Catherine Creek is a creek in northeastern

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, United States. A tributary of the

Grande Ronde River The Grande Ronde River ( or, less commonly, ) is a tributary of the Snake River, long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 3, 2011 in northeastern Oregon and southeastern ...

, it is the second-longest stream in the

Grande Ronde Valley The Grande Ronde Valley is a valley in Union County in northeastern Oregon, United States. It is surrounded by the Blue Mountains, and is drained by the Grande Ronde River. La Grande is its largest community. The valley is long, north to south ...

. Originating in the foothills of the

Wallowa Mountains The Wallowa Mountains () are a mountain range located in the Columbia Plateau of northeastern Oregon in the United States. The range runs approximately northwest to southeast in southwestern Wallowa County and eastern Union County between the ...

, it flows generally northwest through

Catherine Creek State Park Catherine Creek State Park is a state park along Catherine Creek in the U.S. state of Oregon, administered by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. See also * List of Oregon state parks References External links

* State parks ...

and the city of

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

before joining the river. The creek was named for Catherine Godley, a daughter of Thomas and M. E. Godley, who settled near Union in the 19th century. A former variant name for the stream on some maps was Ladd Creek. However, Ladd Creek on more recent maps is a stream flowing generally northeast from hills southeast of La Grande through the Ladd Marsh Game Management Area, joining Gekeler Slough before entering Catherine Creek. Little Creek, a tributary of Catherine Creek, was formerly called Julianna Creek for the Godleys' other daughter.

Course

Catherine Creek, flowing entirely within Union County, begins at the confluence of North Fork Catherine Creek and South Fork Catherine Creek in the

Wallowa–Whitman National Forest The Wallowa–Whitman National Forest is a United States National Forest in the U.S. states of Oregon and Idaho. Formed upon the merger of the Wallowa and Whitman national forests in 1954, it is located in the northeastern corner of the state, in ...

. Running generally northwest from the foothills of the Wallowa Mountains along

Oregon Route 203 Oregon Route 203 is an Oregon state highway running from Interstate 84 near La Grande to I-84 near Baker City. OR 203 is composed of part of the La Grande-Baker Highway No. 66 (see Oregon highways and routes) and the Medical Springs Highway No. ...

, the creek receives Scout and Milk creeks from the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

, then Little Catherine Creek from the

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...

before entering Catherine Creek State Park. Continuing northwest through the city of Union, the creek receives Pyles Creek from the left and Little Creek from the right before turning away from the highway. Meandering north across the Grande Ronde Valley, the creek receives Ladd Creek (below its confluence with Gekeler Slough) and McAlister Slough, both from the left, and Mill Creek from the right before entering the Grande Ronde River west of

Cove A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are o ...

. The larger stream is a tributary of the

Snake River The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake ...

Recreation

Catherine Creek is open for

catch-and-release Catch and release is a practice within recreational fishing where after capture, often a fast measurement and weighing of the fish is performed, followed by posed photography as proof of the catch, and then the fish are unhooked and returned ...

fishing for wild

steelhead Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and N ...

downstream of the Highway 203 bridge above Catherine Creek State Park.

Chinook salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon in North America, as well as the largest in the genus ''Oncorhynchus''. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other ve ...

frequent the creek and its forks where they flow through the national forest to about upstream of the state park, but they and the resident

bull trout The bull trout (''Salvelinus confluentus'') is a char of the family Salmonidae native to northwestern North America. Historically, ''S. confluentus'' has been known as the " Dolly Varden" (''S. malma''), but was reclassified as a separate specie ...

in these streams are protected from fishing. Small wild rainbow trout also inhabit the upper creek and its forks. Catherine Creek State Park, about from Union, has a public campground, and camping is also permitted at a site in the national forest. The campground at the state park is open from mid-April through October. The park also has picnic areas, restrooms,

horseshoe A horseshoe is a fabricated product designed to protect a horse hoof from wear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface (ground side) of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall that is anatomically akin to the human toen ...

pits, and hiking trails.

References

External links

Grande Ronde Model Watershed
{{authority control Rivers of Union County, Oregon Rivers of Oregon