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USA: California favorites

224 images Created 2 Apr 2011

Favorite California photos by Tom Dempsey include: Yosemite National Park (El Capitan, Half Dome, Cathedral Peak and Lake, waterfalls, reflections, ice, backpackers, Virginia Peak), Burney Falls in Shasta County, Monterey Bay Aquarium (jellyfish, octopus, seahorse), lush green forest on Cataract Creek Trail in Mount Tamalpais Watershed, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Patrick's Point State Park, historic Russian colony at Fort Ross, geologically unique Bowling Ball Beach at Schooner Gulch State Park, crashing waves, sea stacks, coastal birds, natural patterns, Sutter Buttes panorama and hiker under sunny oaks

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  • Bixby Creek Bridge (1932), Big Sur coast, California, USA. 120 miles south of San Francisco and 13 miles south of Carmel in Monterey County along State Route 1. Completed in 1932 for just over $200,000, the concrete span, one of the highest bridges of its kind in the world, soars 260 feet above the bottom of a steep canyon carved by Bixby Creek. This panorama was stitched from multiple images.
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  • Light rays in foggy redwood forest in Murrelet State Wilderness, California, USA.
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  • McWay Falls at sunset, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Big Sur coast, California, USA
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  • Turkey feathers reflect a rainbow of colors. Pinnacles Campground, Pinnacles National Park, California, USA
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  • Non-native Calla lilies on Doud Creek, Garrapata State Park, California, USA. The park is 6.7 miles south of Carmel and 18 miles north of Big Sur Village on the Monterey coast. These non-native Doud Creek calla lilies bloom in late January through mid April (photographed March 8, 2022). The plant is originally from Malawi and South Africa.
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  • Jumbled rocks atop the High Peaks loop (hike 5.4 miles, 1650 ft gain). Pinnacles National Park, California, USA. This panorama was stitched from multiple images.
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  • 2017 shipwreck, Estero Bluffs State Park, Cayucos, California.
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  • San Simeon Pier, William R. Hearst Memorial State Beach, California, USA
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  • Big Creek Bridge silhouette at sunset, Big Sur coast, State Route 1, near Lucia, California, USA. The Big Creek Bridge is an open spandrel, concrete deck arch bridge (589 feet long) on the Big Sur coast of California, along State Route 1 near Lucia. Opened for traffic in 1938, it crosses Big Creek Canyon.
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  • Bixby Creek Bridge (1932), Big Sur coast, California, USA. 120 miles south of San Francisco and 13 miles south of Carmel in Monterey County along State Route 1. Completed in 1932 for just over $200,000, the concrete span, one of the highest bridges of its kind in the world, soars 260 feet above the bottom of a steep canyon carved by Bixby Creek. Iceplant was introduced to California in the early 1900s as an erosion stabilization tool beside railroad tracks, and later used by Caltrans on roadsides. Iceplant is bad for a number of reasons. It’s invasive and releases salt into the soil, raising the salt level high enough to inhibit other plant seeds, especially grasses.  It doesn't serve as a food source for animals and can out-compete the native plants for water, light, and space. It's actually bad for erosion control. Having weak root systems, these heavy plants can cause the hill to start sliding, taking existing topsoil from the slope. Although the soft succulent new growth has a high water content which doesn't burn, the slow-to-decompose dead leaves layered underneath create a fire hazard.
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  • At sunrise, Mt. Ritter, Banner Peak, and the Moon reflect in a pond at Garnet Lake in Ansel Adams Wilderness, Inyo National Forest, California, USA. We backpacked for 5 days from Agnew Meadows to Thousand Island Lake, Garnet Lake, Ediza Lake, Minaret Lake, and Devils Postpile Ranger Station, reaching trailheads using the Reds Meadow Shuttle from the town of Mammoth Lakes.
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  • The granite monolith of El Capitan reflects in Merced River at Valley View. El Capitan rises 3000 feet (900 m) above Yosemite Valley floor to 7569 feet elevation in Yosemite National Park, California, USA. Rock climbers flock from around the world test themselves on the huge granitic face. Designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity. 100 million years ago, El Capitan and the entire Sierra Nevada crystallized into granite from magma 5 miles underground. The range started uplifting 4 million years ago, and glaciers eroded the landscape seen today in Yosemite. Panorama stitched from 4 overlapping photos.
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  • Granite Park at sunrise in John Muir Wilderness, Inyo National Forest, Eastern Sierra, California, USA. From Pine Creek Pass Trailhead, we backpacked to Honeymoon Lake and Granite Park. Day 1: backpack 6.2 miles with 2900 feet gain to Honeymoon Lake. Day 2: backpack 3.1 miles with 1300 ft gain to Granite Park. Day 3: backpack 2.7 miles with 1300 ft descent to Honeymoon Lake to set up tents; then day hike 4.4 miles round trip with 900 ft gain to Pine Creek Pass. Day 4: backpack 6.2 miles with 2900 ft descent to the trailhead. Multiple overlapping photos were stitched to make this panorama.
    2108CA2-0300-303-Pano.jpg
  • Sunrise at Nutter Lake in Hoover Wilderness in Hoover Wilderness of Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, Eastern Sierra Nevada, Mono County, California, USA. Our backpack from Green Creek Trailhead to Summit Lake was 7.6 mi with 2360 ft gain, 310 ft descent, over a leisurely 3 days, then out on the fourth day. Multiple overlapping photos were stitched to make this panorama.
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  • Bowling Ball Beach, Schooner Gulch State Park, south of Point Arena, Mendocino County, California, USA. Pacific Ocean waves have weathered coastal bluffs (steeply tilted beds of Miocene Galloway Formation, Cenozoic Era mudstone) to expose spherical sandstone concretions resting on bowling lanes. Concretions form because minerals of like composition tend to precipitate around a common center. The panorama was stitched from 2 overlapping photos.
