A guide to the map of California

California is the world-famous American state. It comprises a great diversity of different sights and attractions including great national parks, mountain ranges, the Mojave Desert and mythical home of film industry – Hollywood. In this article, I give a geographical guide to the state of California and relevant California facts.

General location and The Great Valley

Location
Its 770 mile coastline (‘the Golden Coast’) reaches considerably over half-way up America’s Western seaboard with Oregon and Washington above (and Arizona and Nevada to the East, Mexico to the South).
The state has linear borders to the North and to the South, where the border is heavily policed to prevent unlawful entry. The state takes a South-Easterly course near Reno, Nevada to run parallel to the coast. The Great Valley
Topographical maps of California reveal that through the middle of the state (though a bit northerly), lies the Great Valley which is sub-divided into the Sacramento valley.
These rivers converge in a large plain just to the South of Sacramento in North-central California and they flow out Westwards into the almost lagooned San Francisco Bay, by its namesake city.

Sierra Nevada, Coastal Range and Death Valley

Most popular mountains in California
To the East of the Great Valley lie the Sierra Nevada mountains which, at points, rise over 4,000 metres. It should be noted that this location is from where the two mentioned rivers gain many of their tributaries.
In these mountains and in these foothills lie many spectacular national parks such as the following:
-Inyo
- Kings Canyon
-The world-famous Yosemite. To the North of these and wrapping round the Great Valley lie the Modoc Plateau, Cascade Range and Klamath Mountains, rising up to at around 2,000m in altitude. Coastal Range
To the East of the Great Valley and running nearly all the way down the ‘Cali’ coast is the ‘Coastal range’ of hills. Here, one can find many of the main settlements including San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles.
Mojave Desert and Death Valley
Beyond the Sierra Nevada Mountains and towards the South-West, lie The Death Valley National Park and the large, fairly altitudinous (1/2,000m) Mojave Desert. Final word
For California's tourist attractions and pros and cons, read here:
The-experts.co.uk.