Tecate Creek is a stream in northern

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

, Mexico, with its headwaters in southern

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county (United States), county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its Mexico-United States border, border with Mexico. As of the 2020 United States Cen ...

, United States. It begins along the Tecate Divide in the In-Ko-Pah Mountains, near Live Oak Springs. The upper reaches of the stream in the US are known as Campo Creek. It flows southwest, crossing the

Mexico–United States border The international border separating Mexico and the United States extends from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from urban areas to deserts. It is the List of ...

at Canyon City, before flowing through the city of

Tecate Tecate () is a city in Tecate Municipality, Baja California. It is across the Mexico–United States border, Mexico–US border from Tecate, California. As of 2019, the city had a population of 108,860 inhabitants, while the metropolitan area ha ...

, Baja California. West of Tecate it flows through a gorge and briefly re-enters the US where it combines with Cottonwood Creek to form the Rio Alamar, a tributary of the

Tijuana River The Tijuana River () is an intermittent river, 120 mi (195 km) long, near the Pacific coast of northern Baja California state in northwestern Mexico and Southern California in the western United States. The river is heavily polluted wi ...

which it joins in central

Tijuana Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...

. The portion of Tecate Creek in Mexico is about long. Combined with Campo Creek in the US, it is , making it one of the longest tributaries of the Tijuana River.

See also