Approximate location — plotted from published sources, not a site visit, and not a guarantee of access.
California’s largest nonprofit nature preserve at the San Emigdio Mountains–San Joaquin Valley interface, where Transverse Ranges, Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada, western Mojave, and valley grasslands meet. Free public trails and picnic areas thread oak savanna, riparian corridors, and valley grasslands that support tule elk, San Joaquin kit fox, blunt-nosed leopard lizard, and one of the largest remaining stands of endangered Bakersfield cactus. Elevations from about 640 to 6,000 ft pack multiple biotic zones into a single day trip south of Bakersfield.