Big Pine Creek (California)
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Big Pine Creek is a stream in Inyo County, California. It is a major tributary of the Owens River. The creek's headwaters are in the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, near the border with Fresno County. The creek runs below The Palisades, with a hiking trail that affords a good view of that mountain range.
From there, it flows east-northeast, passing Crater Mountain and intersecting Big Pine Canal before joining the Owens River near the town of Big Pine. Despite its name, Big Pine Canal does not divert water from Big Pine Creek, it comes from the Owens River upstream. The canal provides water to the Big Pine area for irrigation, recreation and groundwater recharge. There are no storage dams or reservoirs, but the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power operates a 3.2 MW hydroelectric plant on the creek, which dewaters it. Also, some water is diverted for domestic use and irrigation on nearby Indian reservations. The total average runoff from the watershed is 52,000 acre-feet, mostly from Big Pine Creek itself.
