Publicized
and idealized all over the world, CALIFORNIA
really does live up to the myth. More
than just a terrestrial paradise of sun,
sand, surf and sea, it has high mountain
ranges, fast-paced glitzy cities, primeval
forests and hot dry deserts. The landscape
is imbued with history, ranging from rock
carvings left by indigenous Native
Americans to the eerie ghost towns of the
Gold Rush pioneers.
In
some ways, the West Coast is the ultimate
"now" society. Anywhere so vulnerable to
the constant threat of the Big One – the earthquake
that will one day drop half the state into the
Pacific – is bound to have a sense of living for
the moment. However, its supposed superficiality
is largely fictitious. Though home to such
reactionary figures as Ronald Reagan and Richard
Nixon, it has also been the source of some of the
country's most progressive political movements.
The fierce protests of the Sixties may have died
down, but California remains the heart of liberal
America, at the forefront in issues such as
environmental awareness, gay pride and social
permissiveness. Economically, too, the
region is crucial, whether in the long-established
film industry, the recently ascendant music
business, or even the financial markets.
California is too large to be fully explored in
a single trip, but in an area so varied it's hard
to pick out specific highlights. Los Angeles is
far and away the biggest and most stimulating
city: a maddening collection of freeways, beaches,
seedy suburbs, high-gloss neighborhoods and
extreme lifestyles. From Los Angeles you can head
south to the smaller, up-and-coming city of San
Diego, with its broad, welcoming beaches and
easy access to Mexico; or push inland to the desert
areas, most notably Death Valley, a
barren and inhospitable landscape of volcanic
craters and salt pans that in summer becomes the
hottest place on earth.
Most people, though, follow the shoreline north
up the central coast: a gorgeous run that
takes in lively small towns like Santa Barbara and
Santa Cruz. California's second city, San
Francisco, at the top end, is about as
different from LA as it's possible to get: the
oldest, most European-looking city in the state,
set on a series of steep hills, its wooden houses
tumbling down to water on both sides. It is also
well placed for the national parks to the east,
such as Yosemite, where waterfalls cascade
into a sheer glacial valley, and Sequoia/Kings
Canyon with its gigantic trees, as well as the
ghost towns of the Gold Country. North of
San Francisco the countryside becomes wilder,
wetter and greener, approaching Oregon through
spectacular and almost deserted volcanic
tablelands.
The climate in southern California consists
of endless days of sunshine and warm dry nights
– though LA's notorious smog is at its worst
when the temperatures are highest, from July
through September. All along the coast mornings
can be hazily overcast, especially in May and
June; in exposed San Francisco it can be chilly
all year, and fog rolls in to ruin many a sunny
day. In winter it can rain for weeks on end,
causing massive mudslides that wipe out roads and
hillside homes. Most hiking trails in the mountains
are blocked between October and June by the
snow that keeps California's ski slopes among the
busiest in the nation.
Click here to go California State
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