Hobbies And Interests
Size
California is the third largest state in the United States with a total surface area of 163,707 square miles. To break this down further, 155,973 square miles of the state is land, while 7,734 square miles is water. California is 770 miles long and 250 miles wide. It also has more than 1,200 miles of coastline.
Mountain Ranges
California's diverse topography includes many mountain ranges. In the northwest corner of the state are the Klamath Mountains, which is a small range covered in forest. Extending south from these are the coastal ranges, made up of many small mountain chains. Within these are California's famed redwood forests as well as the San Andreas Fault. The Sierra Nevada range is found in the east. It houses the highest point in the United States south of Alaska, Mount Whitney, which rises to 14,494 feet.
Deserts
In addition to being a mountainous state, California is also home to three major desert regions. The Great Basin region contains the Modoc Plateau, a desert wasteland formed by lava flows. Also part of the Great Basin is Death Valley, a desert that has the lowest point in the United States at 282 feet below sea level. On the other end of the spectrum is the Mojave Desert, in southern California. It is a high-elevation desert with an average altitude of 3,500 feet above sea level. At the southwestern edge of the state is the Colorado Desert, another low-altitude desert.
Coastal Geography
California's coastline is not only extensive, but diverse geographically speaking. Over the centuries, tectonic plate and volcanic activity shaped the Farallon and Channel island systems as well as the coastal mountain ranges. These ranges are also dramatically shaped by erosion caused by coastal rivers and streams as well as the Pacific Ocean. These have cut valleys through the ranges and sheer coastal rock faces, vertical cliffs and bluffs in the rocks. Sand deposits not only form California's many beaches, but have also moved inland to create coastal dunes. At points where the ocean meets freshwater streams and river, marches and lagoons form to create the California wetlands.