Santa Cruz Mountains
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central California. They form a ridge along the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco, separating the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco Bay and the Santa Clara Valley, and continuing south, bordering Monterey Bay and ending at the Salinas Valley. The range passes through San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey counties.
The highest point in the range is Loma Prieta Peak (1160 m; 3806'), near which is the epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Other major peaks include Mount Umunhum (1063 m; 3486'), Mount Bielawski (985 m; 3231'), El Sombroso (914 m; 2999'), Eagle Rock (758 m; 2488'), Black Mountain (853 m; 2800'), and Sierra Morena (737 m; 2417'). The San Andreas Fault runs along or near the ridge line throughout the range. The east side of the mountains drops abruptly towards this fault line especially near Woodside and Saratoga. Snow falls on the higher peaks a few times every year.
This mountain range is home to many parks and protected open spaces, notable among them is California's oldest state park: Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Other notable parks include Castle Rock State Park, The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park and Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.
For much of the length of the range on the San Francisco Peninsula, California State Route 35 runs along its ridge, and is known as "Skyline Boulevard". The major routes across the mountains are (from north to south) CA-92 from Half Moon Bay to San Mateo, CA-84 from San Gregorio to Redwood City, CA-9 from Santa Cruz to Saratoga, CA-17 from Santa Cruz to Los Gatos, and CA-152 from Watsonville to Gilroy.
The Santa Cruz Mountains are a legally defined American Viticultural Area. Wineries located in the area can be found in the Category:Santa Cruz Mountains Wineries. One of the area's wineries competed very successfully in the historic Paris Wine Tasting of 1976.
Contents |
[edit] Environmental features
The area welcomes a tremendous number of species of birds. (see: bird list) The range is also home to some of the southernmost coast redwoods. Douglas fir grows here as well and is often found mixed with the redwoods at medium elevations. Coast live oak, Pacific madrone, and California bay laurel are also common. California Mule Deer are common browsers of this region.
Beginning at Sanborn Park in Santa Clara County is the Skyline Ridge Trail, which continues southwest to the Pacific Ocean.[citation needed] The eastern slopes of the Santa Cruz mountains below this trail, and also below the central San Mateo County ridgeline, afford the coolest summer temperatures for hiking in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
[edit] Climate
According to the National Weather Service, most of the annual precipitation falls on the mountains from November through April, totaling more than 50 inches normally. However, heavy fogs frequently cover portions of the mountains, resulting in drizzle and "fog drip" caused by condensation on the redwoods, pines, and other trees. Snow falls every few years on the higher peaks and has, on occasion, exceeded a foot in depth. Normal winter temperatures range from the upper thirties to the middle fifties. Due to thermal inversions, summer temperatures can be actually warmer than the lowlands, regularly reaching highs in the lower to middle eighties with nighttime usually in the upper forties to lower fifties, except during inversions when they remain in the sixties. Temperatures often drop rapidly on the western slopes of the mountains. Weather records at San Gregorio shown wide ranges in summer temperatures, sometimes dropping into the thirties at night.
[edit] 1960s history
In the 1960s, the Santa Cruz Mountains devoloped a strong counterculture atmosphere. [1]
Jerry Garcia's family owned a house in the small town of Lompico where, at the age of four, Garcia had his right middle finger chopped off by his brother. Local legend has it that Garcia's finger is still somewhere in Lompico. [citation needed] Lompico also served as a residence for Janis Joplin and her group, Big Brother and the Holding Company. Joplin often spoke of the Santa Cruz Mountain's redwood forest as being divine inspiration for her music. [citation needed]
Author and psychedelic advocate Ken Kesey owned a house in La Honda, which served as a home base for his Merry Pranksters. He frequently entertained friends there with LSD parties he called "Acid Tests". These parties were noted in some of Allen Ginsberg's poems and are also described in Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, as well as Hells Angels by Hunter S. Thompson.
In 1965, Science Fiction author Robert A. Heinlein constructed a compound in the Santa Cruz Mountains's area known as Bonny Doon. He spent nearly 20 years here. It's said that he came to the mountains to be safe during the apocalypse (so say his neighbors)...
[edit] External links
- Community portal for CA-17 commuters at hiway17.com
