Outlet Creek

Last updated
Outlet Creek
river
OutletCreekLongvale.png
Outlet Creek at Longvale, California
Country United States
State California
Region Mendocino County
Source
 - location Willits, California
 - elevation 1,342 ft (409 m)
 - coordinates 39°27′03″N123°20′54″W / 39.45083°N 123.34833°W / 39.45083; -123.34833   [1]
Mouth Eel River
 - elevation 1,014 ft (309 m)
 - coordinates 39°37′37″N123°20′43″W / 39.62694°N 123.34528°W / 39.62694; -123.34528 Coordinates: 39°37′37″N123°20′43″W / 39.62694°N 123.34528°W / 39.62694; -123.34528   [2]
Length 17 mi (27 km)

Outlet Creek is an Eel River tributary draining the Little Lake Valley northerly through a canyon of the California Coast Ranges. [3] The Northwestern Pacific Railroad bridges the creek twelve times, following it through the canyon. [4] California State Route 162 bridges the creek once, following the canyon closely downstream of Longvale, California, and U.S. Route 101 bridges the creek twice, paralleling it less closely upstream of Longvale. After leaving Quaternary alluvium of the Little Lake Valley, the canyon exposes undivided Cretaceous marine sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks upstream of Longvale and Franciscan Assemblage downstream of Longvale. [5] Outlet Creek provides groundwater recharge, recreation, and agricultural and industrial water supply plus wildlife habitat including cold freshwater habitat for fish migration and spawning. [6]

Eel River (California) river in California, United States

The Eel River is a major river, about 196 miles (315 km) long, of northwestern California. The river and its tributaries form the third largest watershed entirely in California, draining a rugged area of 3,684 square miles (9,540 km2) in five counties. The river flows generally northward through the Coast Ranges west of the Sacramento Valley, emptying into the Pacific Ocean about 10 miles (16 km) downstream from Fortuna and just south of Humboldt Bay. The river provides groundwater recharge, recreation, and industrial, agricultural and municipal water supply.

California Coast Ranges mountain range

The Coast Ranges of California span 400 miles (640 km) from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains.

Northwestern Pacific Railroad regional railroad in California

The Northwestern Pacific Railroad is a regional railroad that serves the North Coast of California. Its main line is 271 miles (436 km) long and runs between Schellville and Eureka. An additional portion of the line runs from the Ignacio Wye to the edge of San Rafael. Currently, only the 62 mi (100 km) stretch between Schellville and Windsor is in operation with freight and Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit commuter trains.

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Mojave River intermittent river in California

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Kings River (California) river in California, USA

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Little Colorado River river in the United States of America

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Merced River body of water in California

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Humboldt River river in northern Nevada in the western United States

The Humboldt River runs through northern Nevada in the western United States. At approximately 290 miles (470 km) long it is the third longest river in the Great Basin, after the Bear and Sevier Rivers. It has no outlet to the ocean, but instead empties into the Humboldt Sink. It is the fifth largest river in the United States, in terms of discharge, that does not ultimately reach the ocean, while it is the largest in terms of area drained. Through its tributaries the river drains most of sparsely populated northern Nevada, traversing the state roughly east to west, and passing through repeated gaps in the north-south running mountain ranges. It furnishes the only natural transportation artery across the Great Basin and has provided a route for historic westward migrations and subsequent railroads and highways. The river is named for the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt.

Feather River river in the United States of America

The Feather River is the principal tributary of the Sacramento River, in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. The river's main stem is about 73 miles (117 km) long. Its length to its most distant headwater tributary is just over 210 miles (340 km). The main stem Feather River begins in Lake Oroville, where its four long tributary forks join together—the South Fork, Middle Fork, North Fork, and West Branch Feather Rivers. These and other tributaries drain part of the northern Sierra Nevada, and the extreme southern Cascades, as well as a small portion of the Sacramento Valley. The total drainage basin is about 6,200 square miles (16,000 km2), with approximately 3,604 square miles (9,330 km2) above Lake Oroville.

The Santa Margarita River which with the addition of what is now Temecula Creek, was formerly known as the Temecula River, is a short intermittent river on the Pacific coast of southern California in the United States, approximately 30.9 miles (49.7 km) long. One of the last free-flowing rivers in southern California, it drains an arid region at the southern end of the Santa Ana Mountains, in the Peninsular Ranges between Los Angeles and San Diego.

Navarro River river in the United States of America

The Navarro River is a 28.3-mile-long (45.5 km) river in Mendocino County, California, United States. It flows northwest through the Coastal Range to the Pacific Ocean. The main stem of the Navarro River begins less than 1 mile (2 km) south of the town of Philo at the confluence of Rancheria Creek and Anderson Creek. The mouth of the Navarro is 10 miles (16 km) south of the city of Mendocino. State Route 128 starts from the intersection of State Route 1 at the mouth of the Navarro River, and follows the river valley upstream to Philo. The river is close to the highway through the lower canyon but is some distance south of the highway as the Anderson Valley widens upstream of Wendling.

