This strikingly rugged region is characterized by steep, mountainous terrain, with elevations ranging from 2,500 feet along the Trinity River to 7,000 feet along the Bonanza King Divide that commands spectacular views of the surrounding countryside, including the Trinity Alps Wilderness to the west and Mount Shasta to the northeast.
These steep slopes are cut by numerous small creeks and ravines, with ancient forests, lakes, meadows, oak woodlands, and grasslands in between. The area is noted for its exceptional botanical diversity due to unusual geology and a large number of wet seeps and meadows. These wet areas provide spectacular wildflower displays over a long blooming season, while also providing habitat for many sensitive plants and trees, including the rare and beautiful Port Orford cedar.
As the name “Bonanza King” implies, the region was pored over by prospectors in the Nineteenth Century. Like the nearby Trinity Alps Wilderness, physical reminders of this mining boom are not hard to find in the form of abandoned equipment and old, primitive structures.