The first "tourists" to reach the shores of California were the explorers. Historians estimate that about 250,000 native people lived in the region when Hernando Cortes sailed parts of the coastline in 1535. He was followed by Portuguese and English sailors, including Sir Francis Drake, who is believed to have landed at Point Reyes, and may have been the first European to come ashore.The explorers sailed home with stories of sun and gold-stories not proven until centuries later.

In January 1848, James Marshall was working on the construsction of a sawmill when he found small nuggets of metal in the American River. The nuggets proved to begold, and when news of the discovery spread, half a million people thronged to the state. Within 4 years, annual gold production reached $ 81 million. Many of the fortune seekers left California when gold was discovered on the Fraser River in the British Columbia, but prospecting continued until about 1864, leaving, a legacy of ghost towns and historic sites.

The Riches in the Golden State today are found in the shops of Rodeo Drive, the commerce of San Francisco, the mansions of Monterey Bay, and the glamor of Hollywood. Television and film have sent images of never-ending white sand beaches and waving palm trees around the world, temting visitors to this ocean paradise. Yet despite the booming population of Los Angeles and the constant influx of tourists, California retains vast tracts of pristine forest and desert. There are more than 260 state parks, and 18 national forest. In these untouched places, it's possible to imagine California as the explorers saw it centuries ago.