Panoche Valley is a grassland valley lying between the

Diablo Range The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California, United States. It stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay area at its northern end to the Salinas Valley are ...

and the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven c ...

, in

San Benito County San Benito County (; ''San Benito'', Spanish for "St. Benedict"), officially the County of San Benito, is a county located in the Coast Range Mountains of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,209. The coun ...

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 ...

. The valley is bound on the north by

Panoche Hills The Panoche Hills are a low mountain range in the Southern Inner California Coast Ranges System, in western Fresno County, California. They are east of the Diablo Range, on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. They define the eastern side of ...

, on the east by

Tumey Hills The Tumey Hills are a low mountain range in the interior California Coast Ranges, in western Fresno County, California, Fresno County, California. The Tumey Hills area is part of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Bureau of Land Management ( ...

, on the south by the

Griswold Hills The Griswold Hills are a low mountain range in the Southern Inner California Coast Ranges System, in southeastern San Benito County, central California. They are east of the Diablo Range, on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. They define t ...

and Cerro Bonito, and on the in west by Las Aguilas Mountains. The valley is known by naturalists as a hot spot for rare birds and mammals, and for providing a glimpse of old California.

History

Panoche Valley was originally called ''Valle de Panoche Grande'', later

anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

as ''Big Panoche Valley'', after the former names of

Panoche Creek Panoche Creek is a creek in San Benito County, California, San Benito and Fresno County, California, Fresno Counties, California, in the United States. Historical names include Arroyo de Panoche Grande (Big Sugarloaf Creek)Mildred B. Hoover, et a ...

that runs through it. ''Panoche'' is Mexican Spanish for a coarse grade of sugar made in Mexico, also for a diminutive of ''pan'', (bread). Dictionary.com Unabridged, Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013
from dictionary.reference.com accessed November 25, 2013. Panoche Valley is also the site of the

Panoche Valley Solar Farm Panoche Valley Solar Farm is a 130 megawatt (MW), utility-scale solar photovoltaic power station in the Panoche Valley of Central California's San Benito County. Panoche Valley is crossed by a 230- kilovolt (kV) power line from the Moss Land ...

Geography

The upper end of the valley has its location northwest of

Walker Peak Neuburg Peak is a jagged rock peak in Antarctica, 1,840 m, rising 2.5 nautical miles (4.6 km) east of Walker Peak in the southwest part of Dufek Massif, Pensacola Mountains. It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) from sur ...

where the creek enters the Diablo Range at . The town of Panoche, lies in this valley. After wet winters, the valley sometimes hosts spectacular spring wildflower displays.

References

{{Commonscat Valleys of California Valleys of San Benito County, California Diablo Range