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, an almost continuous chain of mountain ranges that forms the western "backbone" of the Americas.
Stateline is a census-designated place (CDP) on the southeastern shore of Lake Tahoe in Douglas County, Nevada, United States. It lies next to the California state line and City of South Lake Tahoe. The population was 842 at the 2010 census. The population swells considerably during the busy winter and summer seasons, due to the high number of hotel rooms and rental accommodations available.
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 (150.7 km3) 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 Carson Range is a spur of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California and western Nevada that starts at Carson Pass and stretches north to the Truckee River near Verdi, Nevada.
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.
Pyramid Peak is a mountain in the California's Sierra Nevada in the Crystal Range to the west of Lake Tahoe. It is the highest point in the Desolation Wilderness. With an elevation gain of almost 4,100 feet (1,250 m), the Rocky Canyon route is the mountain's most popular approach although it is very arduous. To the east, at the base of the peak, lies Pyramid Lake.
Lake Tahoe–Nevada State Park is a state park comprising multiple management units and public recreation areas on the northeast shores of Lake Tahoe in the U.S. state of Nevada. The park covers approximately 14,301 acres (5,787 ha). The Marlette Lake Water System, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, lies within park boundaries.
U.S. Route 50 (US 50) is a transcontinental highway in the United States, stretching from West Sacramento, California, in the west to Ocean City, Maryland, on the east coast. The Nevada portion crosses the center of the state and was named The Loneliest Road in America by Life magazine in July 1986. The name was intended as a pejorative, but Nevada officials seized it as a marketing slogan. The name originates from large desolate areas traversed by the route, with few or no signs of civilization. The highway crosses several large desert valleys separated by numerous mountain ranges towering over the valley floors, in what is known as the Basin and Range province of the Great Basin.
U.S. Route 50 (US 50) is a transcontinental United States Numbered Highway, stretching from West Sacramento, California, in the west to Ocean City, Maryland, in the east. The California portion of US 50 runs east from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento to the Nevada state line in South Lake Tahoe. A portion in Sacramento also has the unsigned designation of Interstate 305. The western half of the highway in California is a four-or-more-lane divided highway, mostly built to freeway standards, and known as the El Dorado Freeway outside of downtown Sacramento. US 50 continues as an undivided highway with one eastbound lane and two westbound lanes until the route reaches the canyon of the South Fork American River at Riverton. The remainder of the highway, which climbs along and out of the canyon, then over the Sierra Nevada at Echo Summit and into the Lake Tahoe Basin, is primarily a two-lane road.
State Route 512 was a state highway in Carson City, Nevada. It connected Kings Canyon west of Carson City to the state capitol using various city streets. The route dates to the mid-19th century, as part of a wagon trail linking Lake Tahoe and Carson City that was later incorporated into the Lincoln Highway. SR 512 was turned over to local control in 2010.
Mount Rose is the highest mountain in Washoe County, within the Carson Range of Nevada, United States. It ranks thirty-seventh among the most topographically prominent peaks in the state. It is also both the highest and most topographically prominent peak of the greater Sierra Nevada range within the state of Nevada, and the third most topographically prominent peak in the Sierra Nevada overall. It is located in the Mount Rose Wilderness of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. An extinct volcano, the mountain is in between Lake Tahoe and Reno. State Route 431 traverses Mount Rose Summit southeast of Mount Rose. Due to the high elevation, most of the precipitation that falls on the mountain is snow. The view from Mount Rose, facing east is the Truckee Meadows area is the second largest population center in Nevada.
The South Fork Kern River is a tributary of the Kern River in the Sierra Nevada of the U.S. state of California. It is one of the southernmost rivers on the western slope of the mountains, and drains a high, relatively dry plateau country of 982 square miles (2,540 km2) along the Sierra Crest. The upper South Fork flows through a series of rugged canyons, but it also drains a flat, marshy valley before joining the Kern River at Lake Isabella.
Slide Mountain is a 9,702-foot (2,957 m) peak in the Carson Range near Reno, in Washoe County, Nevada. From the summit of Slide Mountain, Lake Tahoe, Washoe Lake, Carson Valley, and the city of Reno can be viewed.
The 65.0-mile-long (104.6 km) South Yuba River is a left-entering tributary of the Yuba River originating in the northern Sierra Nevada at Lake Angela in Nevada County about three quarters of a mile north of Donner Pass, about three miles east of the town of Soda Springs. After passing through Lake Van Norden with Upper Castle Creek entering from the right, it gathers numerous snow-fed tributaries running west through a marshy, lake-filled valley, criss-crossing Interstate 80. The river briefly enters Placer County, then flows into Lake Spaulding, then plunges westward into a steep-sided valley. Canyon Creek enters from the right, then Poorman Creek also from the right near the town of Washington. The river continues west into the foothills, crossing under State Route 49. Its mouth is on the east shore of upper Englebright Lake, formed by a dam across the Yuba River.
The Mountain States form one of the nine geographic divisions of the United States that are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau. It is a subregion of the Western United States.
Ophir Creek is a 7.7-mile (12.4 km) eastward-flowing stream originating in Tahoe Meadows just south of Tamarack Peak and southeast of Mount Rose Summit, a pass on Nevada State Highway 431. Ophir Creek flows to Washoe Lake in Washoe County in western Nevada, shortly after passing under U.S. Route 395.
North Canyon Creek is a 6.8-mile-long (10.9 km) southwestward-flowing stream originating on Snow Valley Peak in the Carson Range of the Sierra Nevada. Most of the stream is in Carson City, Nevada, United States. It is a tributary stream of Lake Tahoe culminating at Glenbrook in Douglas County on Tahoe's Nevada shore.
Spooner Lake is a man-made reservoir located just north of the intersection of Highway 50 and Highway 28 near Spooner Summit, a pass in the Carson Range of the Sierra Nevada leading to Carson City, Nevada from Lake Tahoe. It is located in Lake Tahoe – Nevada State Park.
Hope Valley is a broad montane valley in Alpine County, California, located on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada to the northeast of Carson Pass and south of Lake Tahoe. The valley served as a major thoroughfare for the passage of settlers and emigrants to and from California during the Gold Rush era. Sitting at an elevation of just above 7,000 feet (2,100 m) and framed by peaks reaching over 10,000 feet (3,000 m) high, Hope Valley is known for its wide vistas, fly fishing, fall colors, and winter activities.
