The Tehachapi Mountains stretch for almost fifty miles across Southern California; oriented southwest to northeast, this relatively low range connects the Transverse Ranges (on the north rim of the Los Angeles Basin) with the southern end of the Sierra Nevada Range. Of equal significance, the Tehachapi Range forms a topographic wall between California's Central Valley, to its northwest, and the Mojave Desert, to its southeast.
These mountains formed due to compression and uplift along the Garlock Fault, which runs along the southeast edge of the range and joins the San Andreas Fault near Frazier Park; there, the Tehachapi Mountains merge with the Transverse Ranges. At the northern end of the Tehachapi Range, the Barstow-Bakersfield Highway crosses Tehachapi Pass, elevation 4000 feet, within a broad parkland occupied by the town of Tehachapi. South of this town is Tehachapi Mountain Park and, to its south, is Double Mountain, elevation 7993 feet, the highest summit in the range.
While elevations across the Tehachapi Mountains are relatively modest, ranging from 4000 to almost 8000 feet, this range plays a significant role in the ecology of Southern California. Prevailing northwest winds carry Pacific moisture down the Central Valley, which is closed off by the Sierra Nevada to the east, the Tehachapi Mountains to the southeast and the Transverse Ranges to the south; in their rain shadow, to the southeast, is the vast Mojave Desert. The Tehachapi Mountains themselves, covered primarily by grasslands, oak savannas and, at the highest elevations, coniferous forest, represent an important wildlife corridor between the Sierras and the Transverse Ranges; the Nature Conservancy, in concert with local and other national conservation organizations, is thus working to protect natural habitat along the crest of the range. Finally, the relatively low Tehachapi ridge is essentially a wind funnel between the Central Valley and the Mojave Desert, offering an ideal setting for wind farms.
