Cerro Cabrillo | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Elevation | 914 ft (279 m) NAVD 88 [1] |
Coordinates | 35°21′08″N120°48′54″W / 35.352122356°N 120.815056678°W Coordinates: 35°21′08″N120°48′54″W / 35.352122356°N 120.815056678°W [2] |
Geography | |
Location | San Luis Obispo County, California |
Parent range | Santa Lucia Range |
Topo map | USGS Morro Bay South |
Geology | |
Age of rock | 20 million years |
Mountain type | Volcanic plug |
Cerro Cabrillo, also known locally as Cabrillo Peak, is a rocky mountain in eastern Morro Bay State Park, San Luis Obispo County, central California.
Cerro Cabrillo is one of the Nine Sisters, a group of nine volcanic landmarks in the area. Others include Morro Rock and Hollister Peak. It is named after Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, a Spanish maritime explorer, who was sailing off the coast in 1542.
The rock outcrop, composed mostly of rhyodacite, is a volcanic plug formed when magma welled up underneath a layer of softer rock and solidified. The softer overlying rock has since eroded away, leaving a distinct, rugged shape. [3] On its east face is a rock formation named Tiki Rock, because of its resemblance to a Polynesian Tiki carving.
The slopes and peak of Cerro Cabrillo are popular with hikers and rock climbers, with trailheads in Morro Bay State Park.
Its slopes support many chaparral and coastal sage scrub wild flowers, such as Deer Weed (Acmispon glaber), Soap plant (Chlorogalum pomeridianum), and Chaparral checkerbloom (Sidalcea hickmanii).
San Luis Obispo County, officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo.
Morro Bay is a seaside city in San Luis Obispo County, California. Located on the Central Coast of California, the city population was 10,757 as of the 2020 census, up from 10,234 at the 2010 census. The town overlooks Morro Bay, a natural embayment with an all-weather small craft commercial and recreational harbor.
The Central Coast is an area of California, roughly spanning the coastal region between Point Mugu and Monterey Bay. It lies northwest of Los Angeles and south of the San Francisco Bay Area, and includes the rugged, undeveloped stretch of coastline known as Big Sur. From south to north, there are six counties that make up the Central Coast: Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz.
The Santa Lucia Mountains or Santa Lucia Range is a rugged mountain range in coastal central California, running from Carmel southeast for 140 miles (230 km) to the Cuyama River in San Luis Obispo County. The range is never more than 11 miles (18 km) from the coast. The range forms the steepest coastal slope in the contiguous United States. Cone Peak at 5,158 feet (1,572 m) tall and three miles (5 km) from the coast, is the highest peak in proximity to the ocean in the lower 48 United States. The range was a barrier to exploring the coast of central California for early Spanish explorers.
The San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located in the rolling hills of El Chorro Regional Park, between San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay in San Luis Obispo County, within the Central Coast of California region. Its grounds, when completed, will be a 150-acre (61 ha) collection of gardens displaying the diverse plant life of the five Mediterranean climate zones of the world; the Mediterranean Basin, and regions of California, Chile, Australia, and South Africa.
Hollister Peak is a 1,404-foot (428 m) volcanic plug located near Morro Bay, California. It is one of the Nine Sisters, and receives its name from the family that lived at its base in 1884. It was of religious importance to the Chumash. Hollister Peak is on private property and has no public access.
Cerro San Luis Obispo is a 1,292 feet (394 m) mountain in San Luis Obispo, California. It is part of the chain of peaks called the Nine Sisters. It is a common spot for hiking, jogging and mountain biking, and has steep terrain. Below the west side of the visible peak, there is a large plateau with a large wooden stage on the east end. The large white "M" present on the east face derives from Mission College Preparatory Catholic High School.
Morro Bay State Park is a state park on the Morro Bay lagoon, in western San Luis Obispo County, on the Central Coast of California. On the lagoon's northeastern and eastern edges in the park, there are saltwater and brackish marshes that support thriving bird populations.
The Nine Sisters or the Morros are a chain of twenty-three, although typically only nine are included, volcanic mountains and hills in western San Luis Obispo County, Southern California. They run between Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo.
Bishop Peak is a 1,546-foot (471 m) volcanic plug in San Luis Obispo, California. It is the tallest of the Morros or "Nine Sisters", a chain of similar peaks stretching to Morro Bay. Often said to take its name from its resemblance to a bishop's miter, it is named in homage to the town's name. "Obispo" is the Spanish word for Bishop.
Morro Rock is a volcanic plug in Morro Bay, California, on the Pacific Coast at the entrance to Morro Bay harbor. A causeway connects it with the shore, making it a tied island. The rock is protected as the Morro Rock State Preserve.
Montaña de Oro is a state park in Central Coastal California, six miles southwest of Morro Bay and two miles south of Los Osos.
Black Hill is a mountain situated in Morro Bay, California, part of Morro Bay State Park. It one of a series of volcanic plugs called the Nine Sisters.
Cerro Romualdo is a 1,300-foot (396 m) mountain in San Luis Obispo County, California. The mountain is the fifth in a series of volcanic plugs called the Nine Sisters. Until 1964 the mountain was officially known as Romualdo Peak.
Chumash Peak is a 1,257 ft (383 m) mountain in San Luis Obispo County, California. It is just northwest of San Luis Obispo, on the south side of California State Route 1.
Islay Hill is a volcanic cone, and is the southernmost of the nine volcanic mountains and hills that make up the Nine Sisters, located in the San Luis Obispo County of central California.
Mount Hood, also known as Hood Mountain is a mountain near the southeastern edge of Santa Rosa, California at the northeast of the Sonoma Valley and attains a height of 2,733 feet (833 m). The original name was Mount Wilikos, an Indian name meaning "willows." Most of the drainage from Mount Hood contributes to the headwaters of Sonoma Creek. A prominent feature is the extensive rock face visible on the upper half of the mountain as viewed from State Route 12. The habitats on the mountain include mixed oak forest, pygmy forest, chaparral and riparian zones. In prehistoric times the slopes of Mount Hood were inhabited by a division of the Yuki tribe. Most of Mount Hood is within the Hood Mountain Regional Park maintained by Sonoma County. Mount Hood is part of the inner coast Mayacamas Range, and lies mostly within Sonoma County, with a part of the mountain geographically within Napa County. Mount Hood affords overlooks of the Pacific Ocean, San Francisco Bay and "a spectacular view east to the Sierra Nevada Range."
The Los Osos Valley is a valley within San Luis Obispo County, in the Central Coast of California region.
Morro Creek is a coastal stream in San Luis Obispo County, in the central region of the U.S. state of California. The watercourse flows from the Santa Lucia Mountains to discharge into the Pacific Ocean, at its mouth on Estero Bay, near the city of Morro Bay.
The Irish Hills are a low mountain range of the southern outer California Coast Ranges in western San Luis Obispo County, California, and the state's Central Coast region.