Adobe Creek (Santa Clara County)

Adobe Creek
Arroyo San Antonio (San Antonio Creek),
Arroyo de las Yeguas (Yeguas Creek)
27 inch steelhead trout caught by boys on Adobe Creek in June 1956, near Van Buren Avenue, Los Altos, California. Courtesy of Los Altos History Museum.
Location of the mouth of Adobe Creek in Palo Alto, California
Location
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
RegionSanta Clara County
MunicipalityLos Altos Hills, Los Altos & Palo Alto, California
Physical characteristics
SourceBlack Mountain in the Santa Cruz Mountains
 • locationLos Altos Hills, California
 • coordinates37°19′12″N 122°09′19″W / 37.32000°N 122.15528°W / 37.32000; -122.15528
 • elevation2,600 ft (790 m)
MouthPalo Alto Flood Basin in southwest San Francisco Bay
 • location
Palo Alto, California
 • coordinates
37°27′10″N 122°05′29″W / 37.45278°N 122.09139°W / 37.45278; -122.09139
 • elevation
0 ft (0 m)
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • leftMiddle, West and North Forks Adobe Creek, Moody Creek, Purisima Creek, Robleda Creek, Barron Creek

Adobe Creek [əˈdoʊbiː], historically San Antonio Creek, is a 14.2-mile-long (22.9 km) northward-flowing stream originating on Black Mountain in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It courses through the cities of Los Altos Hills, Los Altos, and Palo Alto on its way to the Palo Alto Flood Basin and thence to southwestern San Francisco Bay in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Historically, Adobe Creek was a perennial stream and hosted runs of steelhead trout entering from the Bay, but these salmonids are now blocked by numerous flood control structures, including a tidal gate at the creek's mouth and a long concretized rectangular channel culminating in an impassable drop structure at El Camino Real. The co-founders of Adobe Systems both lived on Adobe Creek.