I drive across The American River in Coloma/Lotus everyday. 
Thought I would take a picture this morning as we we're crossing the bridge. This is the half way point on my daily 12 mile drive to work. This area is about 40 miles to the east of Sacramento. During the summer the river is crowded with rafter's. The rivers origin is the high Sierra, and end's up in draining into the Sacramento River. Empire Creek which passes through the nursery feeds this river.