Mokelumne Wilderness
The 105,165 acre Mokelumne Wilderness straddles the crest of the central Sierra Nevada, within the Stanislaus, Eldorado, and Toiyabe National Forests. This area lies within portions of Calaveras, Alpine, and Amador Counties and is bordered by State Highway 4 on the south and State Highway 88 on the north. Watersheds drain to the Mokelumne River on the west slope and the Carson River on the east slope. New Management Guidelines were recently adopted for the Mokelumne Wilderness.
The Mokelumne Wilderness is a rugged landscape of great scenic beauty. Much of the area is dominated by volcanic ridges and peaks. The prominent feature is disputably the rugged Mokelumne River Canyon. There are many smaller streams flowing through deep granitic canyons but only a few lakes concentrated in the northern portion of this spectacular area. Elevations range from about 3900 feet near Salt Springs Reservoir to 10,380 feet at Round Top. Precipitation averages 50 inches annually on the west slope and as little as 15 inches on the east slope, 80 percent of it in the form of snow. Snowcaps typically linger into June in the Round Top region to the north and on the Mokelumne Plateau to the south, while the Mokelumne River Canyon above Salt Springs Reservoir can be free of snow as early as March. Summers are generally dry and mild, but afternoon thundershowers occur periodically and nighttime temperatures may dip below freezing any time.
General Mokelumne Wilderness Permits
Permits are mandatory for entry into the Mokelumne Wilderness year round for overnight use. This link will give you information for permits for use of the Mokelumne Wilderness outside of the Carson Pass Management Area.
Carson Pass Management Area Permits
Due to the popularity of the Carson Pass Area, restrictions are in effect to ensure your opportunities for solitude, a primitive recreational experience, and to protect popular camping destinations from overcrowding and heavy impacts. This link will give you information for permits for use of the Mokelumne Wilderness inside the Carson Pass Management Area.
Mokelumne Day Use Permits & Parking
Information on day use and parking permits.
Know Before You Go - Mokelumne Wilderness
When visiting remote areas there are several things you should be aware of for your safety and others including the parameters around visitors using Pack Stock in the Wilderness.
Natural resources of the Mokelumne Wilderness
The Mokelumne Wilderness Area's elevation differences, land forms, soils, and diverse plant life provide habitat for over 80 species of wildlife for all or part of the year. Habitat components consist of food, water, and cover. The combination of quantity and quality of habitat provides places for feeding, hiding, resting, sleeping, breeding, and rearing of young during different seasons of the year. One of the main goals of the Wilderness Act is to protect and restore natural habitats.
Mammals - Historically grizzly bears, wolves, and bighorn sheep roamed this area. Today, mule deer are the most common large mammal found within the wilderness. Black bears are increasingly common, with individuals being displaced from the lower elevation western slopes into the higher country. Mountain Lions are known to inhabit the area. More common, yet seldom seen, are the smaller mammals like coyote, porcupine, badger and bobcat. Species of special interest that are very rare in the area are the fisher, pine marten, red fox, and wolverine. Please report sightings of these animals to the Forest Service to help us learn more about their distribution and abundance.
Rodents and Birds - The Mokelumne also provides an ideal habitat for numerous alpine rodents such as the yellow-bellied marmot, golden-mantled ground squirrel, Douglas squirrel, and pika. There are also a variety of mountain birds like the Steller's jay, Clark's nutcracker, mountain chickadee, blue grouse, mountain bluebird, American dipper, redtail hawk, peregrine falcon, the occasional golden eagle and bald eagle, and many others.
Reptiles and Amphibians - Reptiles and Amphibians - Rattlesnakes can be found in Mokelumne Canyon at elevations up to about 7,500 ft. Other more common reptiles include western fence lizards (often seen doing push-ups on trailside rocks), alligator lizards, and garter snakes. There are three species of garter snakes native to the wilderness, all of which are an important part of the ecosystem. Garter snakes are often found in aquatic habitat, where they prey on amphibians, minnows, and occasional small mammals.
