Sky Lakes Wilderness
| Sky Lakes Wilderness | |
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IUCN category Ib (wilderness area)
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Seven Lakes Basin from Devil's Peak
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| Location | Klamath / Jackson counties, Oregon, United States |
| Nearest city | Chiloquin, Oregon |
| Coordinates | 42°37′07″N 122°13′52″W / 42.61861°N 122.23111°WCoordinates: 42°37′07″N 122°13′52″W / 42.61861°N 122.23111°W |
| Area | 116,300 acres (47,065 ha) |
| Established | 1984 |
| Governing body | United States Forest Service |
The Sky Lakes Wilderness is a wilderness area located in the Rogue River–Siskiyou and Fremont–Winema national forests in the southern Cascade Range of Oregon in the United States. It comprises 116,300 acres (47,100 ha), of which 75,695 acres (30,633 ha) are in the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest and 40,605 acres (16,432 ha) are in the Fremont–Winema National Forest. It was established in 1984 under the Wilderness Act of 1964.
The Sky Lakes Wilderness straddles southern Oregon's Cascade Range from Crater Lake National Park southward to Oregon Route 140. It is approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) wide and 27 miles (43 km) long, with elevations ranging from 3,800 feet (1,200 m) in the canyon of the Middle Fork of the Rogue River to 9,495 feet (2,894 m) at the top of Mount McLoughlin, the highest peak in southern Oregon and the highest point in the Cascade Range between the Three Sisters and Mount Shasta.
The Wilderness contains more than 200 pools of water, from small ponds to lakes of 30 to 40 acres (12 to 16 ha). Fourmile Lake, near the southern end of the area, exceeds 900 acres (360 ha). Several of the lakes at Sky Lakes, including Alta and Natasha, were found to have among the most chemically pure water known of all lakes in the world.
Geologic studies indicate that the earliest rocks in this part of the High Cascades began forming when a chain of volcanoes erupted between five and three million years ago. During the last glacial period, the composite volcanoes of Mount Mazama and Mount McLoughlin began their initial build-up. On their north and east slopes, Mount McLoughlin and other peaks bear scars caused by glaciers. Like most other major drainages within the Sky Lakes Wilderness, Seven Lakes Basin and the deep canyon of the Middle Fork of the Rogue River were carved by the massive ice fields that covered the highest elevations of the Cascades. Approximately 6,700 years ago, when Mount Mazama exploded, collapsed, and formed the caldera of Crater Lake, some of the vast amount of rock and ash thrown into the air landed in the northern portion of the Sky Lakes Wilderness, creating the pumice-covered Oregon Desert.
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Wikipedia