The South Fork Stanislaus River is a major tributary of the

Stanislaus River The Stanislaus River is a tributary of the San Joaquin River in north-central California in the United States. The main stem of the river is long, and measured to its furthest headwaters it is about long. Originating as three forks in the high ...

in Tuolumne County, California. The river flows for through rugged alpine and foothill areas of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

. The river begins in Hay Meadow in the

Emigrant Wilderness The Emigrant Wilderness of Stanislaus National Forest is a wilderness area in the Sierra Nevada. It is bordered by Yosemite National Park on the south, the Toiyabe National Forest and the Hoover Wilderness on the east, and State Route 108 ...

of the

Stanislaus National Forest Stanislaus National Forest is a U.S. National Forest which manages of land in four counties in the Sierra Nevada in Northern California. It was established on February 22, 1897, making it one of the oldest national forests. It was named after t ...

. It flows generally southwest, past Pinecrest,

Cold Springs Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynam ...

and Long Barn, then descends west through a canyon to the New Melones Lake reservoir where it meets the Stanislaus River. There are two dams on the South Fork:

Strawberry Dam Strawberry Dam (National ID # CA00388), also known as ''Main Strawberry Dam'', is a dam in Tuolumne County, California. Background The rockfill masonry dam was originally constructed in 1916 by the Sierra and San Francisco Power Company, with a he ...

, which forms Pinecrest Lake, and

Lyons Dam Lyons Dam (National ID # CA00387) is a dam in Tuolumne County, California. The concrete single-arch dam was constructed in by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, with a height of and a length of at its crest. It impounds the South Fork Sta ...

, impounding Lyons Reservoir, which provides municipal water supply to the Twain Harte area. Strawberry Dam is part of the Spring-Gap Stanislaus Hydroelectric Project, which uses water from the South Fork and Middle Forks of the Stanislaus River to generate power.

References

{{california-river-stub Rivers of Tuolumne County, California

See also

References