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  • Sunrise at Green Lake in Hoover Wilderness of Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, Eastern Sierra Nevada, Mono County, California, USA. Our backpack from Green Creek Trailhead to Summit Lake was 7.6 mi with 2360 ft gain, 310 ft descent, over a leisurely 3 days, then out on the fourth day. A day hike from our Green Lake campsite to West Lake was 3.9 mi with 1830 ft gain to 8896 ft elev. Multiple overlapping photos were stitched to make this panorama.
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  • Old cottonwood trees line a rural road under the snowy Sierra Nevada mountains in early spring 2021, in Round Valley near Bishop, California, USA.
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  • Providence Mountains, seen from Kelso Dunes Trail, in Mojave National Preserve, near the town of Baker, in San Bernardino County, California, USA. Multiple overlapping photos were stitched to make this panorama.
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  • Kelso Dunes, Mojave National Preserve, near the town of Baker, in San Bernardino County, California, USA.
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  • Parry's nolina ((Nolina parryi). Joshua Tree National Park, near Twentynine Palms, California, USA. The park straddles the cactus-dotted Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert, which is higher and cooler.
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  • Desert tortoise. 49 Palms Oasis Trail. Joshua Tree National Park, near the City of Twentynine Palms, California, USA. The park straddles the cactus-dotted Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert, which is higher and cooler.
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  • 49 Palms Oasis, palm panorama in Joshua Tree National Park, near the City of Twentynine Palms, California, USA. The California fan palm (Washingtonia filifera, in the palm family Arecaceae) is native to the far southwestern United States and Baja California. Today's oasis environment was protected from a drying climate, restricting this cold-tolerant palm to widely separated relict groves. Multiple overlapping photos were stitched to make this panorama.
    2103SW-A0535-564-Pano.jpg
  • Cholla Cactus Garden, Joshua Tree National Park, near Twentynine Palms, California, USA. The park straddles the cactus-dotted Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert, which is higher and cooler.
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  • Sunset illuminates eroded land in Mecca Hills Wilderness, seen from a BLM dispersed campsite off Painted Canyon Road, Mecca, California, USA. The Mecca Hills are deeply-eroded sedimentary badlands north of the Salton Sea, bounded on the west by the San Andreas Fault. Several parallel faults split the region. The original sediments were primarily lake and Colorado River deposits, later covered with alluvium as the uplifting hills eroded. Multiple overlapping photos were stitched to make this panorama. Mecca Hills Wilderness is managed by BLM's Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office.
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  • Ladder Canyon and Painted Canyon Loop Trail, Mecca Hills Wilderness, managed by BLM's Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office, near Mecca, California, USA. The Mecca Hills are deeply-eroded sedimentary badlands north of the Salton Sea, bounded on the west by the San Andreas Fault. Several parallel faults split the region. The original sediments were primarily lake and Colorado River deposits, later covered with alluvium as the uplifting hills eroded.
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  • Hikers descend into a slot along the Ladder Canyon and Painted Canyon Loop Trail, Mecca Hills Wilderness, managed by BLM's Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office, near Mecca, California, USA. The Mecca Hills are deeply-eroded sedimentary badlands north of the Salton Sea, bounded on the west by the San Andreas Fault. Several parallel faults split the region. The original sediments were primarily lake and Colorado River deposits, later covered with alluvium as the uplifting hills eroded.
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  • West Fork Falls of West Fork Palm Canyon Creek, at Palm Canyon, in the Indian Canyons, on the Reservation of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, Palm Springs, California, USA. The beautiful Palm Canyon Trail takes you through the world's largest California Fan Palm oasis. The Indian Canyons are the ancestral home of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.
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  • The beautiful Palm Canyon Trail visits the world's largest California Fan Palm oasis, a great "tour de fronds." We hiked the Palm Canyon Trail to Indian Potrero Trail to Stone Pools, and looping back via Victor Trail, in the Indian Canyons, Palm Springs, California, USA. The Indian Canyons are the ancestral home of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. California fan palms (Washingtonia filifera in the palm family Arecaceae) are native to the far southwestern United States and Baja California. Today's oasis environment was protected from a drying climate, restricting this cold-tolerant palm to widely separated relict groves. Multiple overlapping photos were stitched to make this panorama.
    2103SW-A0869-870-Pano.jpg
  • Scenes from hiking the Palm Canyon Trail to Indian Potrero Trail to Stone Pools, and looping back via Victor Trail, in the Indian Canyons, Palm Springs, California, USA. The beautiful Palm Canyon Trail visits the world's largest California Fan Palm oasis. The Indian Canyons are the ancestral home of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. California fan palms (Washingtonia filifera in the palm family Arecaceae) are native to the far southwestern United States and Baja California. Today's oasis environment was protected from a drying climate, restricting this cold-tolerant palm to widely separated relict groves. Multiple overlapping photos were stitched to make this panorama.
    2103SW-A0926-927-Pano.jpg
  • Gnarly pine trees along Brainerd Lake Trail. Big Pine Creek South Fork, John Muir Wilderness, Inyo National Forest, near Big Pine, California, USA. From the day hikers parking lot, we walked 9.2 miles round trip with 2800 feet gain to Brainerd (or Brainard) Lake (which would be 1.5 miles further round trip from the overnight hikers lot).
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  • Visit the world's largest California Fan Palm oasis on the beautiful Palm Canyon Trail, a great "tour de fronds." We hiked the Palm Canyon Trail to Indian Potrero Trail to Stone Pools, and looping back via Victor Trail, in the Indian Canyons, Palm Springs, California, USA. The Indian Canyons are the ancestral home of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. California fan palms (Washingtonia filifera in the palm family Arecaceae) are native to the far southwestern United States and Baja California. Today's oasis environment was protected from a drying climate, restricting this cold-tolerant palm to widely separated relict groves.
