| San Rafael Mountains | |
| Mountain Range | |
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San Rafael Mountains from near La Cumbre Peak with McKinley Mountain and San Rafael Mountain visible in the distance
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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | California |
| District | Santa Barbara County |
| Range | Transverse Ranges system |
| Coordinates | |
| Highest point | |
| - elevation | 2,005 m (6,578 ft) |
| Biome | California chaparral and woodlands |
| Plant | montane chaparral and woodlands |
| Timezone | Pacific (UTC-8) |
| - summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
| Topo map | USGS San Rafael Mountain |
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location of San Rafael Mountains in California [1]
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The San Rafael Mountains are a mountain range in central Santa Barbara County, California, U.S.. They are part of the Transverse Ranges system of Southern California which in turn are part of the Pacific Coast Ranges system of western North America.
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Most of the mountain range is within the Los Padres National Forest, and the northern slope is included in the remote San Rafael Wilderness area.
The highest peaks include Big Pine Mountain (6,820 ft, 2,079 m),[2] San Rafael Mountain (6,593 ft, 2,010 m)[3] and McKinley Mountain (6,220 ft, 1,896 m),[4] none of which are easily accessible except by foot, horse or mountain bike.
The mountains mainly consist of sedimentary rocks, of Jurassic age or younger, though there are a few regions of igneous intrusions. Several prominent faults exist, including the Big Pine Fault, which trends eastward towards the San Andreas Fault about forty miles away.
The mountains are steep and rugged, and lower slopes are covered with almost impenetrable chaparral, except where it has been burned, an event which occurs naturally in fire ecology every ten or twenty years . Decades of fire suppression, however, have resulted in some areas of brush which have not burned within the last century. The Forest Service occasionally conducts controlled burns to remove areas of high fire hazard and restore ecological balance of the habitat. In the more shaded and moist canyons and northern slopes oak woodlands and Gray pines (Pinus sabiniana ) are found.
Above the montane chaparral and woodlands ecosystem zone are stands of conifers of the mixed evergreen forest ecosystem. Snow is common in the winter on the summits, above about 6,000 feet (1,800 m), though overall the climate of the mountain range is Mediterranean, with mild rainy winters and warm, dry summers.
The earliest known residents of the San Rafael Mountains were the Chumash Indians, and evidence of their habitation can still be found by intrepid hikers in the form of pictograph rock paintings in remote areas.
In historic times, mercury mining was conducted on portions of the southern slopes. Tailings from these old mines sometimes contain high levels of mercury, and recent environmental investigations have been conducted to determine if cleanup is necessary and feasible.