The Eel River is a major river system of the northern Pacific

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 coast of the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. Approximately 200 miles (320 km) long, it drains a rugged area in the California Coast Ranges between the Sacramento Valley

Sacramento Valley

The Sacramento Valley is the portion of the California Central Valley that lies to the north of the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta in the U.S. state of California. It encompasses all or parts of ten counties.-Geography:...

 and the ocean. For most of its course, the river flows northwest, parallel to the coast. The river has both State (1972) and Federal (1981) Wild and Scenic River status. There are 97 miles (156.1 km) classified as Wild and 28 miles (45.1 km) classified as Scenic along the river's course.

The Eel River's watershed

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 of 3684 square miles (9,541.5 km²) is the third largest entirely in California.