    2103SW-A0934.jpg
  • Stone Pools with palms along Indian Potrero Trail. Indian Canyons, Palm Springs, California, USA. We hiked the Palm Canyon Trail to Indian Potrero Trail to Stone Pools, and looped back via Victor Trail, in the Indian Canyons, just west of the city of Palm Springs. The Indian Canyons are the ancestral home of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. California fan palms (Washingtonia filifera in the palm family Arecaceae) are native to the far southwestern United States and Baja California. Today's oasis environment was protected from a drying climate, restricting this cold-tolerant palm to widely separated relict groves. Multiple overlapping photos were stitched to make this panorama.
    2103SW-A1018-1027-Pano.jpg
  • Barrel cactus with yellow flowers on the Victor Trail. We hiked the Palm Canyon Trail to Indian Potrero Trail to Stone Pools, and looped back via Victor Trail, in the Indian Canyons, Palm Springs, California, USA. The beautiful Palm Canyon Trail takes you through the world's largest California Fan Palm oasis. The Indian Canyons are the ancestral home of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.
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  • Hike Golden Canyon to see colorful geologic patterns in Death Valley National Park, California, USA.
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  • Cathedral Peak reflects in Cathedral Lake, Yosemite National Park, California, USA. Cathedral Peak is the highest summit of the Cathedral Range, an offshoot of the Sierra Nevada Mountain in south-central Yosemite National Park in Tuolumne County. The sharp cathedral-shaped top of the peak was left uneroded as Pleistocene glaciers scraped its flanks smooth. The west peak (left side) of Cathedral Peak is called Eichorn Pinnacle, after Jules Eichorn, who first ascended a route (difficulty = YDS 5.4 ) in 1931. Published in "Light Travel: Photography on the Go" book by Tom Dempsey 2009, 2010.
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  • Sunrise on Mesquite Flat Dunes, near Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley National Park, California, USA. This dune field includes three types of dunes: crescent, linear, and star shaped. Polygon-cracked clay of an ancient lakebed forms the floor. Mesquite trees have created large hummocks that provide stable habitats for wildlife.
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  • Intriguing towers of calcium-carbonate decorate the South Tufa Area, in Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve, Lee Vining, California, USA. The Reserve protects wetlands that support millions of birds, and preserves Mono Lake's distinctive tufa towers -- calcium-carbonate spires and knobs formed by interaction of freshwater springs and alkaline lake water. Mono Lake has no outlet and is one of the oldest lakes in North America. Over the past million years, salts and minerals have washed into the lake from Eastern Sierra streams and evaporation has made the water 2.5 times saltier than the ocean. This desert lake has an unusually productive ecosystem based on brine shrimp, and provides critical nesting habitat for two million annual migratory birds that feed on the shrimp and blackflies. Since 1941, diversion of lake water tributary streams by the city of Los Angeles lowered the lake level, which imperiled the migratory birds. In response, the Mono Lake Committee won a legal battle that forced Los Angeles to partially restore the lake level. This panorama was stitched from 11 overlapping photos.
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  • Sand dune pattern. Sunrise on Mesquite Flat Dunes, near Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley National Park, California, USA. This dune field includes three types of dunes: crescent, linear, and star shaped. Polygon-cracked clay of an ancient lakebed forms the floor. Mesquite trees have created large hummocks that provide stable habitats for wildlife.
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  • Burney Falls is a beautiful National Natural Landmark on Burney Creek in McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park, Shasta County, California, USA. The water comes from underground springs above and at the falls, which plunges 129 feet. The waterfall was named after pioneer settler Samuel Burney who lived nearby in the 1850s. The McArthurs settled nearby in the late 1800s and their descendants saved the waterfall from development, bought the property and gifted it to the state in the 1920s. The park is northeast of Redding, six miles north of Highway 299 on Highway 89 near Burney. The Pacific Crest Trail passes through the park.
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  • Pacific sea nettle, or Ortiga de mar (Chrysaora fuscescens), Monterey Bay Aquarium, California, USA. Although commonly named "jellyfish," jellies are plankton, not fish. Jellies (class Scyphozoa) lack the backbone (vertebral column) found in fish. Jellyfish have roamed the seas for at least 500 million years, making them the oldest multi-organ animal. A sea nettle hunts by trailing long tentacles covered with stinging cells to paralyze tiny plankton and other prey. Stung prey is moved to the frilly mouth-arms and on to the jelly's mouth. The Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) was founded in 1984 on the site of a former sardine cannery on Cannery Row along the Pacific Ocean shoreline. Fresh ocean water is circulated continuously from Monterey Bay, filtered for visibility during the day and unfiltered at night to bring in food. Monterey was the capital of Alta California from 1777 to 1846 under both Spain and Mexico. In 1846 the US flag was raised over the Customs House, and California was claimed for the United States.
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  • The tiger lily or Columbia lily (Lilium columbianum) is native to western North America. In the Bishop Creek watershed, enjoy a scenic hike from North Lake to Lamarck Lakes in John Muir Wilderness, Inyo National Forest, Sierra Nevada, California, USA. The moderate trail to Upper Lamarck Lake is 5.5 miles round trip with 1550 feet cumulative gain.
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  • Mobius Arch, in BLM Alabama Hills Recreation Area, on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the Owens Valley, west of Lone Pine in Inyo County, California, USA. The Alabama Hills are a popular filming location for television and movie productions (such as Gunga Din, Gladiator, Iron Man,  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), especially Westerns (Tom Mix films, Hopalong Cassidy films, The Gene Autry Show, The Lone Ranger, Bonanza, How the West Was Won, and Joe Kidd). Two main types of rock are exposed at Alabama Hills: 1) orange, drab weathered metamorphosed volcanic rock 150-200 million years old; and 2) 82- to 85-million-year-old biotite monzogranite which weathers to potato-shaped large boulders.
