West Walker River

---

title: "West Walker River" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["rivers-of-mono-county,-california", "rivers-of-nevada", "rivers-of-northern-california", "rivers-of-the-great-basin", "rivers-of-douglas-county,-nevada"] description: "River in California and Nevada, United States" topic_path: "general/rivers-of-mono-county-california" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Walker_River" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary River in California and Nevada, United States ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox river"]

Field	Value
name	West Walker River
image	At Winter s End by burnintree.jpg
image_size	300
image_caption	West Walker River viewed near U.S. Highway 395
map	Walker Lake.jpg
map_size	300
map_caption	Walker River, showing the West Walker and East Walker rivers
subdivision_type1	Country
subdivision_name1	United States
subdivision_type2	State
subdivision_name2	California, Nevada
length	95 mi
discharge1_location	Hudson, Nevada
discharge1_min	10 cuft/s
discharge1_avg	195 cuft/s
discharge1_max	11240 cuft/s
source1	Sierra Nevada
source1_location	California
source1_coordinates
source1_elevation	9640 ft
mouth	Walker River
mouth_location	Yerington, Nevada
mouth_coordinates
mouth_elevation	4442 ft
basin_size	964 sqmi
::

| name = West Walker River | name_native = | name_native_lang = | name_other = | name_etymology = | image = At Winter s End by burnintree.jpg | image_size = 300 | image_caption = West Walker River viewed near U.S. Highway 395 | map = Walker Lake.jpg | map_size = 300 | map_caption = Walker River, showing the West Walker and East Walker rivers | pushpin_map = | pushpin_map_size = | pushpin_map_caption= | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = United States | subdivision_type2 = State | subdivision_name2 = California, Nevada | subdivision_type3 = | subdivision_name3 = | subdivision_type4 = | subdivision_name4 = | subdivision_type5 = | subdivision_name5 = | length = 95 mi | width_min = | width_avg = | width_max = | depth_min = | depth_avg = | depth_max = | discharge1_location= Hudson, Nevada | discharge1_min = 10 cuft/s | discharge1_avg = 195 cuft/s | discharge1_max = 11240 cuft/s | source1 = Sierra Nevada | source1_location = California | source1_coordinates= | source1_elevation = 9640 ft | mouth = Walker River | mouth_location = Yerington, Nevada | mouth_coordinates = | mouth_elevation = 4442 ft | progression = | river_system = | basin_size = 964 sqmi | tributaries_left = | tributaries_right = | custom_label = | custom_data = | extra =

The West Walker River is a tributary of the Walker River, approximately 95 mi long, in eastern California and western Nevada in the United States. It drains part of the Sierra Nevada range along the California-Nevada border in the watershed of Walker Lake in the Great Basin. The river derives its name from Joseph R. Walker, a mountain man.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Wildlands_West_Walker_River_Landscape.jpg" caption="West Walker River near Coleville"] ::

It rises on the east side of the Sierra Nevada, north of Yosemite National Park in northwestern Mono County. Starting from snowfields on the faces of Tower Peak and Forsyth Peak in the Toiyabe National Forest, it flows down the Sierra, then north along the west side of the Sweetwater Mountains into the Antelope Valley, a ranching region around Walker. It flows north past Coleville and Topaz and enters southern Douglas County, Nevada southwest of Carson City. In Nevada it flows northeast, joining the East Walker River from the west 7 mi (11.3 km) south of Yerington to form the Walker River.

The river is heavily used for irrigation in the ranching valleys along its lower course. Its waters are diverted along its upper course to form Topaz Lake along the California-Nevada border. It receives the Little Walker River from the south near its source in the mountains.

U.S. Highway 395 passes through the West Walker River Valley, connecting it via Devil's Gate Pass to the East Walker River. Roads going over Sonora Pass and Monitor Pass lead from the valley into the Sierra Nevada. In January 1997, during the 1997 California New Years Floods, a record-setting flood along the West Walker River destroyed 10 mi of U.S. Route 395 in the Walker River Canyon. This section of road was rebuilt in six months. The silt carried by the river settled in Topaz Lake, hurting the trout population there.

Notes

References

1. {{gnis. 861953. West Walker River
2. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. [http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/ The National Map], accessed March 17, 2011
3. Federal Writers' Project. (1941). "Origin of Place Names: Nevada". W.P.A..
4. Thomas, Karen A.. (December 1997). "Flood of January 1997 in the Walker River Basin, California and Nevada". U.S. Geological Survey.
5. "Walker Canyon Flood, December 31, 1996 – January 5, 1997". Mono County Sheriff’s Office.
6. (June 29, 1997). "Flood-Ravaged Route’s Reopening Cheered". Los Angeles Times.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::