Tragedy - Elephants Back

The Tragedy – Elephants Back Inventoried Roadless Area covers 20,866 acres of high Sierra Nevada terrain on the Amador Ranger District of Eldorado National Forest, straddling the Carson Pass crest in Alpine and Amador counties. The country rises through California Red Fir Forest and Sierra Nevada Lodgepole Pine Forest to the open subalpine ridges at Thunder Mountain, Black Butte, Thimble Peak, Covered Wagon Peak, Melissa Coray Peak, and the unmistakable lava-flow profile of Elephants Back. Hungalelti Ridge, Porthole Gap, Martin Point, and Martin Meadow mark the bench country; Long Valley, Willow Flat, and the small basaltic columns of Machado Postpiles add textural variety. The area drains the Bear River and the Silver Fork American River, along with Tragedy Creek and Cole Creek. High glacial lakes — Granite Lake, Devils Lake, Devils Hole Lake, Scout Carson Lake, Summit Meadow Lake, and Hidden Lake — hold cold water; Horse Thief Spring delivers groundwater year-round.

Forest cover changes sharply with elevation. The mid-elevations carry California Mixed Conifer Forest and California Foothill Black Oak and Conifer Forest, with white fir (Abies concolor), Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi), sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana), ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens), and California black oak (Quercus kelloggii). Upslope, California Red Fir Forest mixes California red fir (Abies magnifica) and the near-threatened western white pine (Pinus monticola), with stands of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) in moister benches. Sierra Nevada Lodgepole Pine Forest fringes the high meadows. The Northern California Subalpine Woodland and California Subalpine Woodland take over near the ridgeline at Thunder Mountain and Elephants Back, with mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) and lodgepole pine. California Alpine Dry Tundra and Sierra Nevada Alpine Shrubland appear above timberline, where alpine hulsea (Hulsea algida), Sierra primrose (Primula suffrutescens), and rock-fringe willowherb (Epilobium obcordatum) hold in the granite cracks. Watermelon snow (Chlamydomonas nivalis) tints late-season snowfields. The IUCN-vulnerable Sharsmith pincushion (Chaenactis alpigena) and Sierra Clarkia (Clarkia virgata) hold in specific microhabitats.

American black bear (Ursus americanus), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), American beaver (Castor canadensis) along the Bear River, and North American river otter (Lontra canadensis) range the area. Yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris), Belding's ground squirrel (Urocitellus beldingi), American pika (Ochotona princeps), and lodgepole chipmunk (Neotamias speciosus) occupy talus and high meadow ground. Long-toed salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum) breeds in the cirque lakes. In the canopy, Clark's nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana), mountain chickadee (Poecile gambeli), white-headed woodpecker (Leuconotopicus albolarvatus), Williamson's sapsucker (Sphyrapicus thyroideus), sooty grouse (Dendragapus fuliginosus), and the near-threatened olive-sided flycatcher (Contopus cooperi) work the conifer crest. Gray-crowned rosy-finch (Leucosticte tephrocotis) and pine grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator) hold in the highest ridges. In the high lakes — Granite, Devils, Scout Carson — brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) hold in cold water. Portions of this area fall within the potential range of several federally listed species; see the Conservation section for details.

A traveler crossing the Tragedy – Elephants Back country climbs from white fir and Jeffrey pine slopes through red fir into mountain hemlock at the high benches. From Carson Pass, the Pacific Crest Trail traces the crest past Elephants Back and onto Hungalelti Ridge. Granite Lake, Scout Carson Lake, and Summit Meadow Lake sit in cirques below Thunder Mountain. Below the crest, Cole Creek and the Bear River drop west through aspen and lodgepole stands; Tragedy Creek runs through the open meadow at Tragedy Spring, where the lava cliffs of Elephants Back rise above the trail.

The Tragedy – Elephants Back Inventoried Roadless Area, a 20,866-acre tract within the Amador Ranger District of Eldorado National Forest, straddles the Carson Pass country in Alpine and Amador counties, California, between the headwaters of the Bear River and the Silver Fork American River. Its history reflects long Washoe and Northern Sierra Miwok use of the high Sierra crossings, the 1848 Mormon Battalion party that named Tragedy Spring, the Gold Rush–era Carson Pass emigrant traffic, and the federal forest reserves consolidated into Eldorado National Forest in 1910.

"The Washoe Tribe are the original inhabitants of Lake Tahoe and of all the lands surrounding the Great Basin and Sierra Nevada Mountains, including all lands in Alpine County" [1]. "Ancestral Washoe territory is bordered on the west by the Pine Nut Mountains and Virginia Range, and stretches north to Honey Lake and south to Sonora Pass" [1]; "it is estimated that the traditional Washoe population was more than 3,000 before settlers arrived in the area" [1]. The "Carson Pass area was part of the traditional lands of the Washoe and Northern Sierra Miwok when the first European Americans visited," and was "used as a trade route by Native Americans for over 2,000 years," with seasonal hunting of deer and bear and trade in abalone shells, salts, and obsidian [2].

