Mayacamas Mountains

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Mayacamas Mountains
Mount Saint Helena (2007-10-08).JPG
Highest point
Elevation 4,724 ft (1,440 m)
Coordinates 38°48′27″N122°44′26″W / 38.80750°N 122.74056°W / 38.80750; -122.74056
Dimensions
Length52 mi (84 km)northwest–southeast
Naming
Etymology Wappo language
Geography
Relief map of California.png
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Location of Mayacmas Mountains in California [1]
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
Range coordinates 38°40′9.663″N122°37′59.948″W / 38.66935083°N 122.63331889°W / 38.66935083; -122.63331889
Parent range California Coast Ranges

The Mayacamas Mountains are located in northwestern California in the United States. The mountain range is part of the Northern Inner Coast Ranges, of the California Coast Ranges System.

Contents

Geography

The Mayacamas Mountains are located south of the Mendocino Range, west of Clear Lake, and east of Ukiah in Mendocino and Lake Counties, and extend south into Napa and Sonoma Counties. The range stretches for 52 mi (80 km) [2] in a northwest–southeasterly direction.

Mountains in the range include: [3]

NameHeightCoordinatesNotes
ftm
Cobb Mountain 4,720+1,439+ 38°48′27″N122°44′26″W / 38.8074°N 122.7405°W / 38.8074; -122.7405
Mount Saint Helena 4,3421,323 38°40′09″N122°38′01″W / 38.6693°N 122.6335°W / 38.6693; -122.6335 Peakbagger places it in the Wine Country Ranges
Mount Konocti 4,2991,310 38°58′29″N122°45′57″W / 38.9746°N 122.7659°W / 38.9746; -122.7659
Mount Hannah 3,9781,212 38°53′14″N122°44′47″W / 38.8873°N 122.7463°W / 38.8873; -122.7463
Cow Mountain 3,920+1,195+ 39°09′48″N123°03′02″W / 39.1634°N 123.0506°W / 39.1634; -123.0506
Boggs Mountain 3,720+1,134+ 38°48′56″N122°40′56″W / 38.8155°N 122.6822°W / 38.8155; -122.6822
Seigler Mountain 3,680+1,122+ 38°52′26″N122°42′35″W / 38.8738°N 122.7098°W / 38.8738; -122.7098
Mahnke Peak 3,6521,113 38°51′46″N122°51′16″W / 38.8629°N 122.8544°W / 38.8629; -122.8544
Cow Mountain Ridge 3,5721,089 39°07′51″N123°04′36″W / 39.1309°N 123.0768°W / 39.1309; -123.0768
Pyramid Ridge 3,520+1,073+ 39°02′31″N123°03′30″W / 39.0420°N 123.0584°W / 39.0420; -123.0584
Peak 3480 3,480+1,061+ 38°46′00″N122°43′55″W / 38.7666°N 122.7320°W / 38.7666; -122.7320
Mount Hood 2,733833 38°27′36″N122°33′12″W / 38.4599°N 122.5534°W / 38.4599; -122.5534 More commonly known as Hood Mountain
Bald Mountain 2,730832 38.2727°N 122.3034°W
Harbin Mountain 2,585788 38°47′31″N122°38′46″W / 38.7919°N 122.6461°W / 38.7919; -122.6461 Sub-peak of Boggs Mountain

The range's highest point is Cobb Mountain, at 4,724 ft (1,440 m) in elevation, located in the central section. [4] There are several other peaks over 2,500 ft (762 m), including Mount Saint Helena and Hood Mountain. These peaks are sufficiently high to retain some snow cover in winter.

Several streams rise in the Mayacamas Mountains including Mark West Creek, Sonoma Creek, Calabazas Creek, Arroyo Seco Creek, Putah Creek, and Santa Rosa Creek.

Natural history

Around ten million years ago, during pre-historic times (Miocene), the mountains are thought to have been densely forested in Mendocino Cypress ( Cupressus pygmaea ).

The Mayacamas Mountains currently support California mixed evergreen forest and California interior chaparral and woodlands habitats.

