The headwaters of the 40-mile-long (64 km) river (measuring via its South Fork)[4] are high in the Coast Range, and it empties into the Pacific Ocean.

The South Fork is the longest and travels northwest, parallel to the coast along the San Andreas Fault rift zone.

It travels roughly southwest towards the coast along the San Andreas Fault rift zone and meets the South Fork at the border between the counties, a few miles before the river flows into the ocean.

Kelly Road, which runs between Lake Sonoma and Annapolis, is a major source of sediment in the river and its tributaries.

In 2002, Alaska businessmen and former Reagan administration Interior Department official Ric Davidge announced plans to collect water from the Albion and Gualala rivers in large bags and tow it several hundred miles south to San Diego as drinking water.

[14][15] The governor later signed a law declaring the two rivers as recreational areas, preventing similar attempts at exploiting their resources.