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154 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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  • 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.
    1111CAL-606-609pan_Yosemite-Valley.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.
    2007CA-2550-56-Pano.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 2 overlapping photos.
    1212CA-2314-2315pan_Bowling-Ball-Bea...jpg
  • 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.
    2007CA-2110-18-Pano.jpg
  • 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.
    96CAL-06-05_Cathedral-Peak-Lake-Yose...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-3042.jpg
  • 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.
    1507CAL-2464-74pan_Mono-Lake-CA.jpg
  • 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.
    1804SW-3024.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.
    1412CA2-012-2_Burney-Falls.jpg
  • 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.
    1212CA-1114.jpg
  • 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.
    1507CAL-2214.jpg
  • 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.
    1507CAL-1310_Mobius-Arch_Alabama-Hil...jpg
  • 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.
    1507CAL-2293-96pan.jpg
  • 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).
    1507CAL-1528.jpg
  • 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.
    1202CAL-070_redwoods-California.jpg
  • 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.
    2007CA-1017.jpg
  • 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.
    1507CAL-1602-13pan.jpg
  • 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.
    1804SW-3085.jpg
  • 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.
    1507CAL-2015-21pan.jpg
  • 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.
    1804SW-2217.jpg
  • 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.
    1507CAL-2585_Bodie-CA.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-2968.jpg
  • Photographers flourish in silhouette against a magenta and orange sunset in the High Sierra, California, USA. Published in Modern Photography Magazine February 1987.
    83HIS-03-27_photographers-silhouette.jpg
  • Dragon rock pattern. Fall Canyon, Death Valley National Park, California, USA.
    1804SW-3108.jpg
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