Gold Country. Wine Country.
The Mojave Desert. The High Sierra.
Death Valley. The Channel Islands.
The Redwood Forests. Joshua Trees.
Cactus. Conquistadores.
John Muir. John Steinbeck.
The Bear Republic.
Ghost-town. Boom-town.
Tinsel-town.
Surf's up dude.

... and that's just a quick overview. California has a rich history. It is diverse and dry, big and beautiful, densely populated and desolate. It is home to the planet's tallest, largest, and most ancient trees; there are vast expanses of land containing almost no trees. The ruggedly handsome specimen pictured to the left is a [perhaps] 4,000-year-old Bristlecone pine which I photographed at 11,500 feet in the White Mountains.

Left: Towering Redwood trees in Humboldt County. Right: Joshua tree in the Mojave Desert. Below: Gooseberries in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

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Left: Mule deer in the Sierra Nevada. Below: Bear cub in the Sierra Nevada, raccoons in the San Bernardino Mountains. Bottom: Pacific coastlines, Mendocino and Del Norte Counties. The state flower, California Poppy. The Big Trees, Sequoiadendron giganteum.