North-Central Sierra Nevada:

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.

As the range drops south from the upper Northern Sierra, 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. The Mokelumne is as far south as www.SierraOutdoorRecreation.com currently goes.

Major River Drainages include:

1. Upper Middle Fork Feather River
2. Little Truckee River
3. Truckee River below Lake Tahoe
4. North Yuba River
5. Middle Yuba River
6. South Yuba River
7. Bear River
8. North Fork American River
9. North slope of Middle Fork American River

Major Communities Include:

1. Loyalton
2. Sierraville
3. Truckee
4. Sierra City
5. Downieville
6. Camptonville
7. Nevada City
8. Grass Valley
9. Auburn
10. Colfax
11. Soda Springs
12. Foresthill

Public Land Management Units:
Federal:

1. Lakes Basin of Plumas NF
2. Tahoe National Forest

State of California:

1. Plumas Eureka SP
2. South Yuba SP
3. Malakoff Diggins SP
4. Donner Memorial SP
5. Spenceville WA
6. Antelope WA
7. Truckee River WA
8. Auburn State Rec. Area

The eastern slope of the Sierras including the Reno/Carson Valley face, Lake Tahoe and Hope Valley will be discussed separately in a specific Area of its own dominated by Lake Tahoe, the Reno.