Quote:
Originally Posted by polo89
I must admit, the PNW is less forested than I thought. I always knew the Eastern side of Oregon and Washington were deserts. But not to this degree. And SoCal and CA in general actually look more forested than I expected. Especially the Central Valley and urban areas like LA and Orange County. Is there a small elevated Tree Line belt in the mountains of Eastern Orange County?
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Sort of. The Santa Ana mountains in eastern Orange County rise up to about 5,500 feet so the elevation change produces a lot more rain on the western slopes than somewhere down by sea level. Probably close to 30 inches per year as opposed to the 10-15 that the cities there usually average annually.
When traveling through these areas you will notice that the peaks are usually covered in dense scrub like Manzanita, with some pines at the higher elevations, but the multiple canyons that run throughout funnel a lot of the rain that falls. There are streams running through pretty much every one of these canyons and they are full of moderately dense forests with trees such as coast live oak and sycamore, with smaller shrubs and ferns that cover the ground.
Yet people on here tell me I reside in some arid wasteland.
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