Description
The river starts in central San Luis Obispo County, at the north end of the La Panza Range, approximately 20 miles (32 km) east of San Luis Obispo. Its only dam forms the small Santa Margarita Lake. The Salinas flows parallel to the Santa Lucia Mountain Range past Atascadero and Paso Robles (to Monterey). It receives outflow from the Estrella River and the Nacimiento and San Antonio lakes through their river tributaries in southern Monterey County.
The river passes through the active San Ardo Oil Field, and then into and through the Salinas Valley, between the Santa Lucia and Gabilan Ranges. It flows past many small towns in the valley, including: King City, Greenfield, and Soledad, where it combines with the flash-flood prone Arroyo Seco.
It flows just south of the city of Salinas before cutting through Fort Ord and approaching the south-central edge of Monterey Bay south of Castroville. The river forms a lagoon protected by the 367 acre Salinas River National Wildlife Refuge and its outflow to Monterey Bay is blocked by sand dunes except during winter high-water flows.
- Historical course
The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake altered the river's course, from the Old Salinas River, joining Elkhorn Slough on Monterey Bay near Moss Landing, to the present course where the main channel's mouth is directly on the Pacific Ocean. The Old Salinas River channel that diverts north behind the sand dunes along the ocean, is used as an overflow channel during the rainy season.
Read more about this topic: Salinas River (California)
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