Trampas Canyon
river in the United States of America
Trampas Canyon is a short tributary of San Juan Creek in southern Orange County the U.S. state of California.
It rises in forks on steep slopes of the southern Santa Ana Mountains (33.4883597°N 117.5933813°W / 33.4883597; -117.5933813), and flows north to where it is dammed by Trampas Canyon Dam (USGS San Clemente Quad 7½"). Trampas Canyon 1795-006 Dam
(33.498359°N 117.587548°W / 33.498359; -117.587548)
forms a small lake that branches into four forks running east–west. Exiting the dam, the creek flows north and turns slightly to the west, where it joins San Juan Creek on the left bank, near the confluence of Cañada Gobernadora (33.3053°N 117.3458°W / 33.3053; -117.3458). Trampas Canyon Creek is ephemeral and only flows during storm events or while Trampas Canyon Dam is releasing, and is not a primary tributary of San Juan Creek.
A study was prepared in 1999 by the City of San Juan Capistrano, and it was found that a failure of the earthen Trampas Canyon Dam would do more damage to the lower course of San Juan Creek than for a 100 year flood. A failure would cause a floodwave over 0.5 miles (0.80 km) wide to rush down the lower 4.7 miles (7.6 km) of San Juan Creek to Doheny State Beach, flooding parts of San Juan Capistrano and Dana Point. A 100-year flood would cause a slightly smaller inundation.
“Trampas Canyon” enters the record as river in the United States of America. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Trampas, Canyon and river can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7833179. Authority coordinates are 33.515, -117.583. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1795 and 1999.
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This entry incorporates text from “Trampas Canyon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.