It is approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) wide and 27 miles (43 km) long, with elevations ranging from 3,800 feet (1,200 m) in the canyon of the Middle Fork of the Rogue River to 9,495 feet (2,894 m) at the top of Mount McLoughlin, the highest peak in southern Oregon and the highest point in the Cascade Range between the Three Sisters and Mount Shasta.

[3] Geologic studies indicate that the earliest rocks in this part of the High Cascades began forming when a chain of volcanoes erupted between five and three million years ago.

The entire wilderness supports roving populations pine martens and fishers, black bears, cougars, coyotes, as well as pikas, golden-mantled ground squirrels, goshawks and various other species of wildlife.

[3][5] Beginning several thousand years ago, Native American groups, ancestors of the Klamath and the Takelma people, hunted game and gathered huckleberries in the Sky Lakes Wilderness.

However, prehistoric visitors did not spend a significant amount of time in the area due to the short season of mild weather and the limited variety of food plants and animals.

After 1906, the newly established United States Forest Service built trails and fire lookouts within the Sky Lakes area.

[2] The Pacific Crest Trail passes through the entire Sky Lakes Wilderness from north to south for about 35 miles (56 km).

This inscribed Shasta red fir bears the carved names of early-day Oregon conservationist Judge John B. Waldo and four companions.