The Santa Lucia Mountains (sæntə luˈsiːə) or Santa Lucia Range is a rugged mountain range in coastal central California, running from Carmel southeast for  to the Cuyama River in San Luis Obispo County. The range is never more than  from the coast. The range forms the steepest coastal slope in the contiguous United States. Cone Peak at  tall and three miles (5 km) from the coast, is the highest peak in proximity to the ocean in the lower 48 United States. The range was a barrier to exploring the coast of central California for early Spanish explorers.

Geography 

The Santa Lucia Mountains are part of the Outer South California Coast Ranges, in the Pacific Coast Ranges System. The coastal side of the range rises directly from the shoreline, with oceanfront ridges rising directly  to the crest of the coastal range. The crest of the range is never more than  from the coast. Cone Peak is the steepest coastal elevation in the contiguous United States, rising nearly a mile (1,609 m) above sea level, only three miles (5 km) from the Pacific Ocean.

The range's northern section runs parallel to the southern section of the Diablo Range, part of the Inner South Coast Ranges, which lies to the east across the Salinas Valley. The range's highest summit is Junipero Serra Peak,  in Monterey County and the Los Padres National Forest.

Major peaks

 Junipero Serra Peak, .
 Cone Peak, .  
 Ventana Double Cone, .
 Mount Carmel, .

History and toponymy 

The first European to document the Santa Lucias was Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542 while sailing northward along the coast on a Spanish naval expedition. Cabrillo originally named the southern portion of the range the Sierras de San Martín, as he was passing the area on November 11, the feast day for Saint Martin. He named the northern part Sierras Nevadas because there was snow on it.

The present name for the range was documented in 1602 by Sebastián Vizcaíno, who had been tasked by the Spanish to complete a detailed chart of the coast. Passing by the range around December 14, he named the range Sierra de Santa Lucia in honor of Saint Lucy of Syracuse, for whom many Christians celebrate a feast day on December 13.

The first European land exploration of Alta California, the Spanish Portolá expedition, camped on the coast near Ragged Point in present-day San Luis Obispo County on September 13, 1769. The  expedition was forced to bypass the inaccessible coast and travel inland through the San Antonio Valley. The rough trail required much improvement by the scouts, and it was September 24 before the party emerged from the mountains at the San Antonio River near today's settlement of Jolon. They traveled north through the Salinas Valley before arriving at Monterey Bay, where they founded Monterey and named it their capital.

Natural history

Climate 

Like other Pacific Coast Ranges, the mountains' close proximity to the Pacific Ocean cause moisture to be deposited on the west-facing slopes, creating a suitable environment for conifers. This creates a rain shadow over Salinas Valley to the east, which is considerably drier. The higher peaks receive some snowfall during the winter.

The climate is classified as dry summer subtropical, or Mediterranean. Rainfall varies from   throughout the range. Most of the precipitation falls during the winter on the higher mountains in the north.  During the summer, fog and low clouds are frequent along the coast up to an elevation of 2–3,000 feet.  Surface runoff from rainfall is rapid, and many streams dry up entirely in the summer, except for some perennial streams in the wetter areas in the north.

Flora 

The western slopes of the range facing the Pacific Ocean are moist with growths of coast redwood, Douglas fir, ponderosa pine, Pacific madrone and the local endemic species such as Santa Lucia fir (Abies bracteata) and Gowen cypress (Cupressus goveniana var. goveniana). The east side is drier, with chaparral and open woods of pine (including Coulter pine and gray pine) and oak woodlands of several Quercus species.

The range is the southernmost native location of about 225 plant species including the coast redwood trees and the northernmost home for about 90 species. The southernmost naturally occurring grove of redwoods is found within the Big Sur region in the Southern Redwood Botanical Area, a  reserve located in the Little Redwood Gulch watershed adjacent to the Silver Peak Wilderness. It is just north of the Salmon Creek trailhead. The southernmost tree is about  from Highway 1 at the approximate coordinates  About 57 plants are only found in the Santa Lucia Mountains. This range is the only known habitat of the Vortriede's spineflower.

Geology 

The rock of the Santa Lucias is dominated by granitic basement of the Salinian Block, between the San Andreas Fault and Sur-Nacimiento Fault.  The core of the Salinian block formed as part of the same batholith which forms the core of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Peninsular Ranges of Baja California.  It was separated from the North American Plate and transported north by the action of the San Andreas Fault from an original position.  It is predominantly Mesozoic granitic and pre-Cretaceous metamorphic rocks.  There is some Cretaceous sedimentary rock of the Great Valley Sequence, considerable Miocene marine sediments, and some other Cenozoic sediments.  Units west of the Sur-Nacimiento Fault are dominated by rocks of the Franciscan Assemblage.

