}} This is now considered the richest assemblage of conifers per unit area in any temperate region on Earth.

Conifer species in the Klamath Mountains include coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii ssp. menziesii), Port Orford cedar, ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana), mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana), western hemlock, white fir (Abies concolor var. lowiana), red fir (A. magnifica var. shastensis), Brewer spruce, coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), western red cedar (Thuja Plicata),Pacific yew (Taxus brevifolia),Western White Pine, Lodgepole Pine, Whitebark Pine, Incense Cedar, Foothill Pine, Foxtail Pine, western Juniper, common juniper, subalpine fir, grand fir, sitka spruce, Shasta fir, knobcone pine, Engelmann spruce, Noble fir, Bishop Pine, Baker cypress, yellow cedar, shore pine and Jeffrey Pine. The Westernmost stand of Quaking Aspen trees is located in the northern portion of the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness .Strothmann and Roy, p. 1{{cite web|url=http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/rogue-siskiyou/news-events/?cid=STELPRDB5396161|title=Port-Orford-cedar Gate Closures In Effect|date=October 22, 2012|publisher=U.S. Forest Service|access-date=March 31, 2013}}Sawyer (2006), pp. 69, 71, 78, 80, 101, 117, 184{{cite web|url=http://ceres.ca.gov/geo_area/bioregions/Klamath/about.html |title=The Klamath/North Coast Bioregion: An Overview |publisher=California Natural Resources Agency |access-date=March 31, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404213014/http://ceres.ca.gov/geo_area/bioregions/Klamath/about.html |archive-date=April 4, 2013 }}

;Trinity Alps flora

Typical species of the Trinity Alps region include Douglas fir, ponderosa pine, red fir, white fir, black oak, canyon live oak, Pacific madrone, bigleaf maple, California Buckeye, incense cedar, and Jeffrey pine.White, pp. 54, 243, 261, 318, 322Lewon, p. 20Wuerthner, p. 121 California's northernmost stand of gray pine (Pinus sabiniana) is found here along the South Fork of the Salmon River.{{cite web|url=http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/klamath/specialplaces/?cid=stelprdb5104744|title=Botanical Areas|publisher=U.S. Forest Service|access-date=April 6, 2013}}

File:Rød ræv (Vulpes vulpes).jpg

The vast forested wildlands, coupled with a low rate of human settlement in the rugged remote terrain, provides excellent habitat for a number of species. Mammal species include mountain lions, black bears, bobcats, lynx, raccoons, martens, fishers, beavers, grey fox, red fox, northern flying squirrel, and plentiful black-tailed deer. Bird species include golden eagles, bald eagles, pileated woodpecker, Flicker woodpecker,band-tailed pigeon, several hawks including goshawks, Red-tailed hawks several large owl species including the spotted owl, plus an extensive variety of additional species both plant and animal.

Grizzly bears, gray wolves, and mule deer once inhabited the area, but were extirpated by European settlers. A project to reintroduce Roosevelt elk began in 1985 in the western Marble Mountains, near Elk Creek. Over the next 10 years the number and placement of reintroduced animals was expanded, and now elk can be seen roaming throughout the Marble Mountain Wilderness, Trinity Alps Wilderness, in the northern Siskiyou Mountains, along the South Fork of the Salmon River, and in small numbers near Trinity Lake and Reading Creek.{{cite web| publisher= County of Siskiyou | url=http://www.co.siskiyou.ca.us/KlamathProposal/Klamath-Landscape-Strategies/KNF-Elk-strategy.pdf |title= Elk Habitat Management Strategy: Klamath National Forest|date=May 2007 |format= PDF | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331215727/http://www.co.siskiyou.ca.us/KlamathProposal/Klamath-Landscape-Strategies/KNF-Elk-strategy.pdf |archive-date=March 31, 2012}}

