Reddit mentions of Snowshoe Routes: Northern California

The information online is a little limited, so though you're a beginner, it might be worth the money for a guidebook. http://www.amazon.com/Snowshoe-Routes-Northern-California-Soares/dp/089886853X

Most of the hikes shown here are from that book: http://www.trails.com/activity.aspx?area=11548#trailid=SGS020-037&lat=39.31753&lon=-120.31879000000004&zoom=10&m=roadmap&a=SS But there isn't much in the way of detail without paying for the trails.com membership.

Another bit of advice. The snow that fell in December was from pretty warm storms so while there's a decent snowpack, it's a generally high elevations. Whatever guidebook or website you're looking at, you might want to cross-reference the elevations with a website like this one: http://www.wunderground.com/StateSnowDepth.asp?state=CA Which can give you a general idea of the snow level at various elevations. E.g., a lot of the hikes start between 6-7000 feet. Snow will be pretty light at that level, so if you can find something that starts closer to 8,000, you'll be much happier. Last time I snowshoed near Tahoe, we ended up taking off our snowshoes a couple times. Not the end of the world, but ideal, for sure.