Sand to Snow National Monument owes its name to the dramatic elevation difference between the Sonoran Desert floor (about 1,000 feet) and the 11,500-foot San Gorgonio Mountain, the highest peak in Southern California. That topographic gradient has made Sand to Snow possibly the most botanically diverse national monument in America. No roads penetrate its 240 square miles (154,000 acres) interior, most of it a designated wilderness, however, the lower parts of Sand to Snow National Monument on the east are quite accessible thanks to a trio of developed nature preserves on its outskirts.
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