Upstate California - Geography

Geography

Upstate California is the area visually discernible on a map from Point Arena in Mendocino County on the North Coast to Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada and all points in California north to the Oregon border. The southern boundary consists of each of the counties' southern boundaries from Mendocino to El Dorado. The area also roughly equals the northern half of Northern California or the northern third of the state, by span of latitude.

The most populated area is the Sacramento Valley region. The valley is surrounded by the North Coast Ranges on the west, the Shasta Cascade region to the north, and the Sierra Nevada to the east. The area east of the Sierra Nevada in Modoc, Lassen and Sierra Counties is in the high desert region of the Great Basin, where stream drainage does not flow out to the ocean. Lake Tahoe also drains to the Great Basin.

Significant landmarks in Upstate California include the coastal redwood forests, Lake Tahoe and the Cascade volcanoes Mount Shasta and Mount Lassen. Mount Lassen last erupted in 1918.

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