Some of the most remote areas are the location of supposed Bigfoot/Sasquatch sightings from time to time, and the legendary creature plays a part in the folk tales of the Native American populations.{{cite news|first=Zach|last=Urness|title=Happy Camp, Calif., in Klamath River Country, is an Epicenter of Outdoors Recreation|date=September 17, 2011|newspaper=The Oregonian|location=Portland, OR}}

{{clear}}

File:Mule Creek Canyon.jpg

Major rivers and lakes in the Klamath Mountains include the Klamath River, Trinity River, Smith River, Salmon River, Rogue River, Scott River, upper Sacramento River, Chetco River, Mad River, Van Duzen River, Applegate River, Illinois River, Elk River, South Umpqua River, South Fork Coquille River, Shasta Lake, Trinity Lake, Ruth Lake, Castle Lake, Applegate Lake, and Whiskeytown Lake.

The many mountains, streams and rivers form a major spawning ground for several species of trout and salmon; yet recently, in the last 50 years, some of the fish stocks have fallen drastically, particularly salmon stocks. The ecoregion's rivers and streams are home to nine species of native salmonids. The depletions occur mainly due to construction of dams and clearcutting of forests on the rugged slopes of the area contribute to large amounts of silt in the stream beds, which in turn interfere with spawning salmon, as they lay their eggs in exposed gravel beds.{{cite web|title=Salmon, Steelhead, and Trout in California: Status of an Emblematic Fauna|url=https://watershed.ucdavis.edu/pdf/SOS-Californias-Native-Fish-Crisis-Final-Report.pdf|format=PDF|publisher=University of California, Davis|year=2008|first1=Peter B.|last1=Moyle|first2=Joshua A.|last2=Israel|first3=Sabra E.|last3=Purdy|pages=20, 26|access-date=April 12, 2013|archive-date=May 21, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120521123546/http://watershed.ucdavis.edu/pdf/SOS-Californias-Native-Fish-Crisis-Final-Report.pdf|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/na0516|title=Klamath-Siskiyou|publisher=World Wildlife Fund|access-date=April 12, 2013}} The notable fish species are king, kokanee, and silver salmon, brown, brook, and rainbow trout (including steelhead), cutthroat trout, and crappie, bluegill, catfish, and largemouth and smallmouth bass.{{cite web|url=http://www.kiene.com/portfolio-view/trinity-river/|title=Trinity River|publisher=Kiene's Fly Shop|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203000818/http://www.kiene.com/portfolio-view/trinity-river/|archivedate=December 3, 2013}}Sawyer (2006), pp. 162–164, 166{{cite web|url=http://www.dfw.state.or.us/conservationstrategy/docs/document_pdf/b-eco_km.pdf|title=Klamath Mountains Ecoregion|publisher=Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife|date=January 2006|format=PDF|page=195|access-date=April 12, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130423082856/http://www.dfw.state.or.us/conservationstrategy/docs/document_pdf/b-eco_km.pdf|archive-date=April 23, 2013}}

