Editing Madera County, California (section)

===Areas Inaccessible by Road===
{{See also|Trans-Sierra Highway}}
[[File:Sunset from the Minarets Vista viewpoint near Mammoth Lakes.jpg|thumb|Minaret Summit, located on the border between Madera and Mono Counties, is inaccessible by road from the rest of Madera County.]]In Madera County, eastern regions such as [[Devil's Postpile National Monument]] and part of [[Minaret Summit]] are isolated from the rest of the county due to a lack of connecting roads. Access to this area is primarily through Minaret Summit Road, which becomes [[California State Route 203|State Route 203]] upon reaching the [[Mono County]] border and leads to [[Mammoth Lakes]]. Red's Meadow Road is a further extension of this route.

A gap of less than {{Convert|10|mi|km}} separates the end of Minaret Road in the Western Sierra, which begins in [[North Fork, California|North Fork]] and extends northeast into the [[Sierra Nevada|Sierra]], and the terminus of Red's Meadow Road in the [[Eastern Sierra]]. In the early to mid-20th century, plans were considered for building a highway or tunnel that would link the [[Eastern Sierra]] to the [[San Joaquin Valley]] through [[Minaret Summit]]. To maintain the feasibility of this project, an area southwest of Minaret Summit was intentionally left out of the [[Wilderness Act of 1964]]. This exclusion was aimed at keeping the option open for the construction of a [[Trans-Sierra Highway]].

During his tenure as [[Governor of California]], [[Ronald Reagan]] embarked on a [[horse packing]] trip in this area. Following this experience, Reagan aligned with [[conservation movement|conservationists]] to oppose the construction of the road.<ref>{{cite news |last=Skelton |first=George |date=1997-07-28 |title=The Man in the White Hat Who Saved the Sierra |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-jul-28-mn-17071-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=2025-01-17}}</ref> His efforts persisted after his election as [[President of the United States|President]] in 1980, culminating in the designation of this area as [[wilderness]] under the [[California Wilderness Act of 1984]].