Sierra Nevada Mountains:
The Sierra Nevada, or Snowy Range in the translation of the original Spanish name, is a four-hundred mile long mountain chain with Highway 36 and the Big Valley of Lake Almanor on the north to Highway 58 and Tehachapi Pass on the south. It spans west from the Great Basin and Nevada to the fertile Central Valley of mid-California on the west.
The crest is principally to the eastern side of the mountainous range and the eastern escarpment drops rapidly into the Great Basin. Western slopes are more gentle beginning with oak-covered foothills rimming the eastern side of the great valley, and then steadily climbing through pine forests to red firs and even windswept tree-line pines and hemlocks.
The northern end of the range beginning with the three forks of the Feather River is commonly referred to as the Northern Sierra Nevada. Casual discussions commonly ignore the fact that the area includes the very southern fringe of the Cascade Range around Lassen National Park. Many recreationists don’t ignore the awesome beauty of Mount Lassen just because it lies to the north of the geologic range of the Sierra Nevada and begins the southern tip of the Cascade Mountains. The forests and recreation areas are very similar except for the base geology. Sierra Outdoor Recreation includes the Mount Lassen fringe north of Highway 44 and uses this as its geographic boundary.
As the range transitions into the volcanic mountains of the Cascades, the land gentles, mountains top out at lower elevations, granitic outcrops and ridges are rounded by heavy stands of timber, and except for the Lakes Basin, high-mountain lakes are found infrequently until the volcanic range around Lassen Peak begins. The Plumas National Forest lies to the south and the Lassen National Forest and National Park lie north and straddle the loosely defined line between the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade Ranges.
The Central Sierra spans a large geographic area; so we divided our backyard into the North-Central which is based around the Tahoe National Forest and the South-Central which overlies the Eldorado National Forest. We use the Middle Fork of the American River as the natural line between the two Central Sierra regions. The eastern slope of the Sierras dominated by Lake Tahoe, the Reno face, and Hope Valley will be discussed separately in a specific Area of its own. As the range drops south, the granitic mountains become more prominent and high-mountain lakes occupy the larger basins. We use the North Fork of the Mokelumne River as the break between the Northern Sierra and the Southern Sierra. This is as far south as www.SierraOutdoorRecreation.com currently goes.
The further you drop south as you reach the vicinity of Yosemitie and Giant Sequoia National Parks, the southern one-third of the Sierra Nevada is commonly referred to as the Range of Light. Elevations in the south range near a crest of 13000 feet up to Mount Whitney topping at 14,505 feet and is far more rugged than the north with crests nearing only 9,000 feet. However, each area is highlighted by its dominant mountains, crystalline lakes, and awesome river canyons.
Directions: From the San Francisco Bay Area recreationists commonly travel east on I-80 to the heart of the Sierra Nevada just above Lake Tahoe. From the east they routinely travel west on I-80 to the steep slopes and valleys near Truckee. Interstate-5 and US Highway 99 both north/south through the Central Valley from one end of the range to the other and provide access to the individual east/west highways climbing into the range. On the east side, Highway 395 extends the entire length of the range. Numerous state and federal highways traveling east-west traverse the mountain range. These provide the true access into the heart of the Sierra Nevada.
Highway 36 lies on the northern limit of the true Sierra Nevada but Highway 44 lies just north of Lassen Peak which defines the area included within the Sierra Outdoor Recreation guide. Highway 88 is the southern most highway access within the Northern Sierra and our present southern boundary of coverage.
