John-Paul Jespersen Blog

Blog Moved

THIS BLOG HAS BEEN MOVE TO
MY WEBSITE

Pleas update your bookmarks and RSS feeds

Sonoma Coast

Some of the oldest natural history of this area related to mammals are a rock formation about one mile (1.6 km) south of the Russian River. There is found a sea stack formation with prominent rubbing marks about two to four meters in elevation, a height too high to have been caused by modern bovids. Mammoths are believed to have roamed here as recently as 40,000 years ago, and they are thought to have created these severe rubbing marks^[2]. Mammoth fossil remains have been found at Bodega Head at the south end of Sonoma Coast State Beach.

Earliest known human settlement of this site was by the Native American Coast Miwok and Pomo tribes. As early as 1849 archaeological finds were recorded on this property, and to date dozens of prehistorical kitchen middens and other types of tribal habitation finds have been made. The property is part of the Mexican land grant Rancho Bodega. The Russians are thought to have begun logging the old-growth forests directly above the coastal prairie in the early 1800s.

The underwater delineation of the property is considered to extend to 1,000 feet (300 m) from the shoreline. While no shipwrecks have been discovered, the literature indicates that there are 17 vessels which may have been lost in these waters. There are remains of numerous historic barns and other agricultural buildings on the coastal prairie indicating 19th century settlement byEuropeans; at Duncans Point there are iron pins embedded in the sandstone bluffs as evidence of the active shipping industry here in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Mount Diablo

'From the summit on a clear day, it is possible to view the mountains of the Sierra Nevada and the southernmost mountain of the volcanic Cascade Range, Mount Lassen more than 180 miles (289 km) away. Owing to the earth's curvature it is not possible to see the larger Mount Shasta, although Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, about 125 miles (201 km) to the east, can be viewed with a telescope when the atmosphere is exceptionally clear. Despite historic claims that the mountain'sviewshed is the largest in the world—or second largest after Mt. Kilimanjaro—these claims are unfounded^[1]. It is however, one of the largest viewsheds in the Western United States.' wikipedia

Detail