City Creek is a tributary of the

Santa Ana River The Santa Ana River is the largest river entirely within Southern California in the United States. It rises in the San Bernardino Mountains and flows for most of its length through San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, before cutting through ...

in western

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181, ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Its watershed drains about on the southwest slopes of the

San Bernardino Mountains The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain � ...

. Although short, the creek stretches about to its farthest source. It rises in two forks of similar length and size, West Fork City Creek and East Fork City Creek, in the

San Bernardino National Forest The San Bernardino National Forest is a United States National Forest in Southern California encompassing of which are federal. The forest is made up of two main divisions, the eastern portion of the San Gabriel Mountains and the San Bernard ...

. Both forks begin on the crest of the San Bernardino Mountains. The West Fork rises near Crest Summit south of the unincorporated community of Crest Park, at about . It flows south then southeast and finally south again through multiple gorges, picking up several unnamed tributaries. The East Fork begins in a fan-shaped group of gulches south of Heaps Peak and Mount Sorenson, at about . From there it runs south-southwest in a canyon past Fredalba, receiving Schenk Creek from the left near the mouth. The West Fork is about long; the East Fork stretches roughly . The two forks combine in a steep chasm just downstream of where the West Fork passes under a bridge of

California State Route 330 State Route 330 (SR 330) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California, connecting SR 210 in the city of San Bernardino with the San Bernardino National Forest and SR 18 at Running Springs. SR 330 is also known as Ci ...

, also known as City Creek road. The main stem flows south in a thousand-foot-deep gorge between McKinley and Harrison Mountains, rapidly dropping to the plains near

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

, where most of its flow is diverted into canals for municipal and agricultural usage. Downstream of the diversions the creek fans out into alluvial deposits. Cook, Bledsoe and Elder Gulches as well as Plunge Creek all enter from the left as the creek flows along the east side of Highland in a wide

flood control channel Flood control channels are large and empty basins which let water flow in and out (except during flooding) or dry channels that run below the street levels of some larger cities, so that if and when a flood occurs, the water will run into these ch ...

. It joins the Santa Ana River to the southeast of

San Bernardino International Airport San Bernardino International Airport (, initialism: SBIA) is a public airport two miles (3 km) southeast of the city center of San Bernardino, California, in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The airport covers and has one ...

References

{{reflist San Bernardino Mountains Rivers of San Bernardino County, California Tributaries of the Santa Ana River Rivers of Southern California

See also

References