Monte Rio refers to a small community in Sonoma County, California. There are barely more than a thousand people living in Monte Rio, which means that vacation rentals in Russian River Monte Rio offer visitors a slower pace of life that can be very pleasant for people who normally live and work in large cities. Although Sonoma is a coastal county, Monte Rio is located inland.
This does not mean it has no access to important waterways, however; Monte Rio is located along the shores of the Russian River, one of the most important rivers in inland California. In addition, the Pacific Ocean is only a short drive away, which means that Monte Rio offers tourists a more diverse kind of water access than do most places with nearby beach access.
Monte Rio is tiny in terms of more than population. The community itself only occupies an area of about two square miles, with four percent of that represented by water. The Russian River is the second most significant river in the state, draining almost 1,500 square miles of California into the Pacific Ocean. The river's ecosystem is such that Steelhead trout are an important species here; even though California hatcheries stocked the river with trout for more than a decade in the early 20th century, the river's trout today are descendants of native, not hatchery, fish. Chinook salmon are also present in the river, with the population of them classed as "abundant, widely distributed, and self-sustaining."
Fishing is therefore a popular leisure time activity for visitors to the Russian River / Monte Rio region.