The basement rocks of the Santa Lucia Range contain Mesozoic Franciscan and Salinian Block rocks. The Franciscan complex is composed of greywacke sandstone and greenstone, with serpentinite bodies and other Ultramafic rocks present. Small areas of marble and limestone lenses form resistant outcrops that are prominent landscape features, often white to light gray in color. The Salinian block is made up of highly fractured, and deeply weathered meta-sediments, especially biotite schist and gneiss, intruded by plutonic (granitic) rocks such as quartz diorite and granodiorite. Both formations have been disrupted and tectonically slivered by motion on the San Andreas and associated fault systems. The Palo Colorado and Church Creek faults are prominent features influencing the linear northwest–southeast alignment of primary drainages.

The Palo Colorado-San Gregorio fault system transitions onshore at Doud Creek, about  south of Point Lobos,  exposing the western edge of the Salinian block. Stream canyons frequently follow the north-westerly trending fault lines, rather than descending directly to the coast. The Salinian block is immediately south of the Monterey Submarine Canyon, one of the largest submarine canyon systems in the world, which is believed to have been an ancient outlet for the Colorado River.

The region is also traversed by the Sur-Hill fault, which is noticeable at Pfeiffer Falls in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. The  waterfall were formed when the stream flowed over the hard gneiss of the Salinian block and encountered the softer Santa Margarita Sandstone. The falls were formed when the softer sandstone was worn away. The interior canyons are typically deep and narrow, and even in the summer sunshine only reaches many of the canyon bottoms for a few hours. The land is mostly steep, rocky, semi-arid except for the narrow canyons, and inaccessible. The Little Sur River canyon is characteristic of the Ventana Wilderness region: steep-sided, sharp-crested ridges separating valleys.  At the mouth of the Little Sur river are some of the largest sand dunes on the Big Sur coast.

About 50 streams flow out of the mountains into the sea. A few of them, including the Big Sur and Little Sur Rivers, Big Creek, Garrapata Creek, and Salmon Creek, are large enough to support anadromous and resident fish.

Transportation 

California State Route 1 runs along the Big Sur coast on the coastal slopes of the range, while U.S. Route 101 lies in the Salinas Valley to the East, and crosses the southern Santa Lucia Range over Cuesta Pass to reach San Luis Obispo. The only other road across the Santa Lucia Range is Nacimiento-Fergusson Road, connecting Lucia to Jolon.

Folklore  

Since at least the 1930s, accounts of encounters with Dark Watchers or Los Vigilantes Oscuros have been associated with the Santa Lucia Range, described as shadowy figures which watch hikers from atop mountain ridges.

The Lost Padre Mines of the Carmel Mission have woven themselves into the tapestry of local folklore, with their legacy recounted through various accounts, including those within Randall Reinstadt's notable works such as Ghosts, Bandits, and Legends of Old Monterey, Carmel and Surrounding Areas and Tales and Treasures of California Missions. These narratives unveil a captivating history, suggesting that indigenous communities held knowledge of abundant gold deposits concealed within the untamed terrain of the Santa Lucia Mountains. As whispers of these riches echoed through time, the enigmatic Lost Padre Mines became a testament to the allure of hidden treasures and the enduring mystique of the land. Numerous iterations of these legends appear to have originated from long-time residents of Carmel Valley. It is plausible that this phenomenon can be attributed to some of the final descendants of the Mission Indians who resided and labored in the area.

Contemporary history 

Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 crashed in the mountains near Cayucos on December 7, 1987 after a gunman killed both pilots, causing the aircraft to crash. A total of 43 people were killed with no survivors.

Wine 

The Santa Lucia Highlands AVA, an American Viticultural Area and producer of California wine, is located on the southeastern slopes of the mountains, above the Salinas valley.

Winds 
Like the well known Santa Ana winds of Southern California or the Sundowner winds of Santa Barbara, Santa Lucia's Cuesta Grade on Highway 101 has potential to produce some powerful katabatic winds. Temperatures have been recorded jumping 40 degrees F, to 110 F, in just three hours.

See also
Tierra Redonda Mountain

References

External links 

 Los Padres National Forest — official Monterey Ranger District website — recreation maps, locations, and info.
 Ventana Wilderness Alliance — dedicated to the protection, preservation, enhancement, and restoration of the wilderness qualities and biodiversity of the public lands within California's northern Santa Lucia Mountains.

 
California Coast Ranges
Mountain ranges of Northern California
Mountain ranges of Monterey County, California
Mountain ranges of San Luis Obispo County, California
Monterey Ranger District, Los Padres National Forest
Los Padres National Forest