Little Panoche Creek formerly known as Arroyita de Panoche or Arroyo de Pannochita (Little Sugarloaf Creek) and later anglicized to Panochita Creek is a creek in Fresno County, California

Fresno County, California

Fresno County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California, south of Stockton and north of Bakersfield. As of the 2010 census, it is the tenth most populous county in California with a population of 930,450, and the sixth largest in size with an area of . The county...

. The source of this creek is on the east slope of Glaucophane Ridge, of the Diablo Range

Diablo Range

The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges. It is located in the eastern San Francisco Bay area south to the Salinas Valley area of northern California, the United States.-Geography:...

 in San Benito County. It flows east-northeast through Little Panoche Reservoir to empty into the California Aqueduct

California Aqueduct

The Governor Edmund G. Brown California Aqueduct is a system of canals, tunnels, and pipelines that conveys water collected from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and valleys of Northern- and Central California to Southern California. The Department of Water Resources operates and maintains the...

. Before the advent of irrigation projects in the valley, its waters might have reached a slough

Slough

Slough is a borough and unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Royal Berkshire, England. The town straddles the A4 Bath Road and the Great Western Main Line, west of central London...

 of the San Joaquin River

San Joaquin River

The San Joaquin River is the largest river of Central California in the United States. At over long, the river starts in the high Sierra Nevada, and flows through a rich agricultural region known as the San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suisun Bay, San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean...

 in years of heavy rains.

History

Arroyita de Panoche was a watering place on El Camino Viejo

El Camino Viejo

El Camino Viejo à Los Angeles , also known as the Old Los Angeles Trail, established in 1820's, was the oldest north-south trail in the interior of Alta California...

 in the San Joaquin Valley

San Joaquin Valley

The San Joaquin Valley is the area of the Central Valley of California that lies south of the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta in Stockton...

 between Arroyo de Las Ortigalito

Ortigalita Creek

Ortigalita Creek, formerly Arroyo de Las Ortigalito is a tributary stream of the San Joaquin River, in Merced County, California. The source of Ortigalita Creek is at 3520 feet located near a peak on the Ortigalita Ridge of the Diablo Range...

 (Little Nettle Creek) and Arroyo de Panoche Grande (Big Sugarloaf Creek).