As you cross Inverness Ridge toward the Point Reyes headlands, you leave the pine and fir forest behind and enter the coastal grasslands, dotted with cattle and scattered ranches.

This open, working landscape is known as the Pastoral Zone. Open pastures and rolling fence lines are intersperse with windbreaks, stock ponds, and feedlots.  At the center are the main buildings of each ranch. There is a mix of old redwood homes and barns and newer aluminum and steel utility buildings.  This is a great example of some of the earliest and largest industrial-scale dairying in California.

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More Photographs by Steve: Antelope Canyon|Monument Valley

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Copyright © 1995 - 2007 Steve Schmorleitz. All rights reserved.
Revised: November 14, 2008.
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