Deep Creek is a stream of approximately 23 miles which is formed at the confluence of the North Fork Deep Creek and South Fork Deep Creek two miles southwest of the community of Deep Creek,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

on the far western edge of

Spokane County Spokane County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 539,339, making it the fourth-most populous county in Washington. The largest city and county seat is Spokane, the second largest cit ...

. The creek has its mouth at the

Spokane River The Spokane River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northern Idaho and eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a low mountainous area east of the Columbia, passing through the Spokane Valley and the city of ...

Riverside State Park Riverside State Park is a Washington state park located northwest of Spokane in the community of Nine Mile Falls. The park protects of Okanagan dry forest along the Spokane and Little Spokane rivers. It is the second largest state park in Wa ...

where it cuts a thin canyon through

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

with depths reaching over 600 feet from the land above. The creek and its tributaries flow through mostly rural agricultural areas east of the

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...

, though the headwaters and mouth are both located on state-owned conservation land.

Course

Deep Creek is formed at the confluence of the North Fork Deep Creek and South Fork Deep Creek on the far western edge of Spokane County, one mile north of the community of Espanola and two miles southwest of the community of Deep Creek. North Fork Deep Creek has its source at Audubon Lake in the town of Reardan in neighboring Lincoln County Audubon Lake also serves as the source of

Crab Creek Crab Creek is a stream in the U.S. state of Washington. Named for the presence of crayfish, it is one of the few perennial streams in the Columbia Basin of central Washington, flowing from the northeastern Columbia River Plateau, roughly east o ...

which flows west into the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

. The North Fork flows in a southeasterly direction next to

U.S. Route 2 U.S. Route 2 or U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) is an east–west United States Numbered Highways, U.S. Highway spanning across the northern continental United States. US 2 consists of two segments connected by various roadways in southern ...

. South Fork Deep Creek rises two miles south of Reardan and flows in a "U" shape first south-southeast before turning to the northeast at Willon Springs. About one mile downstream of the confluence the stream turns to the northwest and begins paralleling a nearly 200 foot tall hillside where the deep nature of the name begins to become apparent. Two miles from the confluence the creek flows through the community to which it gave its name where it passes under U.S. Route 2. A few miles beyond that the creek enters a thin valley roughly 1,000 feet wide carved into the

Columbia Plateau The Columbia Plateau is a geologic and geographic region that lies across parts of the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. It is a wide flood basalt plateau between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, cut through by the Columbia ...

with walls rising 200 feet or more. Four miles from its mouth at the Spokane River, the Deep Creek valley opens up into the valley of Coulee Creek, which flows in from the west. It is here that Deep Creek enters Riverside State Park. Both creeks begin a descent into a thin, deep canyon just before Cable Creek empties into Deep Creek. The canyon is flanked by near vertical basalt walls that are in places vertical cliffs 100 apart. The area is popular with hikers and rock climbers. A bridge carrying the

Spokane River Centennial Trail The Spokane River Centennial Trail is a paved trail in Eastern Washington for alternate transportation and recreational use. It is managed by Washington State Parks as the Spokane River Centennial State Park Trail. The trail extends from Sontag ...

crosses over the creek at its mouth. The community of Nine Mile Falls is located across the Spokane River from the mouth of Deep Creek.

References

{{authority control Geography of Spokane, Washington Rivers of Washington (state) Rivers of Spokane County, Washington