The Greenhorn Mountains are a
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
of the Southern
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...
, in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. They are protected within the
Sequoia National Forest
Sequoia National Forest is located in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. The U.S. National Forest is named for the majestic Giant Sequoia (''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') trees which populate 38 distinct groves within the boundar ...
.
Geography
The range is located in eastern
Kern County
Kern County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield.
Kern County comprises the Bakersfield, California, Metropolitan statistical area. The county sp ...
and
Tulare County
Tulare County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 473,117. The county seat is Visalia. The county is named for Tulare Lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Great Lakes. ...
. They are east of the
San Joaquin Valley
The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven c ...
, northeast of
Bakersfield
Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...
, and form the west side of the
Kern River Valley
The Kern River Valley is a valley and region of the Southern Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada, in Kern County, California, Kern County, California.
History
The valley was inhabited for millennia by the indigenous Tübatulabal and Kawaiisu peo ...
.
The range reaches an elevation of at Sunday Peak, located just south of Portuguese Pass.
The lower Kern Canyon is a dramatic and deep
canyon
A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...
cut by the
Kern River
The Kern River, previously Rio de San Felipe, later La Porciuncula, is an Endangered, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfiel ...
through the Greenhorn Mountains to the San Joaquin Valley.
State Route 178 follows the canyon up to the Kern River Valley.
During the Gold Strike of 1854 miners crossing the Greenhorn Mountains founded the town of
Keyesville.
Ecology
The Greenhorn Mountains contain a variety of
native California flora and fauna. One wildflower found here is the
Yellow mariposa lily (''Calochortus luteus''), which is at the extreme southern end of its distribution range. The
Marsh checkerbloom (''Sidalcea ranunculacea'') is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to the range and adjacent Sierra Nevada foothills.
The Greenhorn Mountains slender salamander (''
Batrachoseps
''Batrachoseps'' is a genus of lungless salamanders (plethodontids) often called slender salamanders. They can be distinguished from other lungless salamanders by the four toes they have on each foot.
Their genus name ''Batracho-seps'' means "f ...
altasierrae'') is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to the Greenhorn Mountains.
[https://ib.berkeley.edu/labs/wake/379_Jockusch%20et%20al%202012%20Zootaxa.pdf ]
See also
*
Kern River Canyon — ''upper section''.
References
* C. Michael Hogan. 2009
''Yellow Mariposa Lily: Calochortus luteus'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg* Mildred Brooke Hoover and Douglas E. Kyle. 2002. ''Historic spots in California'', p. 131, 661 pages
External links
USDA Forest Service, Sequoia National Forest: Greenhorn Mountains — ''with map for access and campgrounds''.
Mountain ranges of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
Mountain ranges of Kern County, California
Mountain ranges of Tulare County, California
Kern River Valley
Sequoia National Forest
Mountain ranges of Northern California
Mountain ranges of Southern California
{{KernCountyCA-geo-stub