Oak Creek (Arizona)

General data

Water type: Stream
Progression: Verde River -> Salt River (Arizona) -> Gila -> Colorado River (Gulf of California) -> Gulf of California -> Pacific Ocean -> Planet Earth
Climates: Arid (desert), Mountain
Continents: North America
Countries: United States of America

Description

Oak Creek, a tributary of the Verde River is one of the few perennial streams in the high desert region of northern Arizona. Oak Creek is largely responsible for carving the modern Oak Creek Canyon, although movement along the Oak Creek Fault, a 30-mile (48 km) long north–south normal fault line, is thought to have played a role as well. Oak Creek has an elevation of 4,300 feet (1,300 m) just north of Sedona to 6,000 feet (1,800 m) at the northern terminus of the canyon. Although Slide Rock State Park is more of a water recreation location, great trout fishing can be experienced upstream of the park within one of Arizona’s most scenic locales. Healthy wild brown and rainbow trout populations are seasonally supplemented with stocked trout by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Trophy fish of both trout species are caught in this stretch of Oak Creek with regularity, especially in the more remote sections of the creek north of Slide Rock and south of the West Fork confluence.

Oak Creek (Arizona)

General data

Description

Salmoniformes - Salmons and Trouts

Brown trout (Salmo trutta)

Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Catches