San Gorgonio Wilderness, Nature reserve in Riverside County, US

San Gorgonio Wilderness covers 94,702 acres in the eastern San Bernardino Mountains, spanning San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Its terrain rises from 2,300 feet to the 11,502-foot Mount San Gorgonio, the highest peak in Southern California. The elevation gradient supports desert, coastal and mountain vegetation zones. Congress designated the area in 1964, and it is now part of Sand to Snow National Monument.

Congress designated the San Gorgonio Wilderness in 1964. By 1984 it had grown to 23,720 acres with added lands, and a 1994 expansion bringing in Bureau of Land Management parcels raised the total to 94,702 acres. In February 2016 President Obama established the Sand to Snow National Monument, which now contains the wilderness; the San Bernardino National Forest and the BLM manage it jointly.

The wilderness lies within the Sand to Snow National Monument, proclaimed by President Obama in February 2016 and named for the span between desert sand and mountain snow. It is managed jointly by the San Bernardino National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management, so visitors cross land held under two federal agencies.

The wilderness lies in the eastern San Bernardino Mountains, beginning about 2 miles west of Morongo Valley and 10 miles northwest of Palm Springs, with elevations from 2,300 to 11,502 feet. It is managed jointly by the San Bernardino National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management, so check which agency's rules apply to your trailhead before setting out.

The wilderness spans elevations from 2,300 to 11,502 feet, a range of over 9,200 feet within its 94,702 acres. This gradient lets hikers move from desert foothills near San Gorgonio Pass to subalpine slopes around Mount San Gorgonio in a single outing.