The Estrella River is a
[U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data]
The National Map
, accessed March 15, 2011 tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...
in eastern
San Luis Obispo County, California. The river forms at the confluence of
Cholame Creek
Cholame (; Salinan: ''Tco'alam'') is an unincorporated community in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. It sits within a mile of the San Andreas Fault at an elevation of above sea level and is located at . Cholame is reached v ...
,
from the north, and
San Juan Creek,
from the south, near the town of
Shandon. From there it flows west-northwest to its confluence with the
Salinas River, of which it is a tributary, 8 miles (12.8 km) north of
Paso Robles. Cholame Creek has its headwaters on the southwest side of
Middle Mountain and its tributary,
Little Cholame Creek
Little Cholame Creek is a perennial stream in southeastern Monterey County, California, United States. The headwaters rise from an unnamed peak southwest of Reason Mountain, in the southern part of the Diablo Range. From there, the creek flows ...
, begins on the northeast side.
The creek drains the
Cholame Valley
Cholame (; Salinan: ''Tco'alam'') is an unincorporated community in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. It sits within a mile of the San Andreas Fault at an elevation of above sea level and is located at . Cholame is reached via ...
, which is bordered by
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 ...
on the east and
Cholame Hills
The Cholame Hills are a low mountain range in extreme southeastern Monterey County, California.
They are a northern extension of the Temblor Range, both of the California Coast Ranges System.
To the south of the range lie California State Route 4 ...
, a northern extension of the
Temblor Range
The Temblor Range is a mountain range within the California Coast Ranges, at the southwestern extremity of the San Joaquin Valley in California in the United States. It runs in a northwest-southeasterly direction along the borders of Kern County a ...
, on the west.
[ The average ]precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
in the area ranges from , increasing northward.
A portion of the Temblor Range drains into San Juan Creek, but the nearby Carrizo Plain has been cut off from the watershed by tectonic
Tectonics (; ) are the processes that control the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. These include the processes of mountain building, the growth and behavior of the strong, old cores of continents ...
action. The creek also drains part of the La Panza Range
The La Panza Range is a mountain range in the Central Coast of California region in San Luis Obispo County, east of the small town of Santa Margarita. It is one of the California Coast Ranges and in the Los Padres National Forest.
The range is ab ...
in the southwest of the watershed. The vast majority of the land in the watershed is rangeland, but there is also some cropland, pastureland and developed areas.[
]
References
Bibliography
San Luis Obispo County WaterUnited States Department of Agriculture - Carrizo Plain
{{Salinas River
Rivers of San Luis Obispo County, California
Salinas River (California)
Rivers of Southern California