Cañada Gobernadora is a tributary to San Juan Creek, about 8.5 miles (13.7 km) long, in southern Orange County in the U.S. state of California. The creek begins in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains (33.6402995°N 117.5794921°W), at an elevation of 1,040 feet (320 m), and flows south through residential, agricultural and finally undeveloped land, to its confluence with San Juan Creek a few miles upstream of the city of San Juan Capistrano (33.5233587°N 117.5981038°W). The upper half of the stream is largely channelized and flows through golf courses, while the lower half is a wash-like channel that can be up to 700 feet (210 m) wide. The stream receives some urban runoff from the residential communities higher in its watershed. The watershed includes several geologic formations, including the Tertiary Sespe Formation and Santiago Formation, and Holocene sedimentary and alluvial deposits embedded in its narrow floodplain.