Sunday, December 27, 2009

The Other California: Another Friday Fun Foto (on Sunday!)

The answer to the first Friday Fun Foto has been appended to the last post, and several people got it right away here on blogger, and on my facebook note (very sharp). California's people have some absolutely spectacular, world-class mountains quite literally in their backyards. Take today's Fun Foto. This mountain peak is the third most prominent mountain in the state, and at one point has a vertical relief of 10,000 feet in a distance of only five miles or so. It is also the highest peak of an 800 mile-long mountain chain. And I bet an obscene number of the many thousands of people who live in towns at its base cannot name it! What mountain is it??
UPDATE: Coconino is correct, this is San Jacinto Peak, which at 10,834 feet is the highest point in the Peninsular Ranges, which reach to the southern tip of Baja California. The mountain is an alpine island rising more than 10,000 feet above the desert communities of Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Thousand Palms, Banning, and Beaumont. At least one tourist stop has made the mountain famous, the Palm Springs aerial tramway, that whisks people to more than 8,000 feet above the city. It was meant to be a winter ski resort, but the peak came under the protection of the state and federal park systems to preserve its wilderness character.

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