Siskiyou Mountains

Northeast-southwest trending mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon. The Siskiyous are a subrange of the Klamath Mountains, and reach their highest point at Mount Ashland (2,296 m/7,533 ft), to the southwest of Ashland, Oregon.

The Siskiyou range also includes Preston Peak (2,228 m/7,310 ft), some 50 km/30 mi east of Crescent City, California. These steep granitic mountains form a link between the Coast and Cascade ranges, and are home to ancient forests and a great variety of other flora, especially in the Red Buttes Wilderness Area. Other places of interest in the Siskiyous include sacred sites of the Yurok and Karok peoples, Happy Camp (home to the Karok and an active gold- and jade-mining area), and the former mercury-mining settlement of Cinnabar, now a ghost town. The Oregon Caves National Monument contains a number of unusual marble formations. The Siskiyou National Forest, with its headquarters at Grants Pass, Oregon, includes the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, with Pearsall Peak (1,554 m/5,098 ft) on its eastern border. Some commercial forestry and fruit growing is undertaken in the Siskiyous, especially along the Rogue River, and the area is popular with hunters, fishermen, and walkers.