Alta Sierra, California
25 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1920 and the latest in 1978. It stands in the Lake Isabella census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93285. It stands on Ice House Creek. The Survey maps it on the Alta Sierra quadrangle. 103 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,718 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1920 to 1978The same ground, surveyed 58 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 25 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1920 USGS Delonagha quadrangle1:62500
- 1926 USGS Glennville quadrangle1:62500
- 1936 USGS Tobias Peak quadrangle1:125000
- 1943 USGS Tobias Peak quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Glennville quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1966 USGS Bakersfield quadrangle1:250000
- 1972 USGS Alta Sierra quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1978 USGS Isabella Lake quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
100 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 100 fires within 5 miles of Alta Sierra between 1992 and 2020, burning about 37,266 acres in total. 20 started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 42 |
| Natural | 20 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 16 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 7 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 4 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 September 1996 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 8.0 acres | Sequoia National Forest | TERRACE |
| 7 September 1993 | Smoking | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | MELON |
| 4 September 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | MEADOW |
| 30 September 2008 | Natural | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | BULL |
| 3 September 2003 | Natural | 2.0 acres | Sequoia National Forest | BLACK |
| 3 September 1998 | Natural | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | BOHNA |
| 29 September 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Sequoia National Forest | SHIRLEY |
| 29 September 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Central California District | BODFISH |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 58 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 58 workings within 5 miles of Alta Sierra: 33 past producers, 10 occurrences, 8 prospects, 4 producers. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Tungsten, Gold, Antimony, Uranium. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Sugar Mine | Tungsten, Quartz | Past Producer | ||
| Good Enough Prospect | Tungsten, Molybdenum | Past Producer | Scheelite | |
| Greenhorn District | Tungsten, Bismuth | Occurrence | SKARN | |
| Lucky Hit Deposit | Tungsten, Copper | Producer | Pyrite, Scheelite | |
| Major Mine | Tungsten, Copper, Molybdenum | Past Producer | Chalcopyrite, Molybdenite, Pyrite, Pyrrhotite, Scheelite | |
| Shirley Creek Quartz | Gold, Silver | Prospect | ||
| Susie Q Prospect | Tungsten, Antimony | Occurrence | Scheelite, Stibnite | |
| Wattenbarger Prospect | Uranium | Prospect | ||
| Big Oscar Antimony Deposit | Antimony | Prospect | ||
| Susie Q Prospect | Tungsten, Antimony | Prospect |
Storms near this place
5 since 2013Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alta Sierra in 5 storm reports between 2013 and 2019: 2 heavy rain, 2 debris flow, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2019 | Debris Flow | Alta Sierra | - | California Highway Patrol reported a rock slide on State Route 155 between Aldercreek Campground and Greenhorn Summit. |
| March 2018 | Flood | Alta Sierra | - | California Highway Patrol reported two boulders in the roadway of State Route 155 near Alta Sierra Rd. with heavy rainfall in the area. |
| February 2017 | Debris Flow | Alta Sierra | - | California Highway Patrol 5 by 5 foot boulder in road due to heavy rain near State Route 155 and Alta Sierra Drive near Alta Sierra. |
| December 2014 | Heavy Rain | Alta Sierra | - | Mesonet station Wofford Heights /WFHC1/ rainfall 1.98 inches. |
| August 2013 | Heavy Rain | Alta Sierra | - | Broadcast media reported some small hail and heavy rain. The rainfall total was 2 inches. |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shirley Meadows | 1.3 miles | 25 | |
| Wofford Heights | 5.2 miles | 28 | |
| Kernville (historical) | 6.1 miles | 28 | |
| Kernville | 6.8 miles | 25 | |
| Camp Owens | 6.9 miles | 25 | |
| Riverkern | 6.9 miles | 25 | |
| Isabella (historical) | 6.9 miles | 28 | |
| Pettit Place | 7.1 miles | 25 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Alta Sierra | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q4736000 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 269505. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.












