Five Creek is a westward flowing stream that rises in the city of

Rohnert Park, California Rohnert Park is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located approximately north of San Francisco. The population at the 2020 United States Census was 44,390. It is an early planned city and is the sister city of Hashimoto in ...

, United States and discharges to the

Laguna de Santa Rosa The Laguna de Santa Rosa is a wetland complex that drains a watershed encompassing most of the Santa Rosa Plain in Sonoma County, California, United States. The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has issued a safe eat ...

. The creek is channelized as it flows through the city and runs in an artificially rectilinear fashion. Considered waters of the United States as a jurisdictional matter, Five Creek has potential habitat for the

California red-legged frog The California red-legged frog (''Rana draytonii'') is a species of frog found in California (USA) and northern Baja California (Mexico). It was formerly considered a subspecies of the northern red-legged frog (''Rana aurora''). The frog is an IU ...

and the

Western pond turtle The Western pond turtle (''Actinemys marmorata''), also known commonly as the Pacific pond turtle is a species of small to medium-sized turtle in the family Emydidae. The species is endemic to the western coast of the United States and Mexico, r ...

. The name probably originated as a misreading of "Fire Creek," the name found on older maps.

Course

The route of Five Creek has been obscured by the development of Rohnert Park. A 1916

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

topographic map shows an unnamed westward-flowing creek circling north of Wilfred like Five Creek does today. At that time, the creek's headwaters lay in the

Sonoma Mountains The Sonoma Mountains are a northwest–southeast trending mountain range of the Inner Coast Ranges in the California Coast Ranges System, located in Sonoma County, Northern California. Geography The Sonoma Mountains range is approximately long. ...

just north of Crane Creek. The

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

(GNIS) gives Five Creek's source coordinates as , currently a channel on the east edge of Eagle Park. However, satellite photos show this channel connecting to

Hinebaugh Creek Hinebaugh Creek (Latitude: 38.35; Longitude:-122.73) is a westward-flowing stream in western Sonoma County within the Laguna de Santa Rosa watershed. As this watercourse proceeds westerly through the city of Rohnert Park, it has largely been cha ...

north of San Mateo Court. A recent topographic map shows Five Creek emerging near the corner of Golf Course Drive and Country Club Drive, its former headwaters having been diverted to Crane Creek. From Golf Course Drive, Five Creek flows northwest, paralleling Country Club Drive to Fairway Drive. It crosses the golf course, emerging near the end of Fauna Avenue. North of the city limits, it turns abruptly westward and flows under

U.S. Route 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as (The Royal Roa ...

at the Santa Rosa Avenue interchange. West of U.S. Route 101, the channel turns to the southwest, crossing under Millbrae Avenue, Whistler Avenue, Wilfred Avenue, and Rohnert Park Expressway before entering the

just east of Stony Point Road. The GNIS gives the mouth coordinates of Five Creek as . However, satellite images and

topographic maps, show Hinebaugh Creek entering the Laguna at those coordinates. The Five Creek confluence lies about further west.

References

{{Russian River Rivers of Sonoma County, California Rohnert Park, California Rivers of Northern California Tributaries of the Russian River (California)

Course

See also

References