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  • An impressive array of pyramidal peaks reflect in the creek inlet to Chickenfoot Lake in Little Lakes Valley, John Muir Wilderness, Inyo National Forest, Sierra Nevada, California, USA. Enjoy an easy, very rewarding hike from Mosquito Flat through Little Lakes Valley to Chickenfoot Lake and Gem Lakes. To reach the trailhead, turn off Highway 395 at Toms Place (15 miles south of Mammoth Junction) onto paved Rock Creek Road, and drive 10.5 miles to the end. We hiked the moderate trail to Morgan Pass, 7.5 miles round trip with 1250 feet cumulative gain; but you should skip the left turn to redundant Morgan Pass and instead turn right to visit the pretty Gem Lakes. This panorama was stitched from 4 overlapping photos.
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  • Tom is dwarfed by a gigantic redwood tree in Stout Grove, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Del Norte County, California, USA. The last major free flowing river in California, the Smith River, flows past old growth redwoods protected in this coastal park established in 1929. As part of two trapping expeditions from 1826-1830, explorer Jedediah Smith was the first white American to travel overland from the Mississippi River to California, and the first to reach the Oregon Country overland via the California coast. The coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens, in the cypress family Cupressaceae) is the tallest tree species on Earth, reaching up to 379 feet (115.5 m) high and up to 26 feet (7.9 m) diameter at breast height. This evergreen tree can live 1200 to 1800 years or more. Since the 1850s, more than 95% of the original old-growth redwood forest was cut down for lumber along coastal northern California and southwestern Oregon. The coastal redwood forest is a remnant of a larger group of trees that has existed for 160 million years. California's Redwood National and State Parks were honored as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980.
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  • Ancient trees have grown twisted into fascinating shapes in the harsh dry alpine climate at Schulman Grove, in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, Inyo National Forest, in the White Mountains, near Big Pine, California, USA. The world's oldest known living non-clonal organism was found here in 2013 -- a Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) 5064 years old, germinated in 3051 BC. It beat the previous record set by the famous nearby 4847-year-old Methuselah Tree sampled around 1957. Starting from the visitor center at 9846 feet, we hiked the Cabin Trail loop, returning along Methuselah Grove Trail (highly recommended, to visit the world's oldest living trees), with views eastward over Nevada's basin-and-range region. An important dendrochronology, based on these trees and dead bristlecone pine samples, extends back to about 9000 BC (with a single gap of about 500 years).
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  • A crayfish pinches a finger at Secret Lake. We hiked Leavitt Meadows Loop clockwise (8.9 miles with 1570 ft gain with ridge extension above Lane Lake) in Hoover Wilderness, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, California, USA. Trailhead is at Leavitt Meadows Campground, 38.33401 N, 119.55177 W. Staying below 8000 ft elevation, this makes a good training hike. The best ambiance is at Secret Lake. Roosevelt and Lane Lakes provide nice views.
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  • Cirrus clouds streak over Mount Goode (13,085 feet) and Hurd Peak (12,237 ft, center) along a scenic trail in the High Sierra. My favorite hike in the Bishop Creek watershed goes from South Lake to Long Lake and Saddlerock Lake, looping back via a steeper, poorly marked route to Ruwau Lake, Chocolate Lakes, and Bull Lake, in John Muir Wilderness, Inyo National Forest, Sierra Nevada, California, USA. The rewarding semi-loop is 9 miles with 2220 feet cumulative gain. An easier walk is 7.2 miles round trip with 1500 feet gain to Saddlerock Lake, out and back via beautiful Long Lake. This panorama was stitched from 12 overlapping photos.
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  • A desert rock nettle (Eucnide urens or desert stingbush) shrub blooms with creamy yellow flowers in Fall Canyon, a wilderness area in Death Valley National Park, California, USA.
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  • Chocolate Peak (11,682 feet) rises above beautiful Bull Lake. My favorite hike in the Bishop Creek watershed goes from South Lake to Long Lake and Saddlerock Lake, looping back via a steeper, poorly marked route to Ruwau Lake, Chocolate Lakes, and Bull Lake, in John Muir Wilderness, Inyo National Forest, Sierra Nevada, California, USA. The rewarding semi-loop is 9 miles with 2220 feet cumulative gain. An easier walk is 7.2 miles round trip with 1500 feet gain to Saddlerock Lake, out and back via beautiful Long Lake. This panorama was stitched from 7 overlapping photos.
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  • In Death Valley National Park, snow-dusted Telescope Peak (11,043 ft) rises high above Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America (282 feet below sea level). Inyo County, California, USA. Millions of visitors have compacted a wide white salt walkway across the brown-dirt-dusted crystal formations. Through concentration by evaporation, Badwater Basin accumulates mostly Sodium Chloride (table salt), plus calcite, gypsum, and borax (famously mined 1883-1889 with Twenty Mule Teams). Cresting the Panamint Range, Telescope Peak has one of the greatest vertical rises above local terrain of any mountain in the contiguous United States. Its summit rises 11,325 feet above Badwater Basin in about 15 miles, and about 10,000 feet above the floor of Panamint Valley in about 8 miles, to the west.
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  • Rustic wagon. Bodie is California's official state gold rush ghost town. Bodie State Historic Park lies in the Bodie Hills east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, near Bridgeport, California, USA. After W. S. Bodey's original gold discovery in 1859, profitable gold ore discoveries in 1876 and 1878 transformed "Bodie" from an isolated mining camp to a Wild West boomtown. By 1879, Bodie had a population of 5000-7000 people with 2000 buildings. At its peak, 65 saloons lined Main Street, which was a mile long. Bodie declined rapidly 1912-1917 and the last mine closed in 1942. Bodie became a National Historic Landmark in 1961 and Bodie State Historic Park in 1962.
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  • Sunrise on Mesquite Flat Dunes, near Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley National Park, California, USA. This dune field includes three types of dunes: crescent, linear, and star shaped. Polygon-cracked clay of an ancient lakebed forms the floor. Mesquite trees have created large hummocks that provide stable habitats for wildlife.
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  • Photographers flourish in silhouette against a magenta and orange sunset in Granite Park, Sierra Nevada, California, USA (captured in summer 1983). This was Tom Dempsey's first published photo, appearing in February 1987 "Modern Photography" magazine.
