The Sierra Nevada

For if one wanted the real actual California- the one which would not wash away or submit to crumbling away in the next high tide, it lay in the land of granite ionization and falling water known as the Sierra Nevada.

California as the granite plutons which blistered up from ancient volcanic rifts in the craton. El Capitan, climbed by colorful surfer gods who arrive from Balboa every summer. Coastal immigrants, panhandlers and hitch hikers, existing on peanut butter, arrived to climb the solid form offered by the granite batholiths.