 Expected and
unexpected images of San Diego County:top: No, this arching rock is not in Utah, it is in San Diego County. Do you know where? (If so, click here.) above: The old lighthouse on Point Loma; the coastline and tide pools below it. This lighthouse was built too high and proved to be useless in conditions of heavy fog (which are quite common along the coast). A new light was built nearer water level. below: A view to the San Diego urban area, and the shining Pacific Ocean beyond, from a mountain trail -- about forty miles inland. This photo was taken during so-called "Santa Ana" weather conditions, meaning very strong east-to-west winds (caused by a disparity of atmospheric pressures). The winds deposit visible particulate in the coastal air mass. The glowing area is the ocean; Point Loma is clearly visible, as are high-rise buildings on the Silver Strand. To the right, a totally unrelated picture of brittlebush flowers. |
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| It seems that 'America' became aware of the great brown bear, commonly referred to as the grizzly, when the explorers Lewis and Clark reported a dramatic encounter with one of the animals in what is now North Dakota. That was 1805. About 10,000 individuals of the California subspecies then roamed the Spanish territory of Alta California, what would briefly be known as the Bear Republic. In 1850, California became the 31st state of the United States. In 1922 the last California grizzly was killed. Some of the last individuals to be killed were killed in the mountains of San Diego County. In 1953, the grizzly became the official state mammal of California. Historically, the [less formidable] American black bear has rarely been reported in the county. A transient animal occasionally wondered south from the Transverse Range mountains in San Bernardino County. In the late 1990s, black bears were seen in the area more frequently than had been known at any previous time. Some entered campgrounds, one was killed by a farmer near Ramona. Warning signs have been posted in some areas. Perhaps, once again, we "are in bear country." |
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The eastern third of the county is Sonoran desert. Some people think of these lands as being 'ugly.' But the true ugliness here has been inflicted on the desert by man. The life forms that populate the desert are truly fascinating. Only ignorance could call them ugly. They must employ any of several interesting strategies to survive. One strategy, utilized by agave and cacti, involves hording any available water. Many plant species have quite small leaves, and few [or even no] leaves during dry periods, when the plants retire to varying degrees of dormancy. Examples of this are evident in such diverse forms as creosote bush, ocotillo, elephant tree, and the desert ironwood (pictured at right). The ironwood is a small to medium sized tree with a tap root that descends more than 100 feet to find water. This site includes pages dealing more specifically with the local desert and with local tree species. |
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| above: The south-facing slopes of lower Banner Canyon. To the west (uphill) are the Volcan Mountains, to the east (downhill) is the desert. Banner Canyon runs along a splinter of the famous San Andreas Fault. On the upper north-facing slopes can be found abandoned and dilapidated gold mines dating back a hundred and thirty years and more. |
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| above: What everybody thinks of when they think of San Diego, the Pacific Ocean, in many ways the most dominant and visibly obvious feature of our little blue island in space. below: What people probably don't think of when they think of San Diego, snow in the mountains. bottom: Wildlife. |
