San Luis Rey River

The San Luis Rey River is a river in northern San Diego County, California.The river's headwaters are in the Palomar Mountain Range and Cleveland National Forest, near Palomar Mountain and the Santa Rosa Mountains. The river mouth, on the Pacific Ocean, is in northern Oceanside. The San Luis Rey River bike path runs along it for its last 9mi.The river is over long and drains. There is little water in the river during most of the year, but it can have very large flows during winter storms.CourseThe San Luis Rey River rises in two main branches. The mainstem starts east of Rocky Mountain in the Cleveland National Forest and flows generally south-southwest. The West Fork's headwaters rise as a pair of tiny streams, Fry Creek and Iron Springs Creek, just to the north of Palomar Mountain. These two streams combine into the West Fork, which flows southeast through the Mendenhall Valley. The West Fork joins the main stem at Lake Henshaw, a reservoir formed by a dam across the main stem San Luis Rey River.From the base of Henshaw Dam, the river winds west along the foot of the Palomars, followed by California State Route 76. It then bends southwest into a gorge. It leaves the canyon at the wide and spacious Pauma Valley, where it becomes a wash surrounded on both sides by agricultural fields. Potrero and Pauma Creeks enter from the right, then Frey Creek and Agua Tibia Creek as the river travels northwest. The river turns west, passing Pala, flowing through a patchwork of privately owned, government-owned and Native American lands. It then crosses under Interstate 15 and exits the foothills of the mountains near Bonsall.