Naming

According to Gudde:

Mayacamas Mountains [Sonoma, Lake Cos.] The mountain chain, forming the divide of the headwaters of Russian River and Clear Lake, was named for the Native American tribe on the west slope, probably a division of the Yuki tribe. According to Barrett (Pomo, p. 269), there was a Yukian Wappo village, Maiya'kma, one mile south of present day Calistoga. Serro de los Mallacomes (Mount Saint Helena) is shown on a diseño of the Rancho Caymus grant (1836). Later the name appears in the title and on the diseños of the Rancho Mallacomes y Plano de Agua Caliente or Moristul land grant, dated September 3, 1841, and October 11 and 14, 1843.

The present spelling is used in the Statutes of 1850 (pp. 60 f.). Although this version was also used by the Whitney Survey, confusion persists to the present day. The Geographic Board (Fifth Report) decided for Miyakma, but in 1941 it reversed this decision in favor of Mayacmas ('not Miyakma, Cobb Mountain Range, Malacomas, Mayacamas, nor St. Helena Range'). The stream is still called Maacama Creek.

The spelling Mayacamas is listed as an alternate name by the Board of Geographic Names.

Geothermal power

Located in the Mayacamas mountain range is The Geysers, the world's largest and most developed geothermal field. It consists of more than 22 power plants scattered across an area of about 30 square miles (78 km2). The Geysers spans the Lake, Sonoma, and Mendocino counties in California, and provides energy to those counties. The electrical energy is generated when dry steam is pumped from geothermal reservoirs through turbines.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonoma County, California</span> County in California, United States

Sonoma County is located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonoma Valley</span> Valley in the North Bay region of California famous for winemaking

Sonoma Valley is a valley located in southeastern Sonoma County, California, in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Known as the birthplace of the California wine industry, the valley is home to some of the earliest vineyards and wineries in the state, some of which survived the phylloxera epidemic of the 1870s and the impact of prohibition in the early 20th century. Today, the valley's wines are promoted by the U.S. federal government's Sonoma Valley and Carneros AVAs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Coast Ranges</span> Mountain range

The Coast Ranges of California span 400 miles (644 km) 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Putah Creek</span> River in California

Putah Creek is a major stream in Northern California, a tributary of the Yolo Bypass, and ultimately, the Sacramento River. The 85-mile-long (137 km) creek has its headwaters in the Mayacamas Mountains, a part of the Coast Range, and flows east through two dams. First, Monticello Dam forms Lake Berryessa, below which Putah Creek forms the border of Yolo and Solano Counties, and then flows to the Putah Diversion Dam and Lake Solano. After several drought years in the late 1980s, the majority of Putah Creek went dry, prompting a landmark lawsuit that resulted in the signing of the Putah Creek Accord in 2000. The Accord established releases from the dams to maintain stream flows in Putah Creek, with natural flow regimes which spike in winter/spring and ebb in summer/fall. The restoration of natural flow regimes has resulted in a doubling of riparian bird species and a return of spawning native steelhead trout and Chinook salmon, as well as protecting the livelihood of farmers on the lower watershed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crystal Springs Reservoir</span> Northern California Lakes atop the San Andreas Fault

Crystal Springs Reservoir is a pair of artificial lakes located in the northern Santa Cruz Mountains of San Mateo County, California, situated in the rift valley created by the San Andreas Fault just to the west of the cities of San Mateo and Hillsborough, and I-280. The lakes are part of the San Mateo Creek watershed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian River (California)</span> River in California

The Russian River is a southward-flowing river that drains 1,485 sq mi (3,850 km2) of Sonoma and Mendocino counties in Northern California. With an annual average discharge of approximately 1,600,000 acre feet (2.0 km3), it is the second-largest river flowing through the nine-county Greater San Francisco Bay Area, with a mainstem 115 mi (185 km) long.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piner Creek</span> River in California, United States

Piner Creek is a stream in northeast Santa Rosa, California, United States which originates as an outlet of Fountaingrove Lake. Piner Creek discharges to Santa Rosa Creek which in turn joins the Laguna de Santa Rosa. The upper reaches in the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains are at elevations of 200 to 300 feet, while the lower and middle reaches are located on the Santa Rosa Plain at elevations of between the 110- and 140-foot contours; therefore, these lower reaches have a gradient of about 1:250 toward the southwest. Geologic studies in the lower and middle reaches of Piner Creek indicate groundwater levels ranging from three to 15 feet below the surface. Prior to extensive urban development of the middle and lower reaches, the landscape earlier bore extensive agricultural uses including plum orchards, which fruit was subsequently processed for prunes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calabazas Creek (Sonoma County)</span> River in California, United States

