The Santa Cruz Mountains are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States, constituting a part of the Pacific Coast Ranges. They form a ridge down the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco. They separate the Pacific Ocean from the San Francisco Bay and the Santa Clara Valley, and continue south to the Central Coast, bordering Monterey Bay and ending at the Salinas Valley. The range passes through the counties of San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz, with the Pajaro River forming the southern boundary.
Skyline Boulevard runs through the Santa Cruz Mountains, here in Portola Valley.
Bobcat in wintertime, at Almaden-Quicksilver Park
A deer in Ben Lomond
Coastal redwood forests near Santa Cruz.
The Pacific Coast Ranges are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico. Although they are commonly thought to be the westernmost mountain range of the continental United States and Canada, the geologically distinct Insular Mountains of Vancouver Island lie farther west.
Canadian Coast Range, Whistler, British Columbia
Malibu Canyon, Santa Monica Mountains
Kenai Mountains
Juneau Icefield