• The Klamath Knot

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

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• {{cite book|title=Miocene Floras from the Middlegate Basin, West-Central Nevada|first=Daniel I.|last=Axelrod|publisher=University of California Press|series=University of California Publications in Geological Sciences|volume=129|date=January 1985|location=Berkeley, CA|isbn=9780520096950|oclc=10532850}}
• Benke, Arthur C., ed., and Cushing, Colbert E., ed.; Stanford, Jack A.; Gregory, Stanley V.; Hauer, Richard F.; Snyder, Eric B. (2005). Rivers of North America. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Academic Press. {{ISBN|0-12-088253-1}}. {{OCLC|59003378}}.
• {{cite book|last=Bishop|first=Ellen Morris|title=Hiking Oregon's Geology|year=2004|publisher=Mountaineers Books|location=Seattle, WA|isbn=9780898868470|edition=2nd|oclc= 53887464}}
• {{cite journal|url=http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/skinner/psw_2011_skinner(briles)001.pdf|format=PDF|title=Holocene forest development and maintenance on different substrates in the Klamath Mountains, northern California, USA|journal=Ecology|volume=92|issue=3|year=2011|pages=590–601|publisher=Ecological Society of America|first1=Christy E.|last1=Briles|first2=Cathy|last2=Whitlock|first3=Carl N.|last3=Skinner|first4=Jerry|last4=Mohr|access-date=March 29, 2013|doi=10.1890/09-1772.1|pmid=21608468|hdl=1969.1/182773|hdl-access=free}}
• {{cite book|last=Lewon|first=Dennis|title=Hiking California's Trinity Alps Wilderness|year=2001|location=Helena, MT|publisher=Falcon|isbn=9781560447139|oclc=47039653}}
• {{cite book|last=Kauffmann|first=Michael|title=Conifer Country|year=2012|publisher=Backcountry Press|location=Kneeland, CA|isbn=9780578094168|edition=1st |oclc=798852130}}
• {{cite conference|first=John O.|last=Sawyer|title=Conifers of the Klamath Mountains|book-title=Vegetation Ecology, Proceedings of the second conference on Klamath-Siskiyou ecology|publisher=Siskiyou Field Institute|year=2004|location=Cave Junction, OR}}
• {{cite book|last=Sawyer|first=John O.|year=2006|title=Northwest California: A Natural History|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley, CA|isbn=9780520928367|oclc=76812956}}
• {{cite book|year=2006|first1=C.N.|last1=Skinner|first2=A.H.|last2=Taylor|first3=J.K.|last3=Agee|chapter=Klamath Mountains bioregion|title=Fire in California’s Ecosystems|editor1-first=N.G.|editor1-last=Sugihara|editor2-first=J.W.|editor2-last=van Wagtendonk|editor3-first=J.|editor3-last=Fites-Kaufman|editor4-first=K.E|editor4-last=Shaffer|editor5-first=A.E.|editor5-last=Thode|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley, CA|isbn= 9780520932272|oclc=86110764}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr081/psw_gtr081.pdf|title=Regeneration of Douglas-fir in the Klamath Mountains Region, California and Oregon|format=PDF|first1=R.O.|last1=Strothmann|first2=Douglass F.|last2=Roy|publisher=U.S. Forest Service|date=December 1984|access-date=March 31, 2013}}
• {{cite book|first=Mike|last=White|title=Trinity Alps and Vicinity: Including Whiskeytown, Russian Wilderness, and Castle Crags Areas|edition=5th|year=2010|location=Berkeley, CA|publisher=Wilderness Press|isbn=9780899975016|oclc=351330287}}
• {{cite book|first=George|last=Wuerthner|title=California's Wilderness Areas|publisher=Westcliffe Publishers|year=1997|location=Englewood, CO|isbn=9781565792333|oclc=39698847|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/californiaswilde00geor}}

{{div col end}}

{{Refend}}

{{Commons and category|Klamath Mountains}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20170725035612/http://www.cnps.org/cnps/nativeplants/gallery/kauffmann/index.php Rare and Endemic Conifers of Northwest California] - California Native Plant Society
• [https://archive.today/20130626173743/http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/publications/techmemos/tm19/tm19.html?CFID=4870317&CFTOKEN=44479674&jsessionid=843044b4a22c3654c5db2a796b5d547254e1 Status Review for Klamath Mountains Province Steelhead] - NOAA report

{{Authority control}}

Category:Mountain ranges of Northern California

Category:Mountain ranges of Oregon

Category:Pacific Coast Ranges

Category:Mountain ranges of Siskiyou County, California

Category:Mountain ranges of Trinity County, California

Category:Mountain ranges of Del Norte County, California

Category:Mountain ranges of Humboldt County, California

Category:Mountain ranges of Jackson County, Oregon

Category:Landforms of Curry County, Oregon

Category:Landforms of Josephine County, Oregon

Category:North American Cordillera

Category:Physiographic sections