California's Mediterranean Forest, Woods, Savanna and Coast

     From Fort Bragg's coast to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco (almost 200 coastal miles), the changing landscape, trees, and weather amuse me constantly. See the climate regions of the lower 48 (below photo)? Notice how only California has an "orange zone"? That's the Mediterranean Climate and its very unique.

     Fort Bragg and most of Mendocino County is temperate coniferous forest (dark green code). All those luscious evergreens love the weather of the Pacific Northwest.

Fort Bragg's ferns and wildflowers love cool foggy shade.

Ferns gone wild!

     New fern leaves (on the right, below) look shiny, fragile and baby green. Older fern leaves get darker and more coarse.

Have to admit, I love fern-infused forests.

The constant fog and glacial blue dangerous surf at Fort Bragg isn't suitable for a leisurely day at the beach.

     I suspect California has more roadside "Naked Ladies" than any other state.  They're everywhere in both the Coniferous Forest and Mediterranean Climates.

     By the way, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the dead orca whale that landed on Fort Bragg's beach about two years ago. Its skeleton was preserved carefully and put together for display at Fort Bragg's Starr Community Center where I swam laps. The skull is almost five feet long.

Further south of Fort Bragg is the cute village of Mendocino; many films have been shot here.

Nine episodes of "Murder She Wrote" were filmed in this village.

     Remember the movie "East of Eden" (Jimmy Dean and Julie Harris)? Mendocino was filmed to represent the turn of the century village of Monterey, California.

Further south of Mendocino the scenery changes to the "orange zone", the Mediterranean Savanna climate.

The surf becomes calm too.

Someone who lives in Elk, California (population 208 as of 2010) has a sense of humor.

 More savanna views and relatively calm seas; a noticeably bluer sky and a little less fog too.

Calm seas here, too.

     I left the coast and traveled inland to Sebastopol on the very scenic Highway 116 (click here for route, photo below) which parallels the Russian River. The winding hilly forested road passes many eucalyptus trees and vineyards; wonderfully scenic road! Sebastopol is worthy of a visit too; a very avant-garde trendy little town. They were getting ready for a "Fermentation Festival".

     Next day, I approached the Point Reyes National Seashore. It was foggy in the morning but by 10 AM the fog was burning off and the sky was looking blue. 

     I made a U-turn at the "horse rental" sign for Five Brooks Ranch. Let's check out their horses and see if they have any athletic Arabians who are willing to trot, eh? I had my boots with me.

     Meet Willie, an Arabian horse as fidgety as me . . . and raring to go, too.

     Sorry for fuzzy photos (I was riding). Meet Tasha my guide (above photo); she commutes 90 minutes, three hours round-trip, each work day from her home in Concord to the ranch. We trotted and loped quite a bit and took the long way, a loop trail - two hours. Words can't explain the "here and now" mental freedom when trotting and loping on a willing horse through a forest.

     Willie liked me and I'll share my secret . . . cocoa butter lotion. If you want a dog, cat, goat, sheep, horse, cow or any mammal to like you, slather cocoa butter lotion on your arms, legs and hands (Walmart, very cheap).

Later in the day, I approached the northern side of the Golden Gate Bridge.

     Good friend David suggested I walk this iconic suspension bridge, so I found a nearby parking lot. The bridge is about 1.5 miles one-way; very windy and noisy with all the traffic. I walked both ways (click here for info about this unique bridge).

     See this man pushing a wheelchair (photo below)? My guess, it was his 90-ish grandmother and while visiting her at an old folks home nearby, maybe he suggested something wild and crazy, "Let's do the Golden Gate Bridge!" 

Got a shot of Alcatraz Island and a passing cargo ship.

     Got a shot of the city of San Francisco (below). Looks good from afar, eh? But I'm not tempted to visit the city. If you look closely at the waters, you can see many sport sailors (parachutes and boards).

     This is the northeast side of the bridge (photo below) where the cute little town of Sausalito is located. The downtown area is vibrant; twas impressed.

The best view of the bridge however isn't on the bridge, it's on a western hill overlooking the bridge.

     Good friend Sherman (a geologist) texted me and said to get a good shot of the twisted rocks on that western hill of the Marin Headlands.  Pour toi mon ami :)

      To avoid driving through San Francisco (didn't drive on the bridge), I took a northeastern route through the busy but interesting downtown streets of Berkeley and Oakland. Have seen enough cities in the past 24 hours, and now it's time to go back to the peaceful coast.