California presents the most diverse series of landforms in all of the United States. The state’s diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast in the west to the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the east. From the redwood and Douglas fir forests in the northwest to the Mojave Desert in the southeast.
The Geography Map of California has four main geographic regions: the Coast, the Central Valley, the Mountains, and the Desert. California Pacific Ocean coastline is large with a 1,350 km (840 mi) area. The large parts of the coast are accessible by the California State Route 1.
The flat, fertile central valley runs along the center of the state. The mountain range offers the Sierra Nevada, a 640 km (400 mi) long mountain range. The Mojave Desert is the driest desert in all of North America with an area of 35,000 km².
Geography Statistics
- Land Area:
(land) 155,959 sq miles
(water) 7,734 sq miles
(TOTAL)163,693 sq miles - Land Area: (all states)
- Horizontal Width: 354 miles
- Vertical Length: 779 miles
- Highest Point: Mt. Whitney, 14,494 ft.
- Lowest Point: in California, and in the entire United States, is in Death Valley, (-282 ft.)