The United States Congress designated the Chimney Peak Wilderness Area as part of the California Desert Protection Act of 1994 and it now has a total of 13,700 acres. For a complete listing of public laws and further information on district offices, click here. Here on the eastern slope of the southern Sierra Nevada, you'll find valleys, canyons, alluvial fans, and steep foothills leading up into rugged granite mountains, all encompassed by Chimney Peak Wilderness. Joshua trees, creosote bushes, and desert shrubs dot the valley floors.
Higher elevations grow cottonwoods, cactuses, and pi on pine.
With Chimney Peak rising in the northeast corner to 2,435 feet, Chimney Creek briskly flows across the eastern boundary, providing a habitat for trout. The Pacific Crest Trail crosses about eight miles of the area just west and south of the peak's summit. You'll see little evidence of human visitation except for a few traces of the Sacatar Trail, an old wagon road.