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  • Dragon rock pattern. Fall Canyon, Death Valley National Park, California, USA.
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  • Behind glass reflecting Bodie ghost town is a dress form in Boone Store and Warehouse (built 1879). This building was owned by Harvey Boone (a direct descendent of Daniel Boone), who may have owned a business longer than anyone else in town. Bodie is California's official state gold rush ghost town. Bodie State Historic Park lies in the Bodie Hills east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, near Bridgeport, California, USA. After W. S. Bodey's original gold discovery in 1859, profitable gold ore discoveries in 1876 and 1878 transformed "Bodie" from an isolated mining camp to a Wild West boomtown. By 1879, Bodie had a population of 5000-7000 people with 2000 buildings. At its peak, 65 saloons lined Main Street, which was a mile long. Bodie declined rapidly 1912-1917 and the last mine closed in 1942. Bodie became a National Historic Landmark in 1961 and Bodie State Historic Park in 1962.
    1507CAL-2757_Bodie-CA.jpg
  • Erythronium californicum (common name California fawn lily) is a species of flowering plant in the family Liliaceae, endemic to moist woodland habitats in the mountains of Northern California. Hike in Forks of Butte Creek Recreation Area, on Federal BLM land, California, USA. Directions from Chico: drive northeast on State Highway 32, 20 miles to Forest Ranch, then southeast on Garland Road (graded dirt road), then left on Doe Mill Road. It is about 4.75 miles to Butte Creek trailhead from Highway 32.
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  • Honey Run Covered Bridge was built in 1894 on Butte Creek, halfway between Chico and Paradise in Butte County, California, USA. Pedestrians and bicycles can cross, but a damaging car crash in 1965 closed the bridge to auto traffic, which was rerouted to a steel bridge upstream. Chinook salmon and steelhead runs have been restored to Butte Creek, which flows 93 miles through a scenic volcanic canyon in Butte County.
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  • An antique tractor wheel rusts at the Eastern California Museum, 155 N. Grant Street, Independence, California, 93526, USA. The Museum was founded in 1928 and has been operated by the County of Inyo since 1968. The mission of the Museum is to collect, preserve, and interpret objects, photos and information related to the cultural and natural history of Inyo County and the Eastern Sierra, from Death Valley to Mono Lake.
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  • Giant blazingstar or smoothstem blazingstar (Mentzelia laevicaulis) is a spectacular yellow wildflower native to western North America. Photographed along scenic Onion Valley Road in the Sierra Nevada, west of Independence, California, USA.
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  • Cracked windshield on rusting car in Benton Hot Springs, Mono County, California, USA. Benton Hot Springs (elevation 5630 feet) saw its heyday from 1862 to 1889 as a supply center for nearby mines. At the end of the 1800s, the town declined and the name Benton was transferred to nearby Benton Station.
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  • Monterey Bay Aquarium, California, USA. The Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) was founded in 1984 on the site of a former sardine cannery on Cannery Row along the Pacific Ocean shoreline. Fresh ocean water is circulated continuously from Monterey Bay, filtered for visibility during the day and unfiltered at night to bring in food. Monterey was the capital of Alta California from 1777 to 1846 under both Spain and Mexico. In 1846 the US flag was raised over the Customs House, and California was claimed for the United States.
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  • Monterey Bay Aquarium, California, USA. The Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) was founded in 1984 on the site of a former sardine cannery on Cannery Row along the Pacific Ocean shoreline. Fresh ocean water is circulated continuously from Monterey Bay, filtered for visibility during the day and unfiltered at night to bring in food. Monterey was the capital of Alta California from 1777 to 1846 under both Spain and Mexico. In 1846 the US flag was raised over the Customs House, and California was claimed for the United States.
    1212CA-1280.jpg
  • A Datura flower blooms in the White Mountains, Inyo National Forest, near Big Pine, California, USA. The Datura genus is in the Potato (Solanaceae) Family, also known as the Deadly Nightshade Family. Its large, white, trumpet-shaped flowers bloom March through November. Corollas are up to 6 inches long, have 5 teeth and are often tinged with purple or lavender around the edges. The flower opens after dusk then closes by mid-morning.
    1507CAL-1127_Datura-flower.jpg
  • The Peace Valley tract of the Sutter Buttes was purchased from private ranchers in 2003 by California Department of Parks and Recreation for a future state park. The Sutter Buttes, notable as the world's smallest mountain range (10 miles across), are a small circular complex of eroded volcanic lava domes which rise above the flat plains of the Sacramento Valley (the northern part of the Central Valley of California, USA), just outside of Yuba City. The highest peak, South Butte, reaches about 2,130 feet (650 m) above sea level. The Buttes formed over 1.5 million years ago by a now-extinct volcano. They are named for John Sutter, who received a large land grant from the Mexican government. Published in March 2011 issue of The Pipevine, newsletter of Mount Lassen Chapter of the California Native Plant Society.
    0911CA-020_hiker-oaks_Sutter-Buttes.jpg
  • Sunrise on Mesquite Flat Dunes, near Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley National Park, California, USA. This dune field includes three types of dunes: crescent, linear, and star shaped. Polygon-cracked clay of an ancient lakebed forms the floor. Mesquite trees have created large hummocks that provide stable habitats for wildlife.
    1804SW-2919.jpg
  • The Russian River drains Sonoma and Mendocino counties  in Northern California, USA and flows into the Pacific Ocean at Russian River State Marine Conservation area and Sonoma Coast State Park near Jenner.
    1212CA-2085.jpg
  • Leafy sea dragon / Phycodurus eques, Monterey Bay Aquarium, California, USA.  Phycodurus eques is a marine fish in the family Syngnathidae, which includes the seahorses. Its long leaf-like protrusions serve as camouflage in its native habitat  along southern and western coasts of Australia. The Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) was founded in 1984 on the site of a former sardine cannery on Cannery Row along the Pacific Ocean shoreline. Fresh ocean water is circulated continuously from Monterey Bay, filtered for visibility during the day and unfiltered at night to bring in food. Monterey was the capital of Alta California from 1777 to 1846 under both Spain and Mexico. In 1846 the US flag was raised over the Customs House, and California was claimed for the United States.
