| Northern
California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the
northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The region
contains the San Francisco Bay Area, the state capital, Sacramento;
as well as the substantial natural beauty of the redwood forests,
the northern California coast, the Big Sur coastline area,
the Sierra Nevada including Yosemite Valley and Lake Tahoe,
and Mt. Shasta, the second-highest peak in the Cascade Range.
Native Americans arrived in
Northern California perhaps as early as 5,000 to 8,000 BCE,
and successive waves of arrivals led to one of the most
densely populated areas of pre-Columbian North America.
The arrival of European explorers from the early 1500s to
the mid-1700s, did not establish European settlements in
Northern California. In 1770, the Spanish mission at Monterey
was the first European settlement in the area, followed
by other missions along the coast—eventually extending
as far north as Sonoma County.
The North Coast is
a region of the U.S. state of California commonly including
Marin County, Sonoma County, Mendocino County, Humboldt
County, and Del Norte County.
Notable towns and cities in
the expansive region include: San Rafael, Novato, Santa
Rosa, Petaluma, Bodega Bay, Point Arena, Ukiah, Mendocino,
Fort Bragg, Eureka, Arcata, and Crescent City.
The coast along the Pacific
Ocean in the area stretches from San Francisco Bay to the
border of Oregon and is characterized by cliffs, hills,
and tide pools while interior portions are more mountainous,
dissected by small rivers and their canyons, and densely
forested by redwood trees. The lower reaches of the North
Coast are largely urbanized while the rest is mostly rural.
Notable seaside beaches can be found at Marin Headlands
and Point Reyes National Seashore. The grandeur of the redwood
forests can be experienced in places like Muir Woods National
Monument and Humboldt Redwoods State Park as well as along
State Route 254, which is better known as the Avenue of
the Giants. The North Coast is the location of numerous
second homes belonging to residents of the city of San Francisco
and its suburbs.
|
