Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada, or "snowy range" in Spanish, is a mountain range in eastern California and western Nevada.
In April of 1776 Padre Pedro Font on the second de Anza expedition gave that name to the mountains that could be seen in the distance to the east. Its most common nickname comes from John Muir, who in 1994 wrote in The Mountains of California:
- . . . after ten years spent in the heart of it, rejoicing and wondering, bathing in its glorious floods of light, seeing the sunbursts of morning among the icy peaks, the noonday radiance on the trees and rocks and snow, the flash of the alpenglow, and a thousand dashing waterfalls with their marvelous abundance of irised spray, it still seems to me above all others the Range of Light, the most divinely beautiful of all the mountain-chains I have ever seen.
This description is due to the unusually light colored granite exposed by glacial action.
Counties in the Sierra
- Alpine County, California
- Amador County, California
- Butte County, California
- Calaveras County, California
- Douglas County, Nevada
- El Dorado County, California
- Fresno County, California
- Inyo County, California
- Kern County, California
- Madera County, California
- Mariposa County, California
- Mono County, California
- Nevada County, California
- Ormsby County, Nevada
- Placer County, California
- Plumas County, California
- Sierra County, California
- Tulare County, California
- Tuolumne County, California
- Yuba County, California
Principal Rivers and Lakes
- American River
- Kern River
- Kings River
- Merced River
- Mokolumne River
- Sacramento River
- San Joaquin River
- Stanislaus River
- Truckee River
- Tuolumne River
- Yuba River
Other Natural Features
- Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River
- Hetch Hetchy Valley
- Kings Canyon
- Mount Whitney
- Owens Valley
- San Joaquin Valley
- Sacramento Valley
- Yosemte Valley