landmarks and attractions in california

7/30/2019 Landmarks and attractions in California

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Most interesting

attractions and landmarks in

California

Gatis Pvils, 12 June 2012

No.33. http://www.wondermondo.com/California.htmImage: Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.

Rennett Stowe, Flickr / CC BY 2.0
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Although California is one of states in the United States of America, Americans often compare it to aseparate country, e.g. if California would be a country, it

would have the eighth largest economy in the world. We

can go on with this comparison California has more

landmarks and attractions than many large countries of

the world.

Highlights of California are: Cliff formations and waterfalls inYosemite National Park are located some of the most

impressive cliff walls and waterfalls in the world, such as

the 1,444 m tall Half Dome or the 739 m tall Yosemite

Falls.

Unique ecosystems and giant trees California has the oldest, tallest and largest trees in the

world on in some places these trees form unique

forests. California has also some of the most spectacular

desert ecosystems.

Modern architecture California has beenone of the most affluent places in Earth for many

decades and thanks to the ambitions of californians

here have been created many spectacular and unusual

structures.

Devils Postpile a cliff of very well formed columnarbasalt. This cliff resembles a heap of vertically placed

piles.

El Capitan granite monolith with 900 m tall, vertical

wall. One of the most challenging climbing routes in the

world.

Half Dome granite dome rising 1,444 m tall above the

surroundings.

Kings Canyon up to 2,500 m deep canyon shaped by

glaciers in granite bedrock. Here is located Kings Gate

granite peak with nearly vertical, 610 m tall wall.

Tenaya Canyon deep, dramatic canyon.

Yosemite Falls, Upper Fall.BorisFromStockdale, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

One of the tallest waterfalls in North America isYosemite Falls. Total height of this waterfall is

739 m, but especially impressive is the tallest

cascade if this waterfall the whooping 436 m!

Wondermondo is unique project: it aims to describe the most interesting man made and natural attractions /

landmarks in the whole world.

Author of website www.wondermondo.com and each article in it is Gatis Pvils. Visit the site to find a lot more

information!

Half Dome.

docentjoyce, Flickr / CC BY 2.0
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Approximately 16 km long.

Trona Pinnacles group of more than 500 tufa spires rising from the bed of dry Searles Lake. Spires are up

to 43 m high.

Yosemite Valley up to 914 m deep, glacier carved cleft in granite rocks. Impressive landscape.

Bigfoot Cave enormous cave, 20 km long and up to 367 m deep. This cave is very challenging to its

explorers.

Black Chasm Cave this cave has unusual formations of helictites horizontally growing speleothems.

Crystal Cave this 4.7 km long cave is opened to tourists. Beautiful cave formations have been well

preserved.

Lilburn Cave the longest known cave in California,

34.6 km long.

Moaning Cavern cave with vertical entrance shaft.

Here have fallen and died prehistoric people and extinct

animals. Water drops create a moaning sound which is

heard outside the cave.

Ursa Minor recently discovered, beautiful cave. The

ceiling of the cave is sparkling due to millions of small

crystals. Cave is rich with rare speleothems several

metres long soda straws, cave pearls and others.

Bridalveil Falls 188 m tall, nearly vertical waterfall.

One of the most visited waterfalls in Yosemite NationalPark.

Burney Falls up to 40 m tall waterfall, created by

powerful springs and emanating from cliff wall. Springs

produce up to 4 m3 of water per second.

Horsetail Fall very tall, seasonal waterfall, which

once per year is illuminated by the sunset. Waterfall is

650 m tall, tallest cascade 480 m tall.

Nevada Fall mighty, 181 m tall waterfall on Merced

River.

Ribbon Fall tallest single-drop waterfall in North

America, 491 m tall.

Tueeulala Falls 270 m tall waterfall, tallest of the two drops is 180 m tall.

Vernal Fall 97 m tall, free falling waterfall on Merced River.

Waterwheel Fallslargest waterfall on Tuolumne Rover. This waterfall has a waterwheel effect where the

water hits the rock and is thrown up backwards. Some 110 m tall.

Yosemite Falls these falls are 739 metres high, have 7 drops and are 28 metres wide. One of the most

visited waterfalls in world. Tallest plunge is 436 m tall.

Horsetail Falls illuminated by the Sun.Rachel Chang, Flickr / CC BY 2.0
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Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve high

desert environment, area of the richest and most

consistent flowering of California poppy (Eschscholzia

californica Cham.).

Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest grove of Great

Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva D.K.Bailey),

contains oldest known individual trees in the world,

more than 4,750 years old.

Bear Valley wildflower meadows one of the most

impressive spring wildflower displays in Northern

California, covered with millions of California poppies

and other flowers. Area more than 6,000 ha.

Carrizo Plain wildflower meadows some of the

largest and most impressive spring wildflower fields in

California, more than 1,000 km2 large. Diverse types of meadows, rare and endemic species of plants.

Giant Forest unique forest with stands of giant sequoia trees (Sequoiadendron giganteum (Lindl.)

J.Buchh.) the largest trees in world. This is the easiest to access sequoia grove but also contains the largest

trees five of the ten largest trees on Earth are located in this grove. Area 7.6 km2. In

California are located several more notable groves of

these giant trees.

Lost Horse Valley Joshua Tree National Park. Best

grove of Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia Engelm.)

visually impressive plant.

Mono Lake lake with alkaline water and

characteristic, eerie tufa towers. Lake has unusual, veryproductive ecosystem, which includes also the unique

bacteria GFAJ-1, which uses arsenic in its cellular

structure. Here live also other endemic species, e.g.

Mono Lake brine shrimp (Artemia monica). Paoha

island in the lake contains many hot springs and

fumaroles.

