Alameda County topographic map

The San Francisco Bay Area is characterized by a diverse and dynamic topography shaped by geological processes over millions of years. This region features a combination of coastal plains, steep hills, and rugged mountains, all influenced by the tectonic activity associated with the nearby San Andreas Fault…

Average elevation: 371 ft

Cajon Pass (/kəˈhoʊn/; Spanish: Puerto del Cajón or Paso del Cajón) is a mountain pass between the San Bernardino Mountains to the east and the San Gabriel Mountains to the west in Southern California. Created by the movements of the San Andreas Fault, it has an elevation of 3,777 ft (1,151 m). Located in…

Average elevation: 3,835 ft

Average elevation: -3 ft

The climate in San Diego, like most of Southern California, often varies significantly over short geographical distances, resulting in microclimates. In San Diego, this is mostly because of the city's topography (the Bay, and the numerous hills, mountains, and canyons). Frequently, particularly during the "May…

Average elevation: 187 ft

Average elevation: 1,627 ft

Average elevation: 659 ft

Average elevation: 7,100 ft

Average elevation: 187 ft

The Santa Cruz Mountains are a region of great biological diversity, encompassing cool, moist coastal ecosystems as well as warm, dry chaparral. Much of the area in the Santa Cruz mountains is considered temperate rainforest. In valleys and moist ocean-facing slopes some of the southernmost coast redwoods…

Average elevation: 755 ft

Average elevation: 6,516 ft

Groveland is a census-designated place (CDP) in Tuolumne County, California. Groveland sits at an elevation of 3,136 feet (956 m). The 2020 United States census reported Groveland's population was 540.

Average elevation: 2,946 ft

Average elevation: 292 ft

Average elevation: 843 ft

Average elevation: 4,049 ft

Average elevation: 6,614 ft

Arrowbear Lake is an unincorporated community in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Its altitude is 6,086 feet (1,855 m) in the San Bernardino Mountains. It is located east of Running Springs along Highway 18 in the San Bernardino National Forest, a mountain community with a population of 736 in…

Average elevation: 6,325 ft

Average elevation: 5,499 ft

The topography of the sea floor surrounding Crescent City has the effect of focusing tsunamis. According to researchers at Humboldt State University and the University of Southern California, the city experienced tsunami conditions 31 times between the years 1933 and 2008. Although many of these incidents were…

Average elevation: 102 ft

Average elevation: 10,764 ft

Average elevation: 1,204 ft

Average elevation: 4,495 ft

Average elevation: 879 ft

It is the fourteenth most topographically prominent peak in the contiguous United States. White Mountain Peak is one of only two fourteeners (peaks above 14,000 feet) in California that are not in the Sierra Nevada, the other being Mount Shasta at the far northern end of the state in the Cascade Range. It is…

Average elevation: 12,730 ft

Markleeville hosts an annual bicycle ride called the Death Ride - Tour of the California Alps. The route goes over five passes for a total distance of 129 miles and over 15,000 feet of elevation gain. In 2010 3,500 riders participated and 2,417 completed the full course of 5 mountain passes.

Average elevation: 5,866 ft

Average elevation: 322 ft

Average elevation: 4,560 ft

Average elevation: 5,607 ft

Mount Whitney (Paiute: Tumanguya; Too-man-i-goo-yah) is the highest mountain in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada, with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m). It is in East–Central California, on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tulare counties, 84.6 miles (136.2 km) west-northwest…

Average elevation: 12,805 ft

Average elevation: 1,709 ft

Meyers (also Yanks, Yank's Station, and Tahoe Paradise) is a small an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in El Dorado County, California, United States, along U.S. Route 50 in the northern Sierra Nevada. It is 6 miles (10 km) south of South Lake Tahoe in the Lake Tahoe area and lies at…

Average elevation: 6,545 ft

Average elevation: 1,234 ft

Average elevation: 1,204 ft

Average elevation: 0 ft

Frazier Park is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California. It is 5 miles (8 km) west of Lebec, at an elevation of 4,639 feet (1,414 m). It is one of the Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass. The population was 2,691 in the 2010 census, up from 2,348 in 2000.

