North Carrizo Creek

North Carrizo Creek forms in Baca County, Colorado at the confluence of East Carrizo Creek and West Carrizo Creek, at a point about 6 miles north of the Preston Monument, the tripoint of Colorado, Oklahoma and New Mexico.^[3][4] North Carrizo Creek then flows generally south-southeast into Oklahoma to join the Cimarron River northeast of Kenton, Oklahoma and near Black Mesa. The creek is about 12 miles (19 km) long in straight-line distance from its head to its mouth.^[5] Most of the land near the creek is privately owned, although a few tracts of land in Colorado are part of Comanche National Grassland. There are no towns and only a few ranches along or near the creek.^[6]

North Carrizo Creek flows through an area characterized by mesas and narrow valleys. The climate is semi-arid steppe, Bsk in the Köppen Classification. Vegetation is mostly grassland although pinyon and juniper woodland is found in canyons and on steep slopes.^[7] Precipitation in Kenton averages 17.15 in (436 mm) annually. July and August are the rainiest months.^[8] Elevations along the creek range from 4,262 ft (1,299 m) at its mouth to about 4,564 ft (1,391 m) at its source.^[9][2]

The creek has also been known as Carrizo Creek, Carrizozo Creek, Carrizzo Creek, and North Carrizozo Creek.^[2] (There is a Carrizozo Creek in the area, but it joins the Cimarron River to the west.)^[10] Carrizo means reed in Spanish.

• Carrizozo Creek
• Carrizo Creek (New Mexico/Texas)
• Carrizo Creek (Arizona)
• South Carrizo Creek
• West Carrizo Creek

Cimarron