MMW CA Seminar is an experiential program embedded within the Making of the Modern World program, combining MMW15 (or MMW122 for transfer students) with an onsite experience in the mountains of California.   A specially-designed remote MMW course in Summer 1 2026 is combined with the onsite experience, departing UCSD on Sunday, July 12 and traveling by van to the San Jacinto and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges.   The program returns to UCSD on Friday, July 24.    Application available here.

The program plan includes time at:

Week 1

The Sierra Nevada Mountains in eastern California, running ~400 miles (640 km) north–south and forming the backbone of the state’s interior. The Sierra Nevadas rise dramatically from the floor of the Central Valley to peaks over 14,000 feet, including Mount Whitney (14,505 ft), the highest mountain in the contiguous United States. The range is famous for its granite cliffs, glacial valleys, and alpine lakes, most notably in Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks.

Week 2

San Bernardino National Forest, established in 1907, spans more than 800,000 acres across the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountain ranges of Southern California. Rising from desert valleys to alpine peaks, it protects diverse landscapes including chaparral, oak woodlands, conifer forests, meadows, and high-elevation wilderness areas.  The forest is home to Southern California’s two tallest mountains—San Gorgonio Mountain (11,503 ft) and Mount San Jacinto (10,834 ft)—and contains seven federally designated wilderness areas. 

Mount San Jacinto State Park, established in 1937, protects more than 14,000 acres of mountain wilderness in Riverside County. Centered on Mount San Jacinto,  one of the most prominent peaks in Southern California, rising dramatically above the desert floor (from where we will approach it), the park showcases alpine scenery, with subalpine forests of pine, fir, and cedar, alpine meadows, and granite peaks.  

San Jacinto Wilderness, established in 1964, protects more than 32,000 acres of mountain terrain in the San Bernardino National Forest and Mt. San Jacinto State Park.  The wilderness features a striking range of ecosystems, from desert canyons and chaparral to subalpine forests of pine, fir, and cedar. 

The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) runs through the San Jacinto Wilderness. The PCT is a 2,650-mile national scenic trail, designated in 1968 by the National Trails System Act, which stretches from the U.S.–Mexico border near Campo, California in San Diego County, to the U.S.–Canada border in Washington state. The PCT is managed by the U.S. Forest Service, working in partnership with other agencies – the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and State Park Service, wherever the PCT intersects with those lands –  and with a non-governmental, non-profit organization, the Pacific Crest Trail Association.