South Warner Wilderness
| South Warner Wilderness | |
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IUCN category Ib (wilderness area)
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| Location | Modoc County, California, United States |
| Nearest city | Alturas, California |
| Coordinates | 41°19′00″N 120°10′34″W / 41.3165622°N 120.176054°WCoordinates: 41°19′00″N 120°10′34″W / 41.3165622°N 120.176054°W |
| Area | 70,385 acres (284.84 km2) |
| Established | 1964 |
| Governing body | U.S. Forest Service |
The South Warner Wilderness is a federally designated wilderness area 12 miles (19 km) east of Alturas, California, USA. It encompasses more than 70,000 acres (283 km2) of the Warner Mountains. It is within the Modoc National Forest and managed by the US Forest Service. Elevations range from 5,000 feet (1,500 m) to 9,895 feet at Eagle Peak.
The highest parts of the Warner Mountains were set aside in 1931 as a primitive area. In 1964, the Wilderness Act created the South Warner Wilderness. In 1984, 1,940 acres (7.9 km2) were added to the wilderness with the passage of the California Wilderness Act.
The Warner crest divides waters that flow west into the Sacramento/Pit River drainage, and east into the Great Basin Alkali lakes of Surprise Valley. Much of the crest is a narrow ridgeline with notable peaks such as Emerson Peak and Squaw Peak. The eastern side of the wilderness is a steep, abrupt escarpment of volcanic terrain of cliff bands and terraces. Very different from the east side are the western slopes. Heavily forested, steadily rising slopes furrowed by several drainages such as Mill Creek.
The west side also includes a portion of a 6,016-acre (2,435 ha) state game refuge.
The Warner Mountain Range is a fault block range, with the Surprise Valley Fault on the east and the Likely Fault to the west. The steep escarpment on the east side of the range is the exposed side of the Surprise Valley fault. Geologists estimate that basalt lava flows occurred 15 to 30 million years ago, creating the Modoc Plateau which is a part of the larger Columbia Plateau. The breaking up of the crust occurred about 10 million years ago with large blocks moving and more volcanic lava flows, which created the mountains and block fault valleys of recent time. The landscape of today is not from mountain building but from the forces of erosion such as wind, water, and past glaciation.
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