Average elevation: 5,030 ft

Average elevation: 3,740 ft

Downieville is a census-designated place in and the county seat of Sierra County, California, United States. Downieville is on the North Fork of the Yuba River, at an elevation of 2,966 feet (904 m). The 2020 United States census reported Downieville's population was 290.

Average elevation: 3,796 ft

Average elevation: 213 ft

Average elevation: 0 ft

Average elevation: 79 ft

The mountain is also the site of the Bay Area NEXRAD weather radar. The high elevation is necessary for line of sight in the region's varied terrain, but it also limits the ability to detect storms with bases lower in the atmosphere.

Average elevation: 2,526 ft

Average elevation: 646 ft

Average elevation: 108 ft

Average elevation: 12,756 ft

Average elevation: 12,756 ft

Average elevation: -3 ft

Average elevation: 174 ft

In January 2006, Ramona Valley was designated the country's 162nd American Viticultural Area (AVA) by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which recognized the area for its distinctive microclimate, elevation, and soil attributes.

Average elevation: 1,539 ft

Average elevation: 7,096 ft

Average elevation: 79 ft

Average elevation: 509 ft

Average elevation: 8,238 ft

Average elevation: 518 ft

Average elevation: 141 ft

Average elevation: 1,385 ft

Mount Shasta (Shasta: Waka-nunee-Tuki-wuki; Karuk: Úytaahkoo) is a potentially active volcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California. At an elevation of 14,179 feet (4,321.8 meters), it is the second-highest peak in the Cascades and the fifth-highest in the state. Mount Shasta…

Average elevation: 12,195 ft

Average elevation: 6,486 ft

Average elevation: 7 ft

Average elevation: 3,235 ft

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 3.7 square miles (9.6 km2), 99.86% of it land. The elevation is 4,800 feet ASL.

Average elevation: 4,803 ft

Average elevation: 5,233 ft

Average elevation: 7 ft

Average elevation: 761 ft

Average elevation: 8,337 ft

Average elevation: 11,112 ft

Average elevation: 4,386 ft

Boonville (formerly The Corners and Kendall's City) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Mendocino County, California, United States. It is located 12.5 miles (20 km) southwest of Ukiah, at an elevation of 381 feet (116 m). The population was 1,018 at the 2020 census.

Average elevation: 551 ft

According to the United States Census Bureau, Lebec has an area of 15.3 square miles (40 km2). The community, which is near Tejon Pass, lies at an elevation of 3,481 feet (1,061 m).

Average elevation: 3,812 ft

Average elevation: 11,572 ft

Average elevation: 1,588 ft

Average elevation: 1,414 ft

Average elevation: 1,683 ft

Average elevation: 384 ft

Average elevation: 49 ft

Average elevation: 3,107 ft

McKinleyville (formerly Minorsville) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Humboldt County, California McKinleyville is located 5.25 miles (8.4 km) north of Arcata, at an elevation of 141 feet (43 m). The population was 15,177 at the 2010 census, up from 13,599 at the time of the 2000 census.

Average elevation: 161 ft

Average elevation: 49 ft

The highest point in the community is Black Mountain, which rises to an elevation of 1,500 feet (460 m).

Average elevation: 515 ft

Average elevation: 2,726 ft

Average elevation: 1,168 ft

Average elevation: 689 ft

Average elevation: 1,929 ft

Average elevation: 472 ft

Average elevation: 2,267 ft

Average elevation: 1,112 ft

Average elevation: 177 ft

Average elevation: 20 ft

Average elevation: 837 ft

Average elevation: 2,326 ft

Average elevation: 2,913 ft

Average elevation: 2,123 ft

Average elevation: 6,680 ft

Average elevation: 3,058 ft

Average elevation: 331 ft

Average elevation: 646 ft

Average elevation: 7,178 ft

Average elevation: 2,569 ft

Average elevation: 3,694 ft

Average elevation: 1,056 ft

Average elevation: 115 ft

Average elevation: 807 ft