Santiago Peak and Modjeska Peak Saddleback photo D Ramey Logan

Saddleback, sometimes called Old Saddleback or Saddleback Mountain, is a natural

landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern-day use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures ...

formed by the two highest peaks of the

Santa Ana Mountains The Santa Ana Mountains are a short peninsular mountain range along the coast of Southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately southeast of the Los Angeles Basin largely along the border between Orange and Riversid ...

in the U.S. state of California, and the gap between them. Resembling a

saddle A saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not know ...

as viewed from the south from most of

Orange County, California Orange County (officially the County of Orange; often initialized O.C.) is a county (United States), county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population ...

, as well as the

Inland Empire The Inland Empire (commonly abbreviated as the IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County and Or ...

to the north, this

landform A landform is a land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. They may be natural or may be anthropogenic (caused or influenced by human activity). Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement ...

dominates Orange County’s eastern

skyline A skyline is the wikt:outline, outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city's overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural area, rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the ...

. On the clearest days, Saddleback is visible from most of the

Greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. state of California, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino County and Riverside County in the eas ...

area.

Santiago Peak Santiago Peak is the southern mountain of the Saddleback landform in Orange County and Riverside County, California. It is the highest and most prominent peak of both the Santa Ana Mountains and Orange County. The peak is named for Santiag ...

is the highest peak in the range and the highest point in the county at .

Modjeska Peak Modjeska Peak is the northern mountain of the Saddleback landform in Orange County California. It is the second-highest peak of the Santa Ana Mountains, after Santiago Peak, whose summit is less than to the northwest. Modjeska lies within Cl ...

is the second highest at . The two peaks form part of the border between Orange and Riverside counties. The hilly

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

in south Orange County is known colloquially as

Saddleback Valley Saddleback Valley refers to the flat and foothill areas west-southwest of the Saddleback double peak of the Santa Ana Mountains and east-northeast of the hilly Crystal Cove State Park in southern Orange County, California. The region primarily ...

, and hence many institutions are named after Saddleback, including

Saddleback Church Saddleback Church is an Evangelicalism, evangelical, non-denominational Christian Multi-site church, multi-site megachurch based in Lake Forest, California. It is the largest church in California, and one of the largest in the United States of Amer ...

Saddleback College Saddleback College is a public community college in Mission Viejo, California. It is part of the California Community College system and awards over 300 associate degrees, academic certificates, and occupational skills awards in 190 programs. ...

, and the

Saddleback Valley Unified School District Saddleback Valley Unified School District (SVUSD) is a public school district in South Orange County, California. It includes 23 elementary schools, four intermediate schools, four comprehensive high schools, and four alternative schools. It se ...

. The presence of

volcanic rock Volcanic rocks (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) are rocks formed from lava erupted from a volcano. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic rock is artificial, and in nature volcanic rocks grade into hypabyssal and me ...

s in Silverado Canyon indicates that Saddleback Mountain was formed prior to the development of the

San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental Fault (geology)#Strike-slip faults, right-lateral strike-slip transform fault that extends roughly through the U.S. state of California. It forms part of the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Paci ...

, back when a

subduction Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates. Where one tectonic plate converges with a second p ...

zone occurred where the Pacific Plate went under California.

References

{{commonscat Landforms of Orange County, California Santa Ana Mountains