Santa Anita Creek (Santa Anita Wash on federal maps) is a long stream in

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

, California. It flows southwards from its headwaters in the south ridge of the

San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains ( es, Sierra de San Gabriel) are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Tr ...

, to form the beginnings of the Rio Hondo near

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Course

The creek begins on the east slope of Mount Wilson, inside the Angeles National Forest. It flows in a curve southeast through Santa Anita Canyon, then drops over the Sturtevant Falls. The North Fork comes in from the left about a quarter-mile above the falls, and the East Fork also from the left about a quarter-mile downstream. The creek then flows south through a group of about 80 historic cabins on the canyon floor, before receiving Winter Creek from the right near Chantry Flat. Shortly downstream of there, it drops over Hermit Falls and flows into Santa Anita Reservoir, which is impounded by the Santa Anita Dam. Leaving the foothills the creek continues southwards through Sierra Madre, Monrovia and

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as the Santa Anita Wash, flowing in a concrete channel. It turns southeast towards Azusa, then south again at

, where it empties into a small flood control basin. The water continues out of the basin as the Rio Hondo, which flows southwards to junctions with the San Gabriel River and the Los Angeles River.

References

{{reflist Rivers of Los Angeles County, California San Gabriel River (California) Tributaries of the Los Angeles River Angeles National Forest San Gabriel Mountains Arcadia, California Irwindale, California Monrovia, California Sierra Madre, California Rivers of Southern California