The US state of California has a multitude of large and small rivers. Its most prominent river system is formed by the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. The Klamath and Trinity Rivers drain a large area in far northwestern California. The Eel River and Salinas River each drain portions of the California coast, north and south of San Francisco Bay, respectively. The Mojave River is the primary watercourse in the Mojave Desert, and the Santa Ana River drains much of the Transverse Ranges as it bisects Southern California. The Colorado River forms the state's southeast border with Arizona.
The rivers listed here are grouped by region. Major lakes and reservoirs, if applicable, are indicated in italics.
North Coast (north of Humboldt Bay)
Rivers and streams between the Oregon border and Humboldt Bay that empty into the Pacific Ocean (arranged north to south; tributaries with those entering nearest the sea first). Bold indicates rivers with more detailed lists in following sections.
Primary streams entering Humboldt Bay are listed north to south beginning north of the entrance to the bay and continuing in a clockwise direction. Tributaries entering nearest the bay are listed first.[1][2]
Rivers and streams between Humboldt Bay and the Golden Gate that empty into the Pacific Ocean (arranged north to south; tributaries with those entering nearest the sea first):
Streams that empty into San Francisco Bay or its tributary bays (arranged clockwise, starting at the north side of the Golden Gate; tributaries are listed from those entering nearest the bays to farthest). The Central Valley watershed feeding into Suisun Bay via the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta is excluded; see the following section for the Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems.
The Sacramento and San Joaquin River systems drain the western slope of the Sierra Nevada and most of the Central Valley, forming the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta before emptying into Suisun Bay; together, they are the largest river system in California.
Sacramento River
Map of Sacramento RiverSacramento River near the mouthCache Creek, in the Coast Ranges
Eastside Bypass (man-made floodway, occasionally receiving floodwater from the upstream San Joaquin River via Chowchilla Bypass Structure, near Mendota)
Note: In the Delta the Mokelumne River divides into two short branches, also called the "North Fork" and "South Fork", which recombine before reaching the San Joaquin River.
Usually an endorheic basin, waters in this region all eventually would reach Tulare Lake. This region would overflow into the San Joaquin River during flood years when Tulare Lake overflowed. Streams are listed clockwise around the Tulare Basin, starting at the Kings River:
Kings River (Divides into the North Fork, South Fork and Clark's Fork distributaries in the San Joaquin Valley, not to be confused with the North and South Forks in the Sierra Nevada headwaters. North Fork connects to the Fresno Slough that drains into the San Joaquin River (during high flows), before turning to the south rejoining with the other distributaries to reform the Kings River and emptying into Tulare Lake.)
Kaweah River drainage basinKaweah River in the foothills of the Sierra
Kaweah River (Divides into the St. John's River, Mill Creek, Packwood Creek and other distributaries in the San Joaquin Valley. Some of these distributaries eventually rejoin to form Cross Creek, which continues southwest to the Tulare Lake bed.)
San Diego River (jump to tributaries) - historically drained into San Diego Bay, but modern flood control channel bypasses the north shore of the bay and empties directly to the Pacific Ocean)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
