Surprise Valley is an

endorheic An endorheic basin ( ; also endoreic basin and endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water (e.g. rivers and oceans); instead, the water drainage flows into permanent ...

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

in extreme northeastern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, about 60 miles in length from north to south. Locals refer to the area as the Tricorner Region because of the region's location at the intersection of

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

state lines. The valley is east of the

Modoc County Modoc County () is a county located in the far northeast corner of the U.S. state of California. Its population is 8,700 as of the 2020 census, down from 9,686 from the 2010 census. This makes it California's third-least-populous county. The co ...

seat of

Alturas Alturas (Spanish for "Heights"; Achumawi: ''Kasalektawi'') is the only incorporated city in Modoc County, California of which it is also the county seat. Located in the Shasta Cascade region of Northern California, the city had a population o ...

. The area is part of the

Great Basin The Great Basin () is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja Californi ...

which extends across most of the northern half of Nevada.

Terrain

Most of the valley is over 4,000 feet above mean sea level (AMSL), and could be characterized as a high altitude desert valley. A series of alkaline lakes occupy low-lying areas. Forested mountains mark the west side of the valley. The Hays Canyon Range, (mostly east of the Nevada state line) is to the east, and the

Warner Mountains The Warner Mountains are an -long mountain range running north–south through northeastern California and extending into southern Oregon in the United States. The range lies within the northwestern corner of the Basin and Range Province, ext ...

border to the west. The valley is considered part of the Great Basin, a desert region roughly covering the geographic majority of Nevada and extending into

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

; also regions of southeast

, and southern

, in the east. Communities in Surprise Valley include

Eagleville Eagleville may refer to the following places in the United States: * Eagleville, California * Eagleville, Missouri * Eagleville, Churchill County, Nevada * Eagleville, Mineral County, Nevada * Eagleville, Ashtabula County, Ohio * Eagleville, Wood C ...

(ZIP Code 96110), Cedarville (96104),

Lake City Lake City may refer to: Places *Lake City, Arkansas * Lake City, California (disambiguation) *Lake City, Modoc County, California * Lake City, Nevada County, California *Lake City, Colorado *Lake City, Florida * Lake City, Georgia * Lake City, I ...

(96115), and Fort Bidwell (96112).

Visiting

Most of the land west of the main north-south highway, Surprise Valley Road, is US Forest Service land. To the east of the road, most land is owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Recreational facilities on BLM lands tie in with the US Fish and Wildlife Service,

Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge The Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge, national wildlife refuge on the northern border of the U.S. state of Nevada. A very small part extends northward into Oregon. It is managed by the United States ...

, Nevada (formerly called ''Sheldon Antelope Refuge''). Over the region, opportunities for hiking, exploring dirt roads, birding, stalking antelope with cameras, fishing, camping, and mountain biking are available. Big game and bird hunting are popular among some area visitors. A BLM brochure warns, "Snowstorms occasionally strand travelers. May and June snowstorms are not uncommon." There are hot springs and abandoned mine shafts throughout the region.

Transportation

Cedar Pass on State Route 299 is the main east-west road connecting the area with California and the county seat, Alturas. State Route 447 allows passage toward

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

via the Black Rock Desert community of

Gerlach, Nevada Gerlach, Nevada is a census-designated place (CDP) in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The population was 130 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Reno– Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. Prior to 2010, Gerlach was part of the ...

. It is about 152 miles from Cedarville to Reno via this route. A segment of the Applegate-Lassen Route, a Nineteenth Century pioneer wagon route to the area, crosses the valley diagonally from north of State Route 299 to Fandango Pass. The route is also known as the

California National Historic Trail The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail f ...

. Other roads out of the valley are unpaved. Because of its location along the Nevada state line, it is normal to see patrol cars from the

Nevada Highway Patrol The Nevada State Police (NSP), also known as the Nevada Department of Public Safety (DPS) from roughly 1949 to 2021, is the state police and highway patrol agency of Nevada, with state-wide jurisdiction. The Nevada State Police encompass the Di ...

and the Washoe County Sheriff's Department transiting the area.

Telecommunications

Wired telephone service in this part of

area code 530 Area codes 530 and 837 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) in northeastern and Northern California. 530 was created in 1997 in an area code split of 916 and 837 was added to the same numbering plan area as an ov ...

appears to work out of a single central office and is provided by Frontier Communications. There is wireless service to some areas of the valley. This is a remote area and services that people from cities expect are sometimes degraded, expensive, or unavailable. The valley is one of the last places in California where Department of Transportation (Caltrans) highway workers have no radio communications coverage. California Highway Patrol radios were mostly useless in the area until the 1980s installation of a remote-controlled base station intended to cover the valley. The unvoted base station works over a 76 MHz link to establish radio connectivity from the Highway Patrol's command center to this remote area.

Indian tribal governments

There are two sovereign tribal governments in the valley: The Cedarville Rancheria and the

Fort Bidwell Indian Community of the Fort Bidwell Reservation of California The Fort Bidwell Indian Community of the Fort Bidwell Reservation of California () is a federally recognized tribes, federally recognized tribe of Northern Paiute Indians in Modoc County in the northeast corner of California.

. The Cedarville Rancheria is a

Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three languages do not form a single subgroup and th ...

community on the southwest edge of Cedarville; it is led by Chairwoman Virginia Lash. The larger Fort Bidwell Paiute community is located at the Fort Bidwell Reservation to the north, and is led by Chairman Aaron Townsend.

Special districts

The area is entirely inside the Modoc County Air Pollution Control District. It is served by K-through-12 provider Surprise Valley Joint Unified School District headquartered in Cedarville. The Surprise Valley Hospital District, also known as Surprise Valley Healthcare District, operates a clinic in Cedarville. Cedarville Water District exists in Cedarville.

External links

Tribal

Fort Bidwell Indian Reservation

Bureau of Indian Affairs Leaders

Tribal Statistics (Law)

Other

Surprise Valley Chamber of Commerce

Weather Observations
{{authority control Valleys of Modoc County, California Modoc Plateau Modoc National Forest Bureau of Land Management areas in California Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin Valleys of California