Coast Ranges – South

South of the Bay Area and north of the Transverse Ranges, the mountains that form this physiographic region are low but rugged. In places like Big Sur, the mountains truly seem to leap out of the sea and into the clouds. Farther south, the golden hues of the grasslands and open woodlands give one a new appreciation for why this is called The Golden State.

Zaca Fire

Seen here is smoke from the Zaca Fire in 2007. This conflagration took months to fully extinguish and consumed almost a quarter of a million acres in the process.

Berry Farms

Strawberries grow with protective plastic sheeting on the coastal plain near Monterrey.

The Golden State

The hills and valleys of the central coast during late summer and autumn as dusk approaches are yet another reason this California is the Golden State.

Seismic Footprints

Large cracks in the valley floor denote crustal movement on the nearby San Andreas Fault (Carrizo Plain National Monument).

Morro Rock

Last in the chain of volcanic plugs starting east of San Luis Obispo, Morro Rock juts 581 feet straight out of the sea. Volcanic plugs are the cores of extinct volcanoes after the surrounding mantles of rock erode away. This particular plug is mostly composed of the igneous rock dacite.

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