Catoctin Creek (Virginia)

Catoctin Creek
Catoctin Creek
Location
Country	United States
State	Virginia
Region	Loudoun County
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Waterford
• coordinates	39°12′35″N 77°37′16″W / 39.2098253°N 77.6211015°W
Mouth	Potomac River
• location	Point of Rocks, Maryland
• coordinates	39°16′32″N 77°33′04″W / 39.2756576°N 77.5510994°W
• elevation	217 ft (66 m)
Length	14 mi (23 km)
Basin size	92.54 sq mi (239.7 km2)
Basin features
River system	Potomac River
Tributaries
• left	South Fork Catoctin Creek
• right	North Fork Catoctin Creek

Catoctin Creek is a 14.1-mile-long (22.7 km)^[1] tributary of the Potomac River in Loudoun County, Virginia, with a watershed of 59,000 acres (240 km²). Agricultural lands make up 67 percent and forests 30 percent of Catoctin Creek's watershed. It is the main drainage system for the northern Loudoun Valley, including all of the Catoctin Valley.

Course

The main arteries consist of the Catoctin and its North and South Forks.

North Fork Catoctin Creek

The North Fork Catoctin Creek, 14.5 miles (23.3 km) long,^[1] begins at Purcellville Reservoir east of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Between the Hills valley, near the West Virginia border. State Route 9 follows the north fork westward as it flows through Hillsboro Gap in Short Hill Mountain at Hillsboro. From Wheatland the North Fork flows northeast.

South Fork Catoctin Creek

The source of the 18.5-mile-long (29.8 km)^[1] South Fork Catoctin Creek is just east of the Blue Ridge's Wilson Gap on the West Virginia border. From the source the South Fork flows southeast toward Purcellville, where it turns north and east toward Waterford, where it flows north again to its confluence with the North Fork.

Main Branch

The main branch of Catoctin Creek is formed by the confluence of its forks along the western edges of Catoctin Mountain north of Waterford and southeast of Milltown. The creek flows north along Catoctin Mountain's western side through the village of Taylorstown. Catoctin Creek continues meandering along the northern edge of Furnace Mountain and empties into the Potomac River to the north of the U.S. Highway 15 bridge across from Point of Rocks, Maryland.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 15, 2011