    1212CA-1262.jpg
  • The granite monolith of Half Dome (8836 feet or 2693 meters elevation) is a famous symbol of Yosemite National Park, Sierra Nevada, California, USA. The peak rises 4737 ft (1444 m) above the valley floor. Designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity. 100 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada crystallized into granite from magma 5 miles underground. The range started uplifting 4 million years ago, and glaciers eroded the landscape seen today in Yosemite. Panorama stitched from 3 overlapping photos.
    1111CAL-229-231pan_Half-Dome.jpg
  • Mobius Arch frames Mount Whitney (14,505 feet or 4421 m elevation), the highest summit in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada. The photogenic Alabama Hills are a BLM Recreation Area on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the Owens Valley, west of Lone Pine in Inyo County, California, USA. The Alabama Hills are a popular filming location for television and movie productions (such as Gunga Din, Gladiator, Iron Man,  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), especially Westerns (Tom Mix films, Hopalong Cassidy films, The Gene Autry Show, The Lone Ranger, Bonanza, How the West Was Won, and Joe Kidd). Two main types of rock are exposed at Alabama Hills: 1) orange, drab weathered metamorphosed volcanic rock 150-200 million years old; and 2) 82- to 85-million-year-old biotite monzogranite which weathers to potato-shaped large boulders.
    1507CAL-1286_Mobius-Arch_Alabama-Hil...jpg
  • Yellow green and purple rock pattern along the trail to Shadow Lake (7.5 miles, 1200 ft gain) in Ansel Adams Wilderness, Inyo National Forest, Sierra Nevada, Mammoth Lakes village, California, USA.
    2007CA-1208.jpg
  • Sierra Nevada peaks and tufa towers reflect in alkaline waters at South Tufa Area, Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve, Lee Vining, California, USA. The Reserve protects wetlands that support millions of birds, and preserves Mono Lake's distinctive tufa towers -- calcium-carbonate spires and knobs formed by interaction of freshwater springs and alkaline lake water. Mono Lake has no outlet and is one of the oldest lakes in North America. Over the past million years, salts and minerals have washed into the lake from Eastern Sierra streams and evaporation has made the water 2.5 times saltier than the ocean. This desert lake has an unusually productive ecosystem based on brine shrimp, and provides critical nesting habitat for two million annual migratory birds that feed on the shrimp and blackflies. Since 1941, diversion of lake water tributary streams by the city of Los Angeles lowered the lake level, which imperiled the migratory birds. In response, the Mono Lake Committee won a legal battle that forced Los Angeles to partially restore the lake level.
    1507CAL-2429_Mono-Lake-CA.jpg
  • Originally built in the 1820s, the restored chapel at Fort Ross was the first Russian Orthodox structure in North America outside of Alaska. Fort Ross State Historic Park preserves a former Russian colony (1812-1842) on the west coast of North America, in what is now Sonoma County, California, USA. The 5.5-inch howitzer cannons are historical reproductions. Visit Fort Ross and dramatic coastal scenery 11 miles north of Jenner on California Highway One. For centuries before Europeans arrived, this site was called Metini and had been occupied by the Kashaya band of Pomo people who wove intricate baskets and harvested sea life, plants, acorns, deer, and small mammals. Sponsored by the Russian Empire, "Settlement Ross" was multicultural, built mostly by Alaskan Alutiiq natives and occupied by a few Russians plus 300-400 native Siberians, Alaskans, Hawaiians, Californians, and mixed Europeans. Initially, sea otter pelts funded Russian expansion, but by 1820, overhunting motivated the Russian-American Company to introduce moratoriums on hunting seals and otters, the first marine-mammal conservation laws in the Pacific. Russian voyages greatly expanded California's scientific knowledge. Renamed "Ross" in 1812 in honor of Imperial Russian (Rossiia), Fortress Ross was intended to grow wheat and other crops to feed Russians living in Alaska, but after 30 years was found to be unsustainable. Fort Ross was sold to John Sutter in 1841, and his trusted assistant John Bidwell transported its hardware and animals to Sutter's Fort in the Sacramento Valley. Fort Ross is a landmark in European imperialism, which brought Spanish expanding west across the Atlantic Ocean and Russians spreading east across Siberia and the Pacific Ocean. In the early 1800s, Russians coming from the north met Spanish coming from the south along the Pacific Coast of California, followed by the USA arriving from the east in 1846 for the Mexican-American War. Today, Fort Ross is a California Historical Landmar
    1212CA-2208.jpg
  • Rainbow over Death Valley National Park seen from Furnace Creek, California, USA.
    1804SW-2344.jpg
  • Artist's Palette geologic formation on Artists Drive, Death Valley National Park, California, USA. More than 5 million years ago, multiple volcanic eruptions deposited ash and minerals across the landscape, which chemically altered over time into a colorful paint pot of elements: iron, aluminum, magnesium, and titanium.
    1804SW-2306.jpg
  • Alpine trees. Off Highway 88 near Carson Pass, hike a varied loop through lush wildflower fields from Woods Lake Campground to Winnnemucca Lake then Round Top Lake, in Mokelumne Wilderness, Eldorado National Forest, Sierra Nevada, California, USA. The excellent loop trail is 5.3 miles with 1250 feet gain (or 6.4 miles with 2170 feet gain if adding the scramble up Round Top).
    1507CAL-1074.jpg
  • Red heart-shaped leaf. Upper Bidwell Park, Chico, Butte County, California, USA.
