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Downieville California Map

Explore Downieville, California, with this interactive street and satellite map.

This page also offers TOPO MAPS — the official USGS topographic sheets — plus USGS aerial imagery, a labelled USNG grid overlay, a distance and bearing tool, and a GPS grid-reference readout. See How to Use This Map below.

Interactive Map of Downieville, California

How to Use This Downieville, California Map

This interactive map shows the street layout and satellite imagery for Downieville, California. Use the Map and Satellite buttons above to switch between street map and aerial imagery views. Use the + and − buttons to zoom in or out, or scroll your mouse wheel while holding the Control key to zoom. On a touchscreen, use a two-finger pinch gesture. Drag the map to pan to any area of California or beyond.

Click ⛶ Fullscreen to expand the map to fill your screen. To return to the normal page view, press the Escape key, click the ✕ Exit Fullscreen button that appears above the map, or on a mobile device tap the back button (Android) or the close icon (iOS).

TOPO MAPS — NEW. Click the green 🔍 Search Maps button below the map to open a second map with a Base map row offering three choices. OSM is the standard OpenStreetMap street map. Topo shows the official USGS topographic maps from The National Map — contours, hydrography, land cover and shaded relief, the same mapping used for hiking, hunting and back-country navigation in the Adirondacks, the Catskills and the Finger Lakes. Imagery shows USGS aerial photography, mostly 1-metre NAIP. The search box finds any US town, county or landmark by name, so you are not limited to Downieville.

Reading the map like a paper quad. Click Grid to overlay the U.S. National Grid (USNG), labelled along the edges exactly as a printed topographic sheet is — at normal zoom the squares are one kilometre across, so you can read a six-figure grid reference by eye and judge distance directly off the map. Click Measure, then tap two points, to get the distance between them together with the grid bearing in degrees and mils, the true bearing, and the magnetic bearing to set on a compass.

Click 📍 My position to take a single GPS reading from your device. It marks where you are and reports your position as a USNG grid reference as well as plain latitude and longitude — USNG being the format FEMA and US search and rescue teams work from — with a Copy position button so you can paste it straight into a text message. It takes one reading and stops, rather than tracking continuously, to conserve your battery. Note that map tiles need cell coverage, but a GPS reading does not — your coordinates stay correct even where the map itself cannot load.

City	Downieville
State	California (CA)
County	Sierra County
Country	United States of America
Timezone	Pacific Time (America/Los_Angeles)

Latitude	39.578643
Longitude	-120.816405
Population	290
Density	35.2 /km²
Incorporated	N/A
ZIP Code	95936
Area Code	530
County Seat	Downieville
School District	Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified School District

🌦 Goto Downieville Weather Page: Downieville, California — Weather Warnings, Forecast, Radar, Satellite & Current Conditions

About Downieville, California

Downieville is a locality in Sierra County, California, United States. It is a small community with a population of 290. The population density is 35.2 people per km². Downieville is located at 39.5786°N, 120.8164°W. It observes the Pacific Time (America/Los_Angeles) timezone. ZIP code: 95936.

Downieville gathers its wooden storefronts and steep-roofed houses within the narrow confines of a canyon where the Downie River carves a permanent, rushing path through the earth. It lies 26.6 miles north-northeast of Grass Valley, CA (from Grass Valley, CA: bearing 28°T), and is situated 34.3 miles east of Oroville East. The air here holds a crisp, high-altitude weight, smelling of pine needles and damp stone, while the dense canopy of the Tahoe National Forest presses against the edges of the settlement like a living wall. Below the uneven streets, the terrain flattens into Jersey Flat, a small bench of land that offers a rare, level reprieve from the jagged slopes rising sharply toward the horizon. Sunlight filters through the canopy in thin, golden shafts during the late afternoon, illuminating the way the riverbed churns against moss-slicked boulders, creating a constant, low-frequency hum that defines the acoustic character of the landscape.

Gold mining once dictated the frantic pace of Downieville, leaving behind a legacy of abandoned shafts and a resilience that shifted long ago from extraction to a quiet, rugged endurance. The economy now relies on the slow influx of those drawn to the deep woods, with mountain bikers often testing their resolve on the technical, winding descent of the Second Divide Trail. Life here moves in accordance with the seasons rather than the clock, as the arrival of winter snows isolates the valley and forces a deliberate, inward focus among the residents. While the distant, jagged peaks of the Sierra Nevada remain visible only as a faint, jagged silhouette against the sky, the true orientation of the place remains fixed on the local timber and the cold, clear water moving through the rocks. Those who stay in Downieville understand that the land demands a specific kind of attention, one where the silence of the forest is far more profound than the noise of the outside world.

Nearby Outdoor Places

Tahoe National Forest (National Forest) — locality lies within · 895k acres
Downieville Museum (Museum) — 1.4 mi, 205° SW
Downie Chapter 1249 (Monument) — 1.4 mi, 206° SW
Yuba Theatre (Theatre) — 1.4 mi, 207° SW
Plumas National Forest (National Forest) — 8.0 mi, 348° N · 1.2M acres
Sierra Buttes Fire Lookout (Monument) — 9.1 mi, 083° E
Pacific Crest Trail National Scenic Trail (National Trail) — 9.5 mi, 009° N · 1,886 acres
Kentucky Mine Historic Park and Museum (Museum) — 10.4 mi, 092° E
Sierra County Chinese Laborer Memorial (Monument) — 10.4 mi, 092° E
Frank C. Reilly Museum (Museum) — 11.5 mi, 309° NW
Plumas-Eureka State Park (State Park) — 11.8 mi, 025° NE
California State Lands Commission (State Resource Management Area) — 11.9 mi, 262° W
Frazier Falls Overlook (Viewpoint) — 12.8 mi, 046° NE
Mammoth Mill (Historic Ruins) — 13.7 mi, 025° NE
South Yuba River State Park (State Park) — 16.4 mi, 190° S
Missouri Bar (Attraction) — 16.5 mi, 193° S
Jolly Boys Mine (Historic Ruins) — 16.5 mi, 160° S
Feather, California Wild and Scenic River (Wild & Scenic River) — 16.7 mi, 033° NE · 24k acres
Illinois Bar (Attraction) — 18.7 mi, 205° SW
Edwards Crossing (Attraction) — 19.3 mi, 208° SW
Emerald Pool (Attraction) — 20.6 mi, 214° SW
Feather Falls Scenic Area (National Scenic Byway) — 22.3 mi, 285° W
Western Pacific Railroad Museum (Museum) — 23.9 mi, 049° NE
Firehouse Number 1 Museum (Museum) — 24.3 mi, 206° SW
Mystic Theater (Theatre) — 24.3 mi, 206° SW
Lake Oroville State Recreation Area (State Recreation Area) — 24.9 mi, 280° W
North Fork American, California Wild and Scenic River (Wild & Scenic River) — 26.4 mi, 166° S · 12k acres
Bucks Lake Wilderness (Wilderness Area) — 27.5 mi, 324° NW · 24k acres
"snowshoe" Thompson (Public Artwork) — 29.9 mi, 124° SE
Granite Chief Wilderness (Wilderness Area) — 34.2 mi, 137° SE · 28k acres

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