The Sierra Nevada is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily in Nevada. The Sierra Nevada is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges that consists of an almost continuous sequence of such ranges that form the western "backbone" of North America, Central America, South America and Antarctica.
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at 6,225 ft (1,897 m), it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America, and at 122,160,280 acre⋅ft (150,682,490 dam3) trails only the five Great Lakes as the largest by volume in the United States. Its depth is 1,645 ft (501 m), making it the second deepest in the United States after Crater Lake in Oregon.
The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, predominantly in the U.S. state of California's Imperial and Coachella valleys.
Pyramid Lake is a reservoir formed by Pyramid Dam on Piru Creek in the eastern San Emigdio Mountains, near Castaic, Southern California. It is a part of the West Branch California Aqueduct, which is a part of the California State Water Project. Its water is fed by the system after being pumped up from the San Joaquin Valley and through the Tehachapi Mountains.
Lake Havasu is a large reservoir formed by Parker Dam on the Colorado River, on the border between California and Arizona. Lake Havasu City sits on the lake's eastern shore. The reservoir has an available capacity of 619,400 acre feet (764,000,000 m3). The concrete arch dam was built by the United States Bureau of Reclamation between 1934 and 1938. The lake's primary purpose is to store water for pumping into two aqueducts. Prior to the dam construction, the area was home to the Mohave Indians. The lake was named after the Mojave word for blue. In the early 19th century, it was frequented by beaver trappers. Spaniards also began to mine the areas along the river.
Ward Creek is a 6.1-mile (9.8 km) eastward-flowing stream in Placer County, California, USA. The creek flows into Lake Tahoe 2.7 miles (4.3 km) south of Tahoe City, California, and has undergone extensive restoration to reduce sediment and surface run-off to maintain the purity of Lake Tahoe.
The Russian River is a southward-flowing river that drains 1,485 sq mi (3,850 km2) of Sonoma and Mendocino counties in Northern California. With an annual average discharge of approximately 1,600,000 acre feet (2.0 km3), it is the second-largest river flowing through the nine-county Greater San Francisco Bay Area, with a mainstem 110 mi (180 km) long.
The Thousand Lakes Wilderness is located within the southern portion of the Cascade Range in northeastern California. The 16,335-acre (66 km2) wilderness was established in 1964 with the passage of the Wilderness Act and is administered by Lassen National Forest. The area lies within Shasta County, midway between the town of Burney and Lassen Volcanic National Park.
Silverwood Lake is a large reservoir in San Bernardino County, California, United States, located on the West Fork Mojave River, a tributary of the Mojave River in the San Bernardino Mountains. It was created in 1971 as part of the State Water Project by the construction of the Cedar Springs Dam as a forebay on the 444-mile (715 km) long California Aqueduct, and has a capacity of 73,000 acre feet (90,000,000 m3).
Huntington Lake is an unincorporated community in Fresno County, California. It is located on the west end of Huntington Lake 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Big Creek, at an elevation of 7027 feet.
South Lake is an unincorporated community in the Kern River Valley, in Kern County, California. It is located 4.5 miles (7.2 km) west-southwest of Weldon, at an elevation of 2,887 feet (880 m).
Lake Arrowhead is an artificial lake located in the San Bernardino Mountains on Little Bear Creek, a tributary of Deep Creek and the Mojave River. It has a surface area of approximately 780 acres (320 ha) and a capacity of 48,000 acre⋅ft (59,000 dam3). It is surrounded by the unincorporated community of Lake Arrowhead in San Bernardino County, California.
China Lake is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California. It is located 2.5 miles (4 km) north-northeast of Ridgecrest, at an elevation of 2264 feet. The place is on China Lake, a dry lake on the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake.
Desert Lake is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California.
Kern Lake is an unincorporated community in the southern San Joaquin Valley, in Kern County, California.
Saltdale is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California. It is located near Koehn Lake 21 miles (34 km) south-southwest of Ridgecrest near Garlock, California.
Kernvale is a former settlement in Kern County, California. It was located 1.25 miles (2 km) south-southwest of Lake Isabella.
