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Small cove beach beneath sandy cliffs with tide pools and waves breaking along a rocky shoreline, viewed from above.

California

2013 · United States

CountriesUnited States
Stages6

Route

Photographs (64)

Sandy beach below low coastal cliffs with waves breaking along a rocky shoreline under a clear blue sky.Long sandy beach below eroding coastal cliffs with rolling Pacific waves and distant hills under a clear blue sky.Small cove beach beneath sandy cliffs with tide pools and waves breaking along a rocky shoreline, viewed from above.A small parking lot at dusk with several parked cars, palm trees, and a low, stucco-style building lit by warm exterior lights under a fading blue sky.A gray sedan parked in a dirt lot near coastal vegetation, with several other cars and the ocean visible in the background under a clear blue sky.A wide, sunlit landscape overlooking a calm lake bordered by dry, rolling hills and distant mountains under a clear blue sky.A small historic white wooden schoolhouse with a front porch and ramp, shaded by oak trees, with a stone historical marker in the foreground.View across a deep granite valley with pine forest and a river below, steep cliffs rising on both sides under clear summer light.Alpine granite cirque with snow patches, talus slope, and a narrow snowmelt streamSagebrush desert overlooking a blue alkaline lake with distant mountainsCurving desert road through sagebrush with snow-capped Sierra mountainsStone monument with historical plaque set in sagebrush desert landscapeAlpine roadside lake bordered by granite slopes and lingering snowfieldsClear alpine lake reflecting snow-covered granite peaks and pine forestFast-flowing mountain creek over granite rocks in a pine forestGranite shoreline with alpine lake, pine trees, and snow-dusted peaksGranite domes and forested slopes overlooking Yosemite ValleyUpper Yosemite Falls plunging down sheer granite cliffs above forestYosemite Valley with El Capitan, granite cliffs, forest, and distant waterfallGolden grass hills overlooking green oak woodland and distant valleysRiver-like reservoir winding through golden hills and farmlandWinding rural road through dry grassland beside a reservoirRolling hillside road overlooking farmland, vineyards, and a wide valleyDry oak-dotted hills with a freight train crossing the slope

Journal Notes (6)
Day 1 - Around Santa Clara

General Santa Clara is a city in Santa Clara County at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area, and it is the base for this first day. It was founded by the Spanish in 1777 with the establishment of Mission Santa Clara de Asís under Junípero Serra, and it sits in the centr …

Day 2 - Yosemite National Park

General The drive from the bay to Yosemite crosses the floor of the Central Valley before it begins to climb, and the signposts change from towns to fruit stands to forest. The last stretch runs through the foothills on the route that follows the Merced River, past small settleme …

Day 3 - Around Santa Clara

General The third day stays in Santa Clara County and goes inland, into the hills that frame the bay. The county sits between two mountain systems, the Santa Cruz Mountains on the western side and the Diablo Range to the east, with the Santa Clara Valley running between them from …

Day 4 - Central Valley

General The Central Valley is a broad, elongated and almost entirely flat valley that dominates the interior of California. It runs from north west to south east, parallel to the Pacific coast and inland from it, and covers about eleven per cent of the state's land area, bounded …

Day 5 - Joshua Tree National Park

General Joshua Tree National Park lies in south eastern California, straddling north central Riverside County and part of southern San Bernardino County, about 130 miles east of Los Angeles and roughly 78 miles east of San Bernardino, with Twentynine Palms as its nearest town. It …

Day 6 - Death Valley National Park

General Death Valley National Park straddles the California and Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada, and it is the largest national park in the contiguous United States as well as the hottest, driest and lowest of all the national parks in the country. More than 93 per cent …