Goat Mountain (Madera County, California)
| Goat Mountain | |
|---|---|
| [mapframe not available on SimWiki] | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 4,967 ft (1,514 m) |
| Coordinates | 37°17′42″N 119°33′55″W / 37.2949453°N 119.5651418°W |
| Geography | |
| Location | Madera County, California, U.S. |
| Parent range | Sierra Nevada |
| Topo map | USGS Bass Lake |
Goat Mountain is a mountain in Madera County, California, in the Sierra National Forest on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. Its summit has an elevation of approximately 4,967 feet (1,514 m).[1] The mountain rises west of Bass Lake and includes a historic fire lookout on its southern portion.[2]
Geography and geology
Goat Mountain lies south and west of Bass Lake in the Bass Lake Ranger District of the Sierra National Forest. Little Fine Gold Creek rises on the mountain's western slope at an elevation of approximately 4,000 feet (1,200 m). A 1912 United States Geological Survey gazetteer described the creek as flowing approximately 10 miles (16 km) before joining Fine Gold Creek.[3]
Goat Mountain contains quartzite, a remnant of older metamorphic rock surrounded by the granitic rocks of the Sierra Nevada batholith. A 1992 USGS study described the Goat Mountain quartzite as similar to that at Pilot Ridge and as part of a chain of metamorphic remnants extending through the central Sierra Nevada.[4]
Name
The origin of the name Goat Mountain is uncertain. A 1961 local history in the Madera Tribune credited pioneer Robert Laramore with naming the mountain.[5] Other accounts attribute the name to goats used during construction of the Bass Lake dam. After helping compact soil around the dam, the goats were released and reportedly moved onto the mountain.[2]
The name was in federal use by 1912, when the United States Geological Survey referred to Goat Mountain in its gazetteer of the San Joaquin River basin.[3]
Fire lookout
A fire lookout site was established on the southern part of Goat Mountain by 1915 or earlier. A cabin constructed there in 1915 was destroyed by wind during the winter of 1915–16. The lookout was reconstructed in 1934 and again in 1935 after winds shifted the tower on its base. The resulting structure consists of an L-4 hip-roof cab on a 20-foot (6.1 m) steel tower.[6]
The lookout was added to the National Historic Lookout Register on April 21, 1999, as lookout number 303.[7] A 2013 Forest Service assessment identified the Goat Mountain Fire Lookout as an isolated historic building within the Sierra National Forest.[8] The tower is no longer used for fire detection and is maintained as a Forest Service radio relay site.[6]
Recreation
The Goat Mountain and Spring Cove trails ascend the mountain from the Bass Lake area and provide access toward the fire lookout.[9] In 1995, the Los Angeles Times described the Goat Mountain Lookout Trail as one of three principal hiking trails around Bass Lake and gave the route to the lookout as approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) round trip.[10]
Ecology and forest management
A 2004 Forest Service survey reported continued western pine beetle activity on the east side of Goat Mountain near Bass Lake.[11]
In 2025, the Sierra Nevada Conservancy approved funding for reconstruction of the Goat Mountain section of the Joint Chiefs' Fuel Break. The project would reconstruct a 4.7-mile (7.6 km) east–west fuel break across approximately 300 acres (120 ha) of Sierra National Forest land south of Bass Lake using mechanical and hand treatments and pile burning.[12]
References
- ↑ "Goat Mountain Topo Map in Madera County CA". TopoZone. Retrieved September 5, 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 D., Andy (April 14, 2012). "Goat Mountain Trail". Sierra News Online. Retrieved September 5, 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Wood, Beatrice Dawson; Hoyt, J. C. (1912). Gazetteer of Surface Waters of California, Part II: San Joaquin River Basin (Report). Water-Supply Paper. United States Geological Survey. p. 34. doi:10.3133/wsp296.
- ↑ Bateman, Paul C. (1992). Plutonism in the Central Part of the Sierra Nevada Batholith, California (Report). Professional Paper. United States Geological Survey. p. 17. doi:10.3133/pp1483.
- ↑ "Oakhurst Area Originally Inhabited By Chuk-Chaney Indian Tribes". Madera Tribune. September 25, 1961. Retrieved September 5, 2026 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Goat Mountain Fire Lookout". Fire-Lookouts.org. Retrieved September 5, 2026.
- ↑ "Goat Mountain Lookout". National Historic Lookout Register. Retrieved September 5, 2026.
- ↑ Final Sierra National Forest Assessment (PDF) (Report). R5-MB-269. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region. December 2013. p. 177.
- ↑ Sierra Traveler (PDF) (Report). United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Retrieved September 5, 2026.
- ↑ "Wandering Around Bass Lake". Los Angeles Times. November 12, 1995. Retrieved September 5, 2026.
- ↑ Forest Pest Conditions in California 2004 (PDF) (Report). United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 2004. p. 74.
- ↑ "Goat Mountain Fuel Break Reconstruction (SNC1824)". CEQAnet. California Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation. December 12, 2025. Retrieved September 5, 2026.