  To Central
Coast Region CCA list 
Topographic
features of the Central Coast Region are dominated by a rugged
seacoast and three parallel ranges of the Southern Coast Mountains.
Ridges and peaks of these mountains, the Diablo, Gabilan, and Santa
Lucia Ranges, reach to 5,800 feet. Between these ranges are the
broad valleys of the San Benito and Salinas Rivers. These Southern
Coast Ranges abut the west to east trending Santa Ynez Mountains
of the Transverse Ranges that parallel the southern exposed terraces
of the Santa Barbara Coast.
This coastal area includes urbanized and
agricultural areas along Monterey Bay, the rugged Big Sur Coast,
Morro Bay with its famous rock, the sandy clam beds of Pismo
Beach, and a varied coastline south to Point, Conception and
eastward along the terraces and recreational beaches which line
the Santa Barbara Channel. The inland valleys and cities reflect
an agricultural, oil, and tourism economy, as well as the early
history of California expressed in the architectural styles of
the famous Spanish missions which are found throughout  this region.
The
trend of the mountain ranges, relative to onshore air mass movement,
imparts a marked climatic contrast between seacoast, exposed summits,
and interior basins. Variations in terrain, climate, and vegetation
account for a multitude of different landscapes. Seacliffs, sea
stacks, white beaches, cypress groves, and redwood forests along
the coastal strand contrast with the dry interior landscape of
small sagebrush, short grass, and low chaparral.
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