European contact arrived suddenly. "In January of 1844 John C. Fremont... made the decision to cross the mountains and resupply at Sutter's Fort. After ignoring the warnings of local Washoe Indians, Fremont, his guide, Kit Carson, and his cartographer, Charles Pruess, and the expedition struggled through heavy snowfall to become the first white men to cross of the Sierra Nevada in the winter. On February 21, 1844 the party crossed what is now Carson Pass west of Red Lake" [2]. In 1848 a returning Mormon Battalion party opened the Carson Pass wagon route as an alternative to the Truckee River trail. Their journey produced one of the West's named places: at Tragedy Spring, "three of their men, serving as advance trail scouts, were murdered here by unknown persons June 27, 1848. Battalion friends, arriving a few days later, buried them in a common grave and carved their names (Henderson Cox, Ezra Allen, Daniel Browett) on a nearby tree, thus preserving the grave's location" [3]. The Mormon company "reached Carson Pass" on July 28 and followed what is now Highway 88 to the Carson River [2]. After the 1849 California Gold Rush, the Carson Pass route became "one of the most popular routes to the goldfields with over 40,000 gold seekers and settlers crossing in a single year" [2]. Stock grazing, sheep drives, and trading posts followed; logging and small-scale gold mining persisted in the upper Bear River and Silver Fork drainages into the early twentieth century.

Federal protection came in stages. President McKinley proclaimed the Lake Tahoe Forest Reserve on April 13, 1899; President Theodore Roosevelt established the Tahoe Forest Reserve on October 3, 1905, and the Stanislaus Forest Reserve dated back to February 22, 1897 [4]. On July 28, 1910, "Eldorado National Forest established from parts of Tahoe and Stanislaus National Forests" by President William Howard Taft [4]. "Eldorado is another name for the 'Land of Gold'... el dorado, or the 'gilded man' was a mythical king" [4]. The Mokelumne Wilderness, immediately adjacent to the Tragedy – Elephants Back area, was established by Congress in 1964 and expanded in 1984. The Tragedy – Elephants Back Inventoried Roadless Area is today protected under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Vital Resources Protected

• Cold-Water Headwater and High-Lake Integrity: The 20,866-acre roadless condition keeps the Bear River and Silver Fork American River headwaters, along with Tragedy Creek and Cole Creek, free of ditch-and-fill drainage networks. Intact streambanks and a closed riparian canopy preserve the cold reaches that native salmonids including Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii henshawi) require, along with habitat for Sierra Nevada Yellow-legged Frog (Rana sierrae). The high cirque lakes — Granite Lake, Devils Lake, Scout Carson Lake, Summit Meadow Lake, Hidden Lake, and Devils Hole Lake — and Horse Thief Spring continue to deliver clean snowmelt to the system year-round.

• Subalpine and Alpine Ecosystem Integrity: Without roads, the area preserves an unbroken elevational gradient from California Mixed Conifer Forest through California Red Fir Forest, Northern California Subalpine Woodland, and Sierra Nevada Lodgepole Pine Forest into California Alpine Dry Tundra and Sierra Nevada Alpine Shrubland at Elephants Back and Thunder Mountain. This continuity supports the threatened whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) at the upper margin and the near-threatened western white pine and foxtail pine, and it allows plants and animals to shift uphill as climate warms. The high meadows at Long Valley, Martin Meadow, and Willow Flat function as climate refugia for sensitive species.

• Cultural Resource Continuity: The roadless condition preserves the landscape context of the Mormon Emigrant Trail, Tragedy Spring, and adjacent Carson Pass cultural sites — places of importance to Washoe and Northern Sierra Miwok descendants and to descendants of the 1848 Mormon Battalion party. Roadless management keeps the high subalpine setting intact, allowing the route and its associated sites to be experienced in something close to their nineteenth-century condition.

Potential Effects of Road Construction

• Sedimentation of Headwater Streams and Cirque Lakes: Cut slopes and fill embankments along new road grades shed fine sediment downhill with every storm, embedding gravel beds in Cole Creek and the Bear River with silt. That sediment suffocates aquatic insect communities and seals the interstitial spaces that Lahontan cutthroat trout and Sierra Nevada Yellow-legged Frog require for breeding. Lake-edge construction would change the snowmelt input timing and quality at Granite Lake, Devils Lake, and Scout Carson Lake.

• Fragmentation of the Subalpine Conifer and Alpine Corridor: Road construction across the upper slopes severs the continuous corridor of red fir, mountain hemlock, and whitebark pine that high-elevation species depend on. Linear clearings create permanent edge effects that change microclimate at the moisture margins where whitebark pine and Sierra primrose persist; they expose California Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis) habitat to disturbance; and they open disturbed corridors for invasive plants — bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare), white sweetclover (Melilotus albus), and common mullein (Verbascum thapsus) — to move into the alpine and subalpine country.