Cache Creek (Sacramento River tributary) river in the United States of America

Cache Creek is an 87-mile-long (140 km) stream in Lake, Colusa and Yolo counties, California.

San Jacinto River (California) river in United States of America

The San Jacinto River is a 42-mile-long (68 km) river in Riverside County, California. The river's headwaters are in San Bernardino National Forest, but the lower portion of the 765-square-mile (1,980 km2) watershed is urban and agricultural land. As a partially endorheic watershed that is contiguous with other Great Basin watersheds, the western side of the San Jacinto Basin is a portion of the Great Basin Divide.

Aliso Creek (Los Angeles County)

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Salt Creek Falls waterfall

Salt Creek Falls is a cascade and plunge waterfall on Salt Creek, a tributary of the Middle Fork Willamette River, that plunges into a gaping canyon near Willamette Pass in the Willamette National Forest, near Oakridge, Oregon. The waterfall is notable for its main drop of 286 feet (87 m) which makes it the third highest plunge waterfall in Oregon after Multnomah Falls and Watson Falls the second highest, which was re-measured in 2009 and found to be 293 feet rather than an earlier measurement of 272 feet passing Salt Creek Falls. The pool at the bottom of the waterfall is 20 metres (66 ft) deep.

Arnold, Mendocino County, California Unincorporated community in California, United States

Arnold is an unincorporated community in Mendocino County, California. It is located on Outlet Creek adjacent to the Northwestern Pacific Railroad and U.S. Route 101 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Longvale, at an elevation of 1220 feet.

Longvale, California Unincorporated community in California, United States

Longvale is an unincorporated community in Mendocino County, California. It is located on Outlet Creek adjacent to the Northwestern Pacific Railroad and U.S. Route 101 9.5 miles (15 km) south-southeast of Laytonville, at an elevation of 1191 feet.

South Fork Coquille River river in the United States of America

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Middle Fork Kings River river in the United States of America

The Middle Fork Kings River is a 37.2-mile (59.9 km) tributary of the Kings River in Kings Canyon National Park, California, in the southern Sierra Nevada. Draining 318 square miles (820 km2) – almost all of it wilderness – the Middle Fork is one of the largest wholly undeveloped watersheds in the state, with no dams or paved roads within its basin. The entire length of the Middle Fork is designated a National Wild and Scenic River.

Rice Fork in California, United States

The Rice Fork is a 22.7-mile-long (36.5 km) tributary of the Eel River in Lake County, California. The Rice Fork begins on the upper northwest side of Goat Mountain, on the Colusa-Lake County line, at an elevation of over 6,000 feet (1,800 m). It quickly descends the steep western slope of the mountain, then bends northward, and flows northwesterly down a narrow winding steep walled canyon for about 18 miles (29 km), crossing two forest roads and adding many tributaries, ending its journey at the southern tip of Lake Pillsbury, at a varied elevation around 1,800 feet (550 m), depending on the lake level. Before the construction of Scott Dam in the 1920s, which formed Lake Pillsbury, the Rice Fork ran directly into the Eel River. It is one of Lake County's longest streams.

Course of the Colorado River

The Colorado River is a major river of the western United States and northwest Mexico in North America. Its headwaters are in the Rocky Mountains where La Poudre Pass Lake is its source. Located in north central Colorado it flows southwest through the Colorado Plateau country of western Colorado, southeastern Utah and northwestern Arizona where it flows through the Grand Canyon. It turns south near Las Vegas, Nevada, forming the Arizona–Nevada border in Lake Mead and the Arizona–California border a few miles below Davis Dam between Laughlin, Nevada and Needles, California California before entering Mexico in the Colorado Desert. Most of its waters are diverted into the Imperial Valley of Southern California. In Mexico its course forms the boundary between Sonora and Baja California before entering the Gulf of California. This article describes most of the major features along the river.

Little Rock Creek (Los Angeles County, California)

Little Rock Creek is a 16.7-mile (26.9 km) northwestward-flowing stream in the San Gabriel Mountains and Mojave Desert, within northern Los Angeles County, California.

Deep Creek (Mojave River tributary)

Deep Creek is a tributary of the Mojave River, 23.4 miles (37.7 km) long, in San Bernardino County, California.

References

  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Willits Division
  2. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Outlet Creek
  3. DeLorme California Atlas and Gazetteer (1st edition) (2008) ISBN   0-89933-383-4 map 47
  4. Gale, V.J. and Valles, R.C.(Roadmasters) (1978). (untitled maintenance-of-way charts). Southern Pacific Railroad.
  5. Jennings, Charles W. & Strand, Rudolph G. Geologic Map of California:Ukiah Sheet (1960) State of California Resources Agency
  6. State of California Water Quality Control Plan North Coastal Basin 1B July 1975 p. 13

See also