The Gabilan Range or Gabilán Range (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

for "sparrow hawk") 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 ...

in the inner

California Coast Ranges The Coast Ranges of California span from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains. P ...

System, located in

Monterey County Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is Salinas. Montere ...

and

San Benito County San Benito County (; ''San Benito'', Spanish for " St. Benedict"), officially the County of San Benito, is a county located in the Coast Range Mountains of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,209. The co ...

central California Central California is generally thought of as the middle third of the state, north of Southern California, which includes Los Angeles, and south of Northern California, which includes San Francisco. It includes the northern portion of the S ...

Pinnacles National Park Pinnacles National Park is an American national park protecting a mountainous area located east of the Salinas Valley in Central California, about east of Soledad and southeast of San Jose. The park's namesakes are the eroded leftovers of t ...

is located in the southern section of the range.

Geography

A553, Pinnacles National Park, California, USA, 2004

The Gabilan Range trends in a northwest–southeast direction along the Monterey County and San Benito County line. It is bordered on the east by the

Diablo Range The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California, United States. It stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay area at its northern end to the Salinas Valley are ...

, the

San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is right-lateral strike-slip (horizonta ...

, and State Route 25; and on the west by the

Salinas Valley The Salinas Valley is one of the major valleys and most productive agricultural regions in California. It is located west of the San Joaquin Valley and south of San Francisco Bay and the Santa Clara Valley. The Salinas River, which geologically ...

Santa Lucia Range The Santa Lucia Mountains (sæntə luˈsiːə) or Santa Lucia Range is a rugged mountain range in coastal central California, running from Carmel southeast for to the Cuyama River in San Luis Obispo County. The range is never more than from ...

, and U.S. Route 101. The northern limit of the Gabilan Range lies just south of Pinecate Peak and

San Juan Bautista, California San Juan Bautista (Spanish for " Saint John the Baptist") is a city in San Benito County, in the U.S. state of California. The population was 2,089 as of the 2020 census. San Juan Bautista was founded in 1797 by the Spanish under Fermín de Las ...

Fremont Peak Fremont Peak can refer to one of several peaks. In the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in Nor ...

, at in elevation, is the range's highest point. There are several other peaks also over in the range.

History

In Spanish, ''gavilán'' (gabilan is an older alternate rendering) means "sparrow hawk". Hawks, especially the

red-tailed hawk The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members wit ...

, are common in the range. The Gabilan Mountains and other nearby places are mentioned in several novels by John Steinbeck, such as ''

Of Mice and Men ''Of Mice and Men'' is a novella written by John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it narrates the experiences of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers, who move from place to place in California in search of new job o ...

'' and '' East of Eden''. In ''

The Red Pony ''The Red Pony'' is an episodic novella written by American writer John Steinbeck in 1933. The first three chapters were published in magazines from 1933 to 1936. The full book was published in 1937 by Covici Friede. The stories in the book ar ...

'' notably, the main character (Jody Tiflin) names his pony "Gabilan" after the mountain range. Fremont Peak was named for John C. Frémont, an American explorer and a Captain in the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers who assessed the military value of the peak in 1846, posing a threat to the Mexican authorities. It is now a California State Park.

Ecology

One of the last relatively undeveloped corridors for wildlife passage between the southern Santa Cruz Mountains and the northern Gabilan Range runs from lands between

Mount Pajaro Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, ...

and Rancho Juristac, in southern Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties respectively, south across California State Route 129 and U.S. Highway 101 to lands between Pinecate Peak and San Juan Bautista in San Benito County. The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County has protected the first block of land intended to protect the Santa Cruz Mountains-Gabilan Range Wildlife Corridor, the Rocks Ranch in Aromas at the border of San Benito and Monterey counties.

References

External links

National Park Service: Pinnacles National Park website
California Coast Ranges Mountain ranges of Monterey County, California Mountain ranges of San Benito County, California Pinnacles National Park John Steinbeck Mountain ranges of Northern California {{SanBenitoCountyCA-geo-stub

Geography

History

Ecology

See also

References

External links