Calabazas Creek is a 5.5-mile-long (8.9 km) stream in the Sonoma Valley, California, United States, that rises in the southern Mayacamas Mountains and empties into Sonoma Creek near Glen Ellen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clear Lake Volcanic Field</span> Volcanic field in Northern California

The Clear Lake Volcanic Field is a volcanic field beside Clear Lake in California's northern Coast Ranges. The site of late-Pliocene to early Holocene activity, the volcanic field consists of lava domes, cinder cones, and maars with eruptive products varying from basalt to rhyolite. The site's threat level is ranked "High" at #33 in the top volcanic threats in the United States according to "2018 Update to the U.S. Geological Survey National Volcanic Threat Assessment". The last eruption was about 11,000 years ago. Cobb Mountain and Mount Konocti are the two highest peaks in the volcanic field, at 4,724 feet (1,440 m) and 4,285 feet (1,306 m) respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Geysers</span> Worlds largest geothermal field, California

The Geysers is the world's largest geothermal field, containing a complex of 18 geothermal power plants, drawing steam from more than 350 wells, located in the Mayacamas Mountains approximately 72 miles (116 km) north of San Francisco, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark West Creek</span> Stream in the state of California

Mark West Creek is a 29.9-mile-long (48.1 km) stream that rises in the Mayacamas Mountains of Sonoma County, California, United States. Tributaries of Mark West Creek include Porter Creek and Hummingbird Creek, both of which originate in the same mountain range. Discharge waters of Mark West Creek reach the Russian River after a confluence with the Laguna de Santa Rosa. The Community Clean Water Institute has developed a program for monitoring pollutants in Mark West Creek.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cobb Mountain</span> Mountain in California

Cobb Mountain is the tallest mountain in the Mayacamas Mountains of California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Sulphur Creek</span> Stream in Sonoma County, California

Big Sulphur Creek is a westward-flowing stream in northern Sonoma County, California, United States, which springs from The Geysers in the Mayacamas Mountains and runs 20 miles (32 km) to empty into the Russian River.

Carneros Creek is a southward flowing stream originating in the Santa Ynez Mountains, in Santa Barbara County, California. It flows to Lake Los Carneros Park, under U. S. Highway 101 where it runs in a man-made channel diverted to the west of Santa Barbara Municipal Airport, until it meets Goleta Slough, from whence its waters flow to the Santa Barbara Channel of the Pacific Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howell Mountains</span>

The Howell Mountains, which are also known as the Mt. George Range, are one of the California Coast Ranges. They divide the Suisun Valley on the east side, from Napa Valley on the west. Historically the southern part of the range has been referred to as both the Sierra de Suscol and as the Sierra de Napa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercuryville, California</span> Place in California, United States

Mercuryville, California is a ghost town in the Mayacamas Mountains of Sonoma County, California along The Geysers road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelsey Creek (Lake County)</span> Watercourse in Lake Country, California, United States

Kelsey Creek is a watercourse in Lake County, California, United States, that feeds Clear Lake from the south. The watershed was forest-covered. In the lower parts it has been converted to farmland and for urban use. Higher up the forests have been cleared, regrown and cleared again. The northern part of the creek flows through a geothermal field that feeds power plants and hot springs. The wooded Cobb area in the higher part of the watershed holds resorts and resort communities, some dating to the 1850s.

Mount Hannah is a mountain in the Mayacamas Mountains of the Northern California Coast Ranges. It is in Lake County, California.

Harbin Mountain is a mountain in Lake County, California. It may be seen as a high point on a spur of Boggs Mountain or as a connected mountain to the southeast of Boggs Mountain.

Mahnke Peak is a 3,652 feet (1,113 m) mountain in Mendocino County, California.

References

  1. "Mayacmas Mountains". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior . Retrieved 2009-05-04.
  2. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Mayacmas Mountains
  3. "Mayacmas Mountains", Peakbagger, retrieved 2021-05-09
  4. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Cobb Mountain

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