Pinto Creek is a tributary of the Salt River in Gila County, Arizona, within the Tonto National Forest.

The creek winds for 28 miles (45 km) northward from the Pinal Mountains, through the Sonoran Desert, before emptying into the tail of Theodore Roosevelt Lake.

[1] Since the 1980s, the Pinto Creek watershed has been the site of environmental disputes over water rights and mining operations.

[2] Historically, the lower Pinto Creek was a rare desert riparian stream that supported sycamore, cottonwood, willow, and ash trees, and a diversity of wildlife.

[1] The creek started drying up in 2013 as a result of increased groundwater pumping by the Pinto Valley Mine, despite the Forest Service holding instream flow rights.