    1311CA-038.jpg
  • The crown jelly (scientific name Cephea cephea, Spanish: Medusa coronada) lives in Indo-Pacific oceans and has a purple bell above lacy mouth-arms. Exhibited at Monterey Bay Aquarium, California, USA. Although commonly named "jellyfish," jellies are plankton, not fish. Jellies (class Scyphozoa) lack the backbone (vertebral column) found in fish. Jellyfish have roamed the seas for at least 500 million years, making them the oldest multi-organ animal. The Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) was founded in 1984 on the site of a former sardine cannery on Cannery Row along the Pacific Ocean shoreline. Fresh ocean water is circulated continuously from Monterey Bay, filtered for visibility during the day and unfiltered at night to bring in food. Monterey was the capital of Alta California from 1777 to 1846 under both Spain and Mexico. In 1846 the US flag was raised over the Customs House, and California was claimed for the United States.
    1212CAC-1103.jpg
  • Burney Falls is a beautiful National Natural Landmark on Burney Creek in McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park, Shasta County, California, USA. The water comes from underground springs above and at the falls, which plunges 129 feet. The waterfall was named after pioneer settler Samuel Burney who lived nearby in the 1850s. The McArthurs settled nearby in the late 1800s and their descendants saved the waterfall from development, bought the property and gifted it to the state in the 1920s. The park is northeast of Redding, six miles north of Highway 299 on Highway 89 near Burney. The Pacific Crest Trail passes through the park.
    1412CA-012_Burney-Falls.jpg
  • Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva) wildflowers bloom pink at North Table Mountain Biological Reserve on April 7, 2014, near Oroville, California, USA. Created by ancient lava (basalt) flows, Table Mountain is an elevated basalt mesa with beautiful vistas of spring wildflowers, waterfalls, lava outcrops, and a rare type of vernal pool, called Northern Basalt Flow Vernal Pools.
    1403SWC-352_Table-Mountain-Reserve.jpg
  • The Russian River drains Sonoma and Mendocino counties  in Northern California, USA and flows into the Pacific Ocean at Russian River State Marine Conservation area and Sonoma Coast State Park near Jenner.
    1212CA-2148.jpg
  • Lathe Arch frames Lone Pine Peak (12,943 ft) in BLM Alabama Hills Recreation Area on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the Owens Valley, west of Lone Pine in Inyo County, California, USA. The Alabama Hills are a popular filming location for television and movie productions (such as Gunga Din, Gladiator, Iron Man,  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), especially Westerns (Tom Mix films, Hopalong Cassidy films, The Gene Autry Show, The Lone Ranger, Bonanza, How the West Was Won, and Joe Kidd). Two main types of rock are exposed at Alabama Hills: 1) orange, drab weathered metamorphosed volcanic rock 150-200 million years old; and 2) 82- to 85-million-year-old biotite monzogranite which weathers to potato-shaped large boulders.  This panorama was stitched from 3 overlapping photos.
    1507CAL-1237-39pan_Alabama-Hills.jpg
  • Burney Falls is a beautiful National Natural Landmark on Burney Creek in McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park, Shasta County, California, USA. The water comes from underground springs above and at the falls, which plunges 129 feet. The waterfall was named after pioneer settler Samuel Burney who lived nearby in the 1850s. The McArthurs settled nearby in the late 1800s and their descendants saved the waterfall from development, bought the property and gifted it to the state in the 1920s. The park is northeast of Redding, six miles north of Highway 299 on Highway 89 near Burney. The Pacific Crest Trail passes through the park.
    1412CA2-014-2_Burney-Falls.jpg
  • The granite monolith of Half Dome (8836 feet or 2693 meters elevation) reflects in Mirror Lake, Tenaya Creek, Yosemite National Park, Sierra Nevada, California, USA. The peak rises 4737 ft (1444 m) above the valley floor. Designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity. 100 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada crystallized into granite from magma 5 miles underground. The range started uplifting 4 million years ago, and glaciers eroded the landscape seen today in Yosemite.
    1111CALC-101_Half-Dome_Yosemite.jpg
  • Tree branches tangle in a fractal pattern over a fern lined trail at Patrick's Point State Park, near Eureka, California, USA.
    1202CAL-137.jpg
  • Admire lush green forest on Cataract Creek Trail, Mount Tamalpais Watershed, Marin County Municipal Water District, California, USA. Panorama stitched from 6 overlapping photos.
    1012CAL-145-150pan_Cataract-Creek.jpg
  • The granite monolith of El Capitan rises 3000 feet (900 m) above Yosemite Valley floor to 7569 feet elevation in Yosemite National Park, California, USA. Rock climbers flock from around the world test themselves on the huge granitic face. Designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity. 100 million years ago, El Capitan and the entire Sierra Nevada crystallized into granite from magma 5 miles underground. The range started uplifting 4 million years ago, and glaciers eroded the landscape seen today in Yosemite. Panorama stitched from 2 overlapping photos.
    1111CAL-031-32pan_El-Capitan_El-Capi...jpg
  • Desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) with lamb, beside Emigrant Canyon Road, Death Valley National Park, California, USA. Desert bighorn sheep are native to the deserts of the Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico.
    1804SW-2847.jpg
  • California, USA: Backpackers walk with poles beneath Virginia Peak, Yosemite National Park. Published in Sierra Magazine, Sierra Club Outings March/April 2003. We backpacked over several days from Virginia Lakes Trailhead to Summit Lake, then out to Green Creek Trailhead via Hoover Wilderness.
    00CAL-02-32_Virginia-Peak_hikers_Yos...jpg
  • Icicles patterns freeze in Yosemite National Park, Sierra Nevada, California, USA.