• Hydrological and Cultural Disruption: Road cuts, drainage ditches, and culverts intercept the subsurface flow that feeds Horse Thief Spring, Tragedy Spring (just outside the area boundary), and the wet meadows at Martin Meadow and Willow Flat. Drainage shifts dry out the organic meadow soils that hold late-season water and collapse the wetland buffer that sustains downstream baseflow. Road construction across or near the Tragedy Spring corridor would also damage the cultural landscape of the Mormon Emigrant Trail and Washoe ancestral travel routes.

The 20,866-acre Tragedy – Elephants Back Inventoried Roadless Area straddles the Carson Pass crest in Eldorado National Forest, Amador Ranger District. The country runs from the Bear River drainage up through California Red Fir Forest to the open subalpine terrain at Elephants Back, Thunder Mountain, Black Butte, and Thimble Peak. Five trailheads serve the area — Horse Canyon, Woods Lake, Carson Pass, Meiss, and Allens Camp — and the Pacific Crest Trail threads the crest.

Hiking, stock travel, and mountain biking. The Carson Emigrant National Recreation Trail (17E24) carries the longest line at 16.2 miles of hiker/horse route through the area, following the historic Mormon Emigrant route. Canyon Crossing (16E44), 9.9 miles, and Bear River Reservoir (16E46), 8.7 miles, are snow-surface (winter) routes. Hiker/horse/bike trails include Silver Lake–Horse Canyon (17E21), 8.2 miles; Thunder Mountain Loop (17E22), 6.4 miles; Long Valley (17E28), 3.8 miles; Granite Lake (17E23), 3.2 miles; Allen Camp (17E19), 2.0 miles; Minkalo (17E72), 2.1 miles; Mud Lake 4WD (17E79), 2.2 miles; and the short Thunder Mountain (17E04), 0.6 miles. The Pacific Crest Trail through this stretch is split into named segments: PCT: Sonora Pass – Carson Pass (2000), 7.1 miles, hiker/horse; Pacific Crest Trail (2000.12), 4.6 miles, hiker/horse. Other hiker routes include Munson Meadow (17E27), 4.9 miles; Round Top Lake (17E47), 2.4 miles; Mosquito Lake (17E65), 1.1 miles; Beebe Lake (17E31), 1.1 miles; Devils Lake (16E20), 1.0 miles; and Winnemucca (18E06), 1.8 miles. OHV-capable 4WD routes include Pardoes (16E26), 7.5 miles, and Porthole Gap (17E32), 1.4 miles.

Camping and base access. Three developed campgrounds serve the area: Silver Lake CG, Martin Meadow, and Woods Lake CG. Carson Pass and Meiss Trailheads put hikers immediately onto the PCT. Dispersed backcountry camping is allowed away from developed sites; the Mokelumne Wilderness boundary (adjacent to the south) has specific permit requirements.

Fishing. The high glacial lakes — Granite Lake, Devils Lake, Scout Carson Lake, Summit Meadow Lake, Hidden Lake, Devils Hole Lake — hold rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). The Bear River, Silver Fork American River, Tragedy Creek, and Cole Creek carry resident trout in cold reaches. Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii henshawi), federally listed, is documented in the broader drainage system; check current California Department of Fish and Wildlife regulations and species-specific restrictions before fishing. A valid California fishing license is required.

Hunting. Big-game habitat includes mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and American black bear (Ursus americanus) across the conifer slopes, with cougar present under California tag rules. Sooty grouse (Dendragapus fuliginosus), mountain quail (Oreortyx pictus), and band-tailed pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata) occupy the conifer and meadow-edge habitats. Pack-in access along the Carson Emigrant Trail and the Silver Lake–Horse Canyon Trail supports horseback-supported hunts that cannot be replicated from a roaded landscape.

Birding and photography. Twenty-two eBird hotspots near the area frame what birders can expect, with Plasse's Resort (135 species, 171 checklists), Lake Alpine (131), Bear Valley (130), and Carson Pass (128) the most active. Carson Pass to Winnemucca Lake (115 species) and PCT–Meiss Country Trail (115) sit at the area's high-use entry points. Inside the country, Clark's nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana), gray-crowned rosy-finch (Leucosticte tephrocotis), pine grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator), white-headed woodpecker (Leuconotopicus albolarvatus), Williamson's sapsucker (Sphyrapicus thyroideus), sooty grouse, and the near-threatened olive-sided flycatcher (Contopus cooperi) are reliable subjects. The lava cliffs of Elephants Back, Thunder Mountain's basalt face, the cirque lakes at Granite Lake and Scout Carson Lake, the Tragedy Spring cultural site, and the Carson Pass wildflower meadows in July are productive landscape and historical photography sites.

Why the roadless condition matters here. Trail-only access along the Carson Emigrant Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, the cold-water trout fishery in the cirque lakes, the deer and bear hunts, the cultural integrity of Tragedy Spring and the Mormon Emigrant Trail corridor, and the wildflower meadows of Carson Pass all depend on the absence of new road construction across these slopes. Road building would fragment the subalpine conifer corridor that supports whitebark pine and high-elevation wildlife and replace foot-and-stock travel along one of California's most historically significant emigrant routes with mechanized access these experiences cannot survive.