Redwood Mountain Grove the largest grove (1300

ha) of giant sequoia on Earth. Here grows also the tallest

giant sequoia in the world.

Boole Tree giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron

giganteum (Lindl.)) with the largest girth. Height 81.9

m, girth 34.8 m, volume 1,244 m3.

Devil's Canyon Colossus largest incense-cedar

(Calocedrus decurrens ((Torrey) Florin), volume 223 m3.

50.3 m high, diameter 3.78 m.

Dorrington sugar pine largest sugar pine (Pinus

lambertiana Douglas). Volume 255 m3, diameter 3.53 m,

height 66.1 m.

Boole Tree.Bradluke22, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Goldfields, Carrizo Plain wildflower meadows.Simon Sun, Flickr / CC BY 2.0
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General Grant giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum (Lindl.)), second largest tree in the world.

Height 81.5 m, girth 33.5 m, volume 1,357 m3. This beautiful tree is declared to be National Shrine, memorial

to those who died in war.

General Sherman giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum (Lindl.) J.Buchh.), the largest tree of the

world by volume.Volume 1,487 m3. Height 83.8 m, girth 33.0 m. Believed to be 2,300 2,700 years old.

Hyperion tallest known tree in world, coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.). 115.61 m tall,

diameter 4.84 m. Contains 502 m3 of wood. In total more than 500 coast redwoods exceed height of 103 m.

Lost Monarch stoutest (also largest) coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.) in the world.

Diameter 7.92 m. Volume 1,206 m3, Height 97.8 m.

Methuselah Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva D.K.Bailey). Oldest known individual tree in

world, 4,844 years old.

Raven's Tower reportedly tallest Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong) Carr.), 96.9 m high.

Tallest Giant Sequoia Redwood Mountain Grove. Tallest giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum

(Lindl.)), 94.9 m high.

The Chandelier Tree enormous coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.) with large 1.83 x

2.64 m hole carved in 1930ies car can drive through it. Height of the tree 96 m.

Bumpass Hell geothermal field with hot springs, fumaroles, mud pots. Visually the most impressive

geothermal area near Lassen volcano.

La Brea tar pits site where in the tar have been preserved numerous extinct animals such as two species of

mammoth, sabre-toothed cats, American lions and many other.

Racetrack Playadry lake in Death Valley, where the sailing stones have left traces in the mud. Sto nes

are moved by wind in wet mud.

Blythe Intaglios large geoglyphs (gigantic figures on

flat surface). The largest geoglyph is 52 m long depiction

of a human. In this area are located several dozen such

figures and also a labyrinth Topock Maze. Age is

unknown.

Chumash Painted Cave small sandstone cave withred, white and black painting, which depicts the

cosmology of Chumash people. Age is unknown,

between 200 and 1000 years.

Little Petroglyph Canyon canyon with more than

20,000 petroglyphs, created by Coso people.

Petroglyph Point large sandstone outcropping

covered with one of the largest displays of native

American art in North America, with more than 5,000

carvings. This site is sacred to local Modoc people.

Chumash Painted Cave.Kristina D.C. Hoeppner, Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
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Bodie remarkably well preserved ghost town,

developed during the Californian gold rush in 1876.

Cathedral of San Carlos Borromeo the oldest

stone building in California. This church was constructedin 1794 and is the second oldest operating cathedral in

United States.

Fort Ross former Russian fortress and village,

established 1812. It was the southernmost Russian

settlement in Americas, here has been reconstructed a

complex of traditional Russian wooden buildings.

Hotel del Coronado giant wooden building luxury

beachfront hotel. Constructed in 1888, when it was the

largest resort hotel in the world.

La Purissima the best preserved Spanish mission inCalifornia, with nine buildings. Established in 1787, after

an earthquake rebuilt in its current site in 1812.

Mission San Diego de Alcal first Franciscan mission in California, founded in 1769. Established by

Spaniards and long inhabited by Kumeyaay Indians.

Presidio of Santa Barbara this historical fortress includes El Cuartel one of the oldest buiuldings in

California, constructed by Spanish in 1782.

Eames House early example of modern architecture.

This private house was constructed in 1949, designed byits owners Charles and Ray Eames.

Golden Gate Bridge iconic bridge, one of the most

popular bridges in the world. This 2,737 m long

suspension bridge was constructed in 1933 1937.

Pylons are 227 m high, the span under the bridge is 67

m.

Hearst Castle one of most luxurious buildings in

United States, constructed for the newspaper magnate

William Randolph Hearst in 1919 1947. Contains huge

collection of art and antiques. Among the many

impressive parts of this complex well known is Neptune

Pool with Roman temple, brought from Europe.

Hollyhock House (Aline Barnsdall Complex) private

villa in Art Deco (Mayan Revival) style, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1919 1921. Also the

furniture is designed by Wright.

Hollywood Signone of American cultural icons, 14 m tall letters HOLLYWOOD. erected in 1923.

Mission Inn enormous hotel in Mission Revival Style, gradually extended in 1902 1935. The architecture

of this complex is diverse, eclectic and very lively and impressive.

Paramount Theatre large movie theater, built in Art Deco style in 1931.

San Francisco cable cars the last manually operated system of cable cars in the world. Development

started in 1873.

Church in Bodie ghost town.Don Graham, Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0

Golden Gate Bridge.David Ohmer, Flickr / CC BY 2.0


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Stahl House No 22. masterpiece of minimalist design for private houses. Constructed in 1959, with its

architecture well ahead of the time.

Walt Disney Concert Hall concert hall with amazing architecture, built in 2003, designed by Frank

Gehry.

landmarks and attractions in california

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