    1111CAL-547_ice-Yosemite.jpg
  • The Peace Valley tract of the Sutter Buttes was purchased from private ranchers in 2003 by California Department of Parks and Recreation for a future state park. The Sutter Buttes, notable as the world's smallest mountain range (10 miles across), are a small circular complex of eroded volcanic lava domes which rise above the flat plains of the Sacramento Valley (the northern part of the Central Valley of California, USA), just outside of Yuba City. The highest peak, South Butte, reaches about 2,130 feet (650 m) above sea level. The Buttes formed over 1.5 million years ago by a now-extinct volcano. They are named for John Sutter, who received a large land grant from the Mexican government. Published in March 2011 issue of The Pipevine, newsletter of Mount Lassen Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. Panorama stitched from 5 overlapping photos.
    0911CA-026-30pan_Sutter-Buttes.jpg
  • Burney Falls is a beautiful National Natural Landmark on Burney Creek in McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park, Shasta County, California, USA. The water comes from underground springs above and at the falls, which plunges 129 feet. The waterfall was named after pioneer settler Samuel Burney who lived nearby in the 1850s. The McArthurs settled nearby in the late 1800s and their descendants saved the waterfall from development, bought the property and gifted it to the state in the 1920s. The park is northeast of Redding, six miles north of Highway 299 on Highway 89 near Burney. The Pacific Crest Trail passes through the park.
    1412CA-013_Burney-Falls.jpg
  • An intriguing island of tufa towers reflect in alkaline waters at South Tufa Area, in Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve, Lee Vining, California, USA. The Reserve protects wetlands that support millions of birds, and preserves Mono Lake's distinctive tufa towers -- calcium-carbonate spires and knobs formed by interaction of freshwater springs and alkaline lake water. Mono Lake has no outlet and is one of the oldest lakes in North America. Over the past million years, salts and minerals have washed into the lake from Eastern Sierra streams and evaporation has made the water 2.5 times saltier than the ocean. This desert lake has an unusually productive ecosystem based on brine shrimp, and provides critical nesting habitat for two million annual migratory birds that feed on the shrimp and blackflies. Since 1941, diversion of lake water tributary streams by the city of Los Angeles lowered the lake level, which imperiled the migratory birds. In response, the Mono Lake Committee won a legal battle that forced Los Angeles to partially restore the lake level.
    1507CAL-2500_Mono-Lake-CA.jpg
  • Bowling Ball Beach, Schooner Gulch State Park, south of Point Arena, Mendocino County, California, USA. Pacific Ocean waves have weathered coastal bluffs (steeply tilted beds of Miocene Galloway Formation, Cenozoic Era mudstone) to expose spherical sandstone concretions resting on bowling lanes. Concretions form because minerals of like composition tend to precipitate around a common center. The panorama was stitched from 9 overlapping photos.
    1212CA-3106-3114pan_Bowling-Ball-Bea...jpg
  • Trees reflect over stones in Merced River, Yosemite National Park, Sierra Nevada, California, USA. 100 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada crystallized into granite from magma 5 miles underground. The range started uplifting 4 million years ago, and glaciers eroded the landscape seen today in Yosemite National Park.
    1111CAL-274_Merced-River_Yosemite.jpg
  • A juvenile chuckwalla (or chuckawalla): Sauromalus ater is a species of lizard in the family Iguanidae. Fall Canyon, Death Valley National Park, California, USA.
    1804SW-3159.jpg
  • Walk in one of the world's tallest forests on Simpson-Reed Trail, in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, along US Route 199 at Walker Road, Crescent City, Del Norte County, California, USA. The last major free flowing river in California, the Smith River, flows past old growth redwoods protected in this coastal park established in 1929. As part of two trapping expeditions from 1826-1830, explorer Jedediah Smith was the first white American to travel overland from the Mississippi River to California, and the first to reach the Oregon Country overland via the California coast. The coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens, in the cypress family Cupressaceae) is the tallest tree species on Earth, reaching up to 379 feet (115.5 m) high and up to 26 feet (7.9 m) diameter at breast height. This evergreen tree can live 1200 to 1800 years or more. Since the 1850s, more than 95% of the original old-growth redwood forest was cut down for lumber along coastal northern California and southwestern Oregon. The coastal redwood forest is a remnant of a larger group of trees that has existed for 160 million years. California's Redwood National and State Parks were honored as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980 and included as part of California Coast Ranges Biosphere Reserve in 1983.
    1202CAL-200_redwoods-California.jpg
  • Dilapidated wood and iron siding ages at Bodie, California's official state gold rush ghost town. Bodie State Historic Park lies in the Bodie Hills east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, near Bridgeport, California, USA. After W. S. Bodey's original gold discovery in 1859, profitable gold ore discoveries in 1876 and 1878 transformed "Bodie" from an isolated mining camp to a Wild West boomtown. By 1879, Bodie had a population of 5000-7000 people with 2000 buildings. At its peak, 65 saloons lined Main Street, which was a mile long. Bodie declined rapidly 1912-1917 and the last mine closed in 1942. Bodie became a National Historic Landmark in 1961 and Bodie State Historic Park in 1962.
    1507CAL-2694_Bodie-CA.jpg
  • Sunrise seen from Zabriskie Point in Death Valley National Park, California, USA.
    1804SW2-142.jpg
  • The quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) is a deciduous tree native to cooler areas of North America. McGee Creek Canyon makes an excellent moderate day hike through fields of summer wildflowers in John Muir Wilderness, Inyo National Forest, Sierra Nevada, near Mammoth Lakes, California, USA. Swirling patterns of fractured red and gray metamorphic rocks rise impressively above this hike of 6 miles round trip with 1200 feet gain to the beaver pond on McGee Creek.
    1507CAL-1108.jpg
  • The granite dome of Liberty Cap rises 1700 feet (520 m) from the base of Nevada Fall to 7076 feet (2157 m) elevation along on the John Muir Trail in Yosemite National Park, California, USA. To the left is the south side of Half Dome. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity. 100 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada crystallized into granite from magma 5 miles underground. The range started uplifting 4 million years ago, and glaciers eroded the landscape seen today in Yosemite. Panorama stitched from 3 overlapping photos.
    1111CAL-555-557pan_Liberty-Cap_Nevad...jpg
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