Rice Canyon Creek

Rice Canyon Creek is a tributary creek or arroyo of Temescal Creek in Riverside County, California. Rice Canyon Creek has its source at 3440 feet in the Santa Ana Mountains at 33°41′54″N 117°24′11″W / 33.69833°N 117.40306°W east of the 4313 foot peak on the north south divide of the range. It flows most of the year in its upper reach but is an ephemeral arroyo in its lower reach below the narrows 0.80 miles above the canyon mouth in the dry season. It is a wash that runs down from the canyon mouth 33°41′07″N 117°27′08″W / 33.68528°N 117.45222°W at 1631 feet to its mouth at its confluence with Temescal Creek near Alberhill, California at an elevation of 1220 feet.[1]

Rice Canyon Creek has a tributary, Bishop Canyon Creek which enters the wash on the left a little below the mouth of Rice Canyon at 33°42′05″N 117°24′07″W / 33.70139°N 117.40194°W.[2]

Rice Canyon's creek flows during the rainy season below its mouth but its surface flow dries up below the narrows about 0.8 miles above its mouth in the canyon during the dry season, and above that in years with severe drought conditions.

Much of the wash in modern times has been interrupted by clay mining operations that stops the surface flows of water from Rice Canyon Creek from reaching Temescal Creek.

Rice Canyon Creek is home to many Humboldt Lily plants that bloom near the creek in late June to early July at and above the narrows 3/4 of a mile above the mouth of the canyon.

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Rice Canyon
  2. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Bishop Canyon

Coordinates: 33°43′40″N 117°23′35″W / 33.72778°N 117.39306°W