Pinole Creek
| Pinole Creek | |
| stream | |
 |
|
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | California |
| Region | Contra Costa County |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Duncan Creek |
| - right | North Creek, Fana Creek |
| City | Pinole, California |
| Source | Briones Hills |
| - location | 6 mi (10 km) west of Pleasant Hill, California |
| - elevation | 1,090 ft (332 m) |
| - coordinates | 37°57′3″N 122°9′34″W / 37.95083°N 122.15944°W |
| Mouth | Chelsea Wetlands, San Pablo Bay |
| - location | Hercules |
| - elevation | 7 ft (2 m) |
| - coordinates | 38°0′51″N 122°17′48″W / 38.01417°N 122.29667°WCoordinates: 38°0′51″N 122°17′48″W / 38.01417°N 122.29667°W |
Pinole Creek is a stream in western Contra Costa County, in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, California.
The creek has one of the last primarily undeveloped watersheds in the Bay Area.
The headwaters of Pinole Creek are in the Briones Hills on Costa Peak, within the western area of Briones Regional Park. It flows 10 miles (16 km) westerly through the towns of Pinole and El Sobrante, to its river mouth at the Chelsea Wetlands in Hercules on San Pablo Bay. Its mouth is 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Point Pinole.
The name Pinole is from the Spanish term for "parched corn", which the Mexicans ground for eating. In 1823, a Mexican land grant for 17,000 acres (69 km2) that included Pinole Creek was granted to Don Ignacio Martinez, a Commandant of the San Francisco Presidio. The land grant was initially known as El Rancho de La Nuestra Sonora de Merced, and later renamed Rancho El Pinole. Martinez built the first adobe in Pinole Valley and brought his family to settle the property with livestock and orchards.
The upper watershed contains large areas of open space and managed grazing lands, with ranching and agricultural activities, and residential equestrian properties. The lower watershed contains the historic Old Town District of Pinole, and suburban neighborhoods in Pinole, El Sobrante, and Hercules. The watershed follows the regional geologic northwest-southeast orientation, similar to the orientation of the Berkeley Hills, and is located just northeast of the Sobrante Ridge.
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Wikipedia