The most commonly heard amphibians in Mokelumne Wilderness are Sierran treefrogs which are tiny, highly variable in their coloration, and found in a wide variety of habitats, including wet meadows, shallow seasonal ponds, and large lakes. Although very small and often hard to see, treefrogs are very loud when calling, so if you have heard frogs in the mountains, you have most likely heard this species! Other amphibians found in Mokelumne Wilderness include western toads, southern long-toed salamanders, and the federally endangered Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs (which only call from underwater during the spring and early summer).”
Fish - Within the Mokelumne's abundant streams and lakes are also a variety of game fish such as the rainbow and brook trout. Less common, but also present, are brown and golden trout. California Department of Fish and Game licenses and regulations for fishing and hunting apply in the Mokelumne.
The Mokelumne's uniquely varied vegetation is due to its span in elevation from 3,960 ft. - 10,380 ft; its rugged terrain; its variety of soil types; and its location at the junction of the northern sierra, southern sierra, and eastern sierra botanic provinces. Because of the remoteness, and ruggedness many outstanding examples of old growth virgin forest are present at all elevations.
Trees - The lower elevation plant communities include mixed conifers and chaparral, canyon live oak, and some black oak. Between 5,000 ft. and 8,000 ft., depending on slope and aspect, ponderosa pine transitions to Jeffrey pine, sugar pine transitions to western white pine, and white fir transitions to red fir. Mountain hemlock, lodgepole pine, and western "sierra" juniper become common around 7,000 ft. The elevations above 8,000 ft. become progressively more alpine in nature; plants in this region are influenced by extreme exposure to wind, sun, and cold. White bark pine, sub alpine fir, and western juniper are common tree species, with western white pine, mountain hemlock, and lodgepole pine found in sheltered areas.
Riparian zones are lush with willows and ferns, the occasional grove of quaking aspen, dwarf maple and alder. There are many wet meadows throughout the wilderness, each unique due to the differences in elevation, exposure, soil composition and soil depth, resulting in a wide diversity of annual and perennial plant life. A variety of wildflower species, sedges, and grasses inhabit these fragile wet areas.
Wildflowers - As soon as the snow begins to melt, flower watchers will find themselves following spring up the mountain. The lower elevations and south facing exposures will typically begin to warm up by May, with spring arriving in the highest elevations by mid July. The glacially carved landscape provides a wide variety of habitats. This results in a splendid diversity of flowering plants ; yellow monkey flower, columbine and tiger lily along streamsides, pinedrops and snowplant in the deep shade of the forest canopy, mountain pride penstemon and sierra primrose in rocky crags, and blue flag iris, lupine and gentian - corn lily in the meadow areas. Please avoid unnecessarily trampling the vegetation or picking wildflowers. Those who will follow you thank you.
Plant Communities - There are three major plant communities found in the Carson Pass / Round Top area alone. Sagebrush scrub grows on residual coarse textured soils found on volcanic ridges. The sub - alpine forest prefers deeper, coarse textured rocky soils. The arctic - alpine fell fields dwell on wetter rock or shallow coarse soils associated with moist rock outcrops.
Unique Remnants - The Mokelumne wilderness is at the northern limit of distribution for many alpine plants commonly found 100 to 200 miles south of here in the high sierra. Many other species reach their southern limit here. East Side sagebrush country as well as an alpine community of Great Basin plants were uplifted with the mountain range and separated from their ancestral communities in the deserts to the east. Because of the uniqueness and diversity of plant life, the Mokelumne Wilderness has several designated special interest areas.
Native Americans have used the resources of the present day Mokelumne Wilderness for at least 2,000 and perhaps as long as 10,000 years. When Euro Americans first arrived in the middle of the 19th century the wilderness was part of the traditional territories of the Washoe and Sierra Miwok. These people hunted seasonally for deer, bear, and smaller game and gathered plants for food, fiber, and medicine. There is also evidence that they used portions of the wilderness as major travel routes for social interaction and trade, including abalone shells, salts, obsidian, rabbit skins, baskets, acorns, and pine nuts.
