Sailing stone on the Death Valley Racetrack playa. The sliding rocks, or sailing stones, move across the mud flats of the Racetrack Playa, leaving trails behind in the mud. The explanation for their movement is not known with certainty, but many believe wind pushes the rocks over wet and perhaps icy mud in winter.
Location: Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park, California
Image ID: 25324
Giant redwood, Lady Bird Johnson Grove, Redwood National Park. The coastal redwood, or simply 'redwood', is the tallest tree on Earth, reaching a height of 379' and living 3500 years or more. It is native to coastal California and the southwestern corner of Oregon within the United States, but most concentrated in Redwood National and State Parks in Northern California, found close to the coast where moisture and soil conditions can support its unique size and growth requirements.
Species: California redwood, Coast redwood, Giant redwood, Sequoia sempervirens
Location: Redwood National Park, California
Image ID: 25795
San Diego downtown city skyline and waterfront, sunrise, dawn, viewed from Coronado Island.
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 27091
Torrey Pines balloon aerial survey photo. Torrey Pines seacliffs, rising up to 300 feet above the ocean, stretch from Del Mar to La Jolla. On the mesa atop the bluffs are found Torrey pine trees, one of the rare species of pines in the world. Peregrine falcons nest at the edge of the cliffs. This photo was made as part of an experimental balloon aerial photographic survey flight over Torrey Pines State Reserve, by permission of Torrey Pines State Reserve.
Location: Torrey Pines State Reserve, San Diego, California
Image ID: 27271
Panorama dimensions: 5001 x 11896
Hotel del Coronado with holiday Christmas night lights, known affectionately as the Hotel Del. It was once the largest hotel in the world, and is one of the few remaining wooden Victorian beach resorts. It sits on the beach on Coronado Island, seen here with downtown San Diego in the distance. It is widely considered to be one of Americas most beautiful and classic hotels. Built in 1888, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977.
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 27405
Sacre-Coeur Basilica. The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, commonly known as Sacre-Coeur Basilica, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Paris, France. A popular landmark, the basilica is located at the summit of the butte Montmartre, the highest point in the city.
Location: Basilique du Sacre-Coeur, Paris, France
Image ID: 28155
River Seine, Full Moon and Eiffel Tower at night, Paris. La Tour Eiffel. The Eiffel Tower is an iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris, named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, who designed the tower in 1889 as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair. The Eiffel tower is the tallest structure in Paris and the most-visited paid monument in the world.
Location: Tour Eiffel, Paris, France
Image ID: 28203
Trocadero. The Trocadero, site of the Palais de Chaillot, is an area of Paris, France, in the 16th arrondissement, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower.
Location: Trocadero, Paris, France
Image ID: 28259
Approaching sunrise and star trails over the San Diego Downtown City Skyline. In this 60 minute exposure, stars create trails through the night sky over downtown San Diego.
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 28386
Wandering albatross in flight, over the open sea. The wandering albatross has the largest wingspan of any living bird, with the wingspan between, up to 12' from wingtip to wingtip. It can soar on the open ocean for hours at a time, riding the updrafts from individual swells, with a glide ratio of 22 units of distance for every unit of drop. The wandering albatross can live up to 23 years. They hunt at night on the open ocean for cephalopods, small fish, and crustaceans. The survival of the species is at risk due to mortality from long-line fishing gear.
Species: Wandering albatross, Diomedea exulans
Location: Southern Ocean
Image ID: 24173
Elk, bull elk, adult male elk with large set of antlers. By September, this bull elk's antlers have reached their full size and the velvet has fallen off. This bull elk has sparred with other bulls for access to herds of females in estrous and ready to mate.
Species: Elk, Cervus canadensis
Location: Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Image ID: 19785
Wandering albatross in flight, over the open sea. The wandering albatross has the largest wingspan of any living bird, with the wingspan between, up to 12' from wingtip to wingtip. It can soar on the open ocean for hours at a time, riding the updrafts from individual swells, with a glide ratio of 22 units of distance for every unit of drop. The wandering albatross can live up to 23 years. They hunt at night on the open ocean for cephalopods, small fish, and crustaceans. The survival of the species is at risk due to mortality from long-line fishing gear.
Species: Wandering albatross, Diomedea exulans
Location: Southern Ocean
Image ID: 24071
Mission Bay, is the largest man-made aquatic park in the country. It spans 4,235 acres and is split nearly evenly between land and water. It is situated between the communities of Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Bay Park and bordered on the south by the San Diego River channel. Once named "False Bay" by Juan Cabrillo in 1542, the tidelands were dredged in the 1940's creating the basins and islands of what is now Mission Bay.
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 22381
Mt. Whitney is the highest point in the contiguous United States with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m). It lies along the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Composed of the Sierra Nevada batholith granite formation, its eastern side (seen here) is quite steep. It is climbed by hundreds of hikers each year.
Image ID: 21761
Panorama dimensions: 2298 x 4990