The Estrella River is a 28.5-mile-long (45.9 km) river in eastern San Luis Obispo County, California. The river forms at the confluence of Cholame Creek, from the north, and San Juan Creek, from the south, near the town of Shandon. From there it flows west-northwest to the Salinas River, of which it is a tributary.
Cholame Creek has its headwaters on the southwest side of Middle Mountain and its tributary, Little Cholame Creek, begins on the northeast side. The creek drains the Cholame Valley, which is bordered by Diablo Range on the east and Cholame Hills, a northern extension of the Temblor Range, on the west. The average precipitation in the area ranges from 11 to 17 inches (280 to 430 mm), 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 action. The creek also drains part of the La Panza Range 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.
Coordinates: 35°44′30″N 120°41′33″W / 35.74167°N 120.6925°W / 35.74167; -120.6925
Famous quotes containing the word river:
“The river’s tent is broken; the last fingers of leaf
Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind
Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed.
Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song.
The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers,
Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends
Or other testimony of summer nights.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)