In 1848 the Mormon Battalion successfully pioneered a trail, probably following an ancient Native American route, along the northwest boundary of the Mokelumne Wilderness during a trek from Sutter's Fort to Salt Lake City. Over the next decade tens of thousands of emigrants followed this trail on the way to the California gold fields. A brief period of silver mining occurred in the wilderness in the 1860's near the Blue Lakes. By 1900 the wilderness was regularly visited by stockmen who grazed cattle and sheep in the summer. In the 1930's a trapper and guide known as Monte Wolfe constructed two cabins in the wilderness and lived there until his mysterious disappearance in 1940.
The geologic history of the area now known as the Mokelumne Wilderness has been long and complex, and what is visible today reveals only a fraction of this. The area is a prime example of crest zone geology in the Sierra Nevada with its prominent volcanic peaks and ridges overlaying massive intrusive granite features. The granitic valleys and highlands of the Mokelumne are part of the massive Sierra batholith, the combined masses of granitic rock that have been uplifted by tectonic action to form the 400 mile long Sierra Nevada range. The bedrock geology of the area consists of metamorphosed sedimentary and volcanic rocks, intruded by the granites, or granodiorites, of the Sierra batholith, all of which are capped by the remnants of volcanic flows.
The Bedrock - Originally sand, mud, and volcanic rock were deposited on the ocean floor between 230 and 100 million years ago. Heat and pressure from deep burial metamorphosed them. Today these metamorphic rocks are seen covering only small areas such as the prominent Mokelumne Peak.
Intrusions and Gold - Between 150 and 80 million years ago magma intruded up beneath the metamorphics and cooled in several pulses. This phenomenon, related to the movement of continental plates, formed much of the granite or, more correctly, granodiorite seen today in the wilderness area. Heat associated with this intrusion of magma further metamorphosed the original ocean deposits, and deposits of minerals like gold and copper formed as a by-product.
A mountain range is born - About 70 million years ago the area began to be uplifted, although the most dramatic uplifting occurred in the last ten million years. As a result of uplifting, erosion has stripped away much of the original sequence of metamorphic rocks and has exposed the granitic rocks. This process created the Sierra Nevada Mountains; the range, over this vast time frame, has been lifted over eight vertical miles.
Volcanoes - Volcanic activity between 20 and 4 million years ago buried the area with lava flows, mudflows, and ash deposits. The vents from which these materials erupted now form some of the higher peaks, such as Elephant Back, Round Top, and Thimble Peak. Later erosion has since removed much of the volcanic rock, leaving the volcanics along the peaks and ridges.
Ice Carving - In the Pleistocene epoch (the last million years) glacial action and erosion have shaped the Mokelumne Wilderness. Ice sheets over 1,000 feet deep covered the western slopes and all but the highest peaks of the Sierra Crest during the last ice age, one of four ice ages that have affected the region in the period. The sheer mass and grinding action of the ice packs scoured bowl shaped cirques and U - shaped valleys in much of the Mokelumne. Tributary forks like Underwood Valley, Lake Valley and Upper Summit City Canyon were left as hanging valleys. Glacially polished rock surfaces, moraines, and erratic boulders left behind when the glaciers receded are further evidence of the ice. Glaciers as recently as 10,000 years ago flowed down Summit City Creek, Pleasant Valley, Thornburg Canyon, and other Mokelumne River tributaries.
Glacial activity has had a profound affect on the soils currently found in the area. Glaciers have stripped much of the area to bare rock or shallow coarse soils associated with rock outcrops. Deeper, coarse textured soils are found on moraines and pockets of glacial outwash. Residual coarse textured soils are found on volcanic ridges. Plant and animal life in the area are based on a complex mosaic pattern originally defined by the soil, the geology and climate.