The powerful wind capacity of Cameron Ridge Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features the Cameron Ridge portion of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), a wilderness path that spans 2,650 miles from the Mexican border in California to the Canadian border in Washington.

Located in Southern California’s Kern County, a series of wind turbines were positioned along Cameron Ridge to take advantage of winds that blow through the desert off the Pacific Ocean.

According to a report for the California Energy Commission, these winds are funneled through a mountain pass with average speeds of 20 miles per hour. The powerful wind capacity of Cameron Ridge as shown in image above. Therefore the different colors showing in the image of the capacity and often more potential for more megawatts.

In 2018, Kern County had the largest concentration of wind capacity in the country, with the potential to generate more than 4,000 megawatts. From a distance, the rows of windmills lined up in the desert seem to be silently performing their wind-to-energy duties. Encounter them up-close, however, and you can hear their striking ‘whoosh-whoosh’ sound. Hikers can have such a close encounter along a 6.5-mile (10-kilometer) section of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in Southern California’s Kern County.

This segment across Cameron Ridge is just a short stretch of the 2,650-mile (4,265-kilometer) trail across the western United States from Mexico to Canada. But you still need to hike smart and be prepared. The weather can be extreme and, as the wind turbines indicate, typically very windy.

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory