标签 加利福尼亚 下的文章
代阿布洛峰州立公园，加利福尼亚 Mount Diablo State Park, California (© Yuval Helfman/Getty Images)
代阿布洛峰州立公园，加利福尼亚 Mount Diablo State Park, California (© Yuval Helfman/Getty Images)
Welcome to California
These are the peaks of Mount Diablo, part of the Diablo mountain range in the eastern part of the San Francisco Bay Area. On a clear day, you can see all the way to the Sierras from here. In fact, this is one of the best viewsheds in the Bay Area, which is a feat, since the peaks are comparatively low for the region. While Mount Diablo may tempt you to take in the scenery or hike in the surrounding state park, the area offers compelling stories from American history as well.
November 4, 1841, marks the day when a group of about 70 people, led by 22-year-old John Bidwell, finally reached the West Coast after setting out from Missouri. This was the first time a wagon train used part of the newly established California Trail to emigrate to California. The trip was grueling, covering more than 2,000 miles. The wagons traveled at a pace of just 15 miles per day, pulled by oxen, horses, or mules. The journey required traversing part of the Oregon Trail and crossing such daunting obstacles as the desert areas around the Great Salt Lake and the steep slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains. After five months, the wagon train arrived at the ranch of John Marsh near Mount Diablo. The successful journey helped pave the way for expansion to the American West and marked the route for future wagon trains during the California Gold Rush.
半月湾南瓜地鸟瞰图，加利福尼亚 Aerial view of a pumpkin patch in Half Moon Bay, California (© Tinker Street/Michael O'Neal/Gallery Stock)
半月湾南瓜地鸟瞰图，加利福尼亚 Aerial view of a pumpkin patch in Half Moon Bay, California (© Tinker Street/Michael O'Neal/Gallery Stock)
The height of pumpkin season
If you happen to be in the Bay Area this weekend, you might want to swing by the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival. The annual event displays enormous champion pumpkins weighing over a thousand pounds, hosts live pumpkin carving demonstrations, and offers really every kind of pumpkin-related food you can imagine, from pies to pumpkin flavored artisanal cocktails. Plus, Gourdy, the anthropomorphized pumpkin mascot. While California is the leader in the consumer pumpkin harvest, it is only the second-largest producer in the country. Illinois grows approximately a quarter of the 2 billion pounds of pumpkins the US produces yearly, though 80 percent of that ends up as pie filling or other processed products. Pumpkins require between 90-120 days to mature, so most are planted by late May or early June to coincide with our Halloween carving needs.
While carving vegetables into faces is a tradition in many parts of the world, the carving of jack-o’-lanterns around Halloween originated in Ireland in the mid-19th century, using potatoes or turnips. Irish immigrants brought the tradition to the US around the same time and discovered that the native pumpkins were much easier to carve.
Merced River in Yosemite National Park, California (© Robb Hirsch/Tandem Stills + Motion)
Merced River in Yosemite National Park, California (© Robb Hirsch/Tandem Stills + Motion)
Wild scene on the Merced River
Signed October 2, 1968, by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act preserves rivers with 'outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free-flowing condition for the enjoyment of present and future generations.' It covers 13,416 miles of streams and protects parts of such natural treasures as the Allagash, Salmon, Snake, Concord, Fortymile, Trinity, Missouri (the longest river in the US)—and the Merced River, which we're looking at here.
California's Merced makes its way through canyons, mountains, and foothills, flowing from the Sierra Nevada mountains, through the southern part of Yosemite National Park, into the San Joaquin Valley. Rafters enjoy the Class III and IV rapids, and visitors can camp at several sites along the river's course while also exploring the Merced River Trail.
（美国）中部海岸的葡萄园，加利福尼亚大阿罗约 Central Coast vineyards in Arroyo Grande, California (© Ian Shive/Tandem Motion + Stills)
中部海岸的葡萄园，加利福尼亚大阿罗约 Central Coast vineyards in Arroyo Grande, California (© Ian Shive/Tandem Motion + Stills)
A toast to California!
Today we're celebrating the 169th anniversary of the golden state's admission into the Union with an appropriately golden image of a central coast winery and landscape. In 1850, just 14 months after the peace treaty to end the Mexican-American War ceded California, along with a large portion of western territory, to the US, this former self-proclaimed Republic became the 31st state. California is one of only six states admitted to the Union without first being recognized as a US territory. Some link this to the Gold Rush which began in January 1848 and increased the population by more than 1,000% in that same time frame.
正在巨石间走扁带的人，加利福尼亚毕晓普 Slacklining between giant boulders in Bishop, California (© Evgeny Vasenev/Aurora Photos)
正在巨石间走扁带的人，加利福尼亚毕晓普 Slacklining between giant boulders in Bishop, California (© Evgeny Vasenev/Aurora Photos)
Walk the line
Our homepage today shows two climbers slacklining between boulders near Bishop, California. Look closely and you’ll see something very similar to tight-rope walking: the slackliners anchor a thin strip of webbing between two points and then walk across (very carefully, of course). Bishop is near the Sierra Nevada mountain range and is a popular destination for climbers interested in both slacklining and bouldering. What's bouldering? That's rock climbing without ropes or harnesses. Instead, climbers simply shimmy up rocky crags and free-standing boulders—but no higher than 20 feet, for safety’s sake. And where there are rock climbers, you’ll likely find slackliners.
加利福尼亚州雷斯岬国家海岸上的柏树隧道 The cypress tunnel at Point Reyes National Seashore in California (© Rachid Dahnoun/Tandem Stills + Motion)
加利福尼亚州雷斯岬国家海岸上的柏树隧道 The cypress tunnel at Point Reyes National Seashore in California (© Rachid Dahnoun/Tandem Stills + Motion)
The ‘Night of Nights'
This is the cypress tunnel at Point Reyes National Seashore, a nature preserve on the California coast north of San Francisco. The tunnel leads to KPH, a ship-to-shore radio station that once broadcast and received messages with marine craft in the Pacific. KPH stopped operations in 1997, as more sophisticated radio equipment and satellite communications made radio stations like it obsolete. Now it's one of the unusual features of Point Reyes, open to visitors interested in a glimpse of the past.
Tonight, the radio station will be full of Morse code and maritime radio enthusiasts, celebrating the anniversary of the ‘Night of Nights.' It was on July 12, 1999 that nearby station KFS sent what is thought to be the last commercial transmission of Morse code in the United States.
