| JUNIPEROSERRA | Founder of California missions |
| SERRA | California mission founder |
| CAPISTRANO | San Juan __: California mission city |
| MINERVA | Roman goddess of wisdom who appears on the Great Seal of the US state of California |
| VAQUITA | Found only near the northern end of the Gulf of California, ecologists had estimated that, by 2020, no more than 18 adults of this marine mammal species remained. (7) |
| BAJACALIFORNIA | Spanish name for Lower California, the peninsula of northwestern Mexico, bounded by the United States, the Gulf of California, and the Pacific Ocean. (4,10) |
| BAJA | With "California," it's south of California |
| ISHI | "Last of his tribe" Indian of California |
| CORTEZ | Gulf of California: Sea of ___ |
| GULF | ___ of California (body of water bordering Mexico) |
| DAVIS | Northernmost campus of the University of California |
| IRVINE | Site of a University of California campus |
| BANANASLUG | Slimy mascot of the University of California at Santa Cruz |
| LARD | There's a piece of a pig on street out of California (4) |
| SANDIEGO | Part of California that is south of desert maybe, being discovered on journey (3,5) |
| BERKELEY | City on San Francisco Bay that is the seat of the University of California (8) |
| BIGSUR | Remote section of California coastline south of Carmel (3,3) |
| REDWOODS | Giant coniferous trees of coastal regions of California (8) |
| INCA | Home west of California? His home's way south of there! (4) |
| SUR | 'Big' part of California or of a Kerouac novel |
