Missile launch near California?

It was a giant "fly".

Note the above amateur rocket launch.  Here we have a "Multi-J" rocket without a guidance system trying purely for altitude and recovery.  Model rockets must not have any guidance system whatsoever as the presence of a guidance system turns an innocent model rocket into a tactical missile. 

I must note that the launch aximuth of the photographed launch was nearly 45 degrees -- clearly a ballistic shot, hence a clear violation of model rocket safety regs.  Such violations put the entire hobby in danger.

The 1/10 scale model Saturn-V stood over 39 feet high, acheived mach .79, and reached an altitude of about 76,000 feet.  The rate of climb would have generated 162 G's at launch and 94.7 G's at apogee.  Then when the solid motor exhausted its fuel, it experienced 1.35 seconds at 0-G and descended to a safe parachute landing. 

Note also the structure of the contrail in the photo and the contrail of the amateur launch.  The similarities lead me to conclude that the contrail in the photo is consistent with the contrail of the amateur launch.

I would conclude (without other evidence) that the photo is of an amateur rocket contrail, which of course presumes no hostile intentions whatsoever.  However, airport ground control will grant high-power amateur launches only a specific window as rockets this size could conceivably collide with aircraft at cruising altitude.

Model rocketry is fun, I must say.  As with all such things, safety first!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_rocketry