Minaret Wilderness

Lying to the east of the southern part of Yosemite National Park, the Minaret Wilderness encompasses a portion of the Sierra crest. A variety of mid and high elevation vegetation is present.

There is a ponderosa forest with Pinus ponderosa and white fir, Abies concolor; higher, there is a forest with red fir, Abies magnifica, dominant and, higher still, a lodgepole pine forest with Pinus contorta ssp. murrayana and mountain hemlock, Tsuga mertensiana. The highest forest is the subalpine with whitebark pine, Pinus albicaulis, and limber pine, Pinus flexilis.

There are alpine fell fields, alpine and subalpine meadows, aspen groves, montane scrub and riparian willow associations. Three uncommon plants occur in the area, Castilleja lemmonii, Crepis nana ssp. ramosa and Veronica cusickii.

Animal life is typical and abundant. Of note are the rare Mount Lyell salamander, Hydromantes platycephalus, and the narrow endemic Mount Lyell shrew, Sorex lyelli.

Though much of the area is of Mesozoic granitics, with a small Pliocene volcanic intrusion including a cinder cone, near the southern boundary, much of geologic interest is found in the Ritter Range which consists of remnants or roof pendants of the ancestral mountains of the Sierra. Here is a sequence of metamorphosed pyroclastic and sedimentary rocks some 9,150 meters (30,000 feet) thick. These rocks were deposited in both marine and terrestrial conditions.

Volcanic rocks from the lower strata have been dated to the Permian, 230-265 million years ago; thus the vulcanism began before the Mesozoic. Early Jurassic fossils have been collected some 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) stratigraphically above the contact with earlier Paleozoic rocks.

Glacial activity is particularly evident in this wilderness and there still exist some 20 small glaciers, glacierettes, or perennial snow/fields in the area, all of which are of recent origin. Mount Ritter, Banner Peak and Mount Davis are horns formed by glacial cirques, and the Minarets are aretes. A number of glacial lakes are present, as are moraines, tills, erratics, etc.

Integrity: Portions of the area are heavily impacted by human use.

Use: Research, educational, observational, present.

Ref: Pembel R., 1972. Botany of the Dana Plateau. Unpublished Thesis, University of California, Davis.
Wood, Mary C., 1977. Ice Age Geomorphology Middle Fork San Joaquin River, Madera County, California. California Geology 30, pp. 249 - 253.

March 1980