Getting close to nature in North America: Part II – California
- therunawaylantern
- Apr 12, 2015
- 3 min read
After a 12-hour ordeal due to a delayed flight, I was utterly exhausted and in no mood to embark on a 14-hour day trip across regional California. Luckily, my partner coaxed me into going and I’m grateful he did, because my overly tired self might otherwise have never seen the splendid sights of Yosemite, an iconic American national park comprising of lush greenery, cliff faces made of granite, cascading waterfalls and gigantic Sequoia trees.
GETTING THERE
By road, Yosemite lies approximately 3-4 hours from San Francisco. At the break of dawn, our tour bus drove us (and about 30 other excited tourists) from the city's Union Square out across rural California. The ride was exceptionally scenic and, admittedly, I spent much of it with my face pressed up against the window.
What's out there? Rolling hills, burnt branches, winding roads, distant trees sprung out like broccoli, mountain ranges on the horizon, and earthy colours of red and orange.
Did you know?| Little House on a Prairie was filmed in rural California.
CENTRAL VALLEY, CALIFORINA
Wind turbines| Windmills can be seen scattered across the Californian countryside. The white wind power generators are a contentious issue for the state. On the one hand, they offer an alternative energy source producing electricity without polluting nearby wind, air and soil (Californian Energy Commission, 2015). On the flip side, the wind farms are known killing machines, causing the death of native birds, like eagles. According to our Extranomical tour guide, vibrations in the earth created by the wind turbines lures rodents, which, in turn, attracts birds of prey that become injured or die as a result of flying into the windmills.
Pictured above: A wind farms in Altamont Pass, California.
Agriculture| Roughly 250 million years ago, the Central Valley was an inland sea, which accounts for its highly fertile land today. Despite the fact that California is in the midst of an ongoing drought, farms and vineyards dot the countryside, and the region is known for harvesting myriad foodstuffs, such as: pistachios, walnuts and other nuts, strawberries as well as diary and wine. This bountiful vegetation is mainly attributed to the region's effective irrigation system.
YOSEMITE, CALIFORNIA
Our tour bus climbed to a peak of over 6000-feet high where we disembarked. At this point, the tour guide warned us all about altitude sickness and that tourists have been known to faint or suffer heart attacks simply walking up hills. “It’s not the incline, but the thin air,” he said.
Giant Sequoias| These gentle giants of the forest are some of the oldest and fastest growing trees on earth. They can live to more than 3000 years old and eventually die by falling due to their own gigantic weight. According to our tour guide, Sequoias thrive on natural fire caused by lightening, and need it to reproduce.
El Capitan| A colossal granite mountain
Yosemite National Park attracts over 4-million tourists a year and is a must-see for anyone visiting California.
We stopped for an afternoon picnic at the base of this waterfall.
There’s something to be said for finding a balance between travel and photojournalism, especially when the subject matter is nature. There have been moments when I’ve seen something so unique and awe-inspiring that I have to decide, then and there, whether to capture the moment or simply, live it, be present and let go.
...
Comments