The source of the creek is Pine Lakes in the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge (TNWR).

The creek flows through the TNWR and ultimately joins the Palouse River 6 miles (10 km) downstream from the unincorporated town of Winona, Washington.

Many small lakes in the drainage have no outlets, and some evaporate completely in dry weather.

[5] As Rock Creek crosses the Columbia River Plateau, it passes through the Channeled Scablands, created by the Missoula Floods that swept across eastern Washington during the Pleistocene epoch.

The creek follows one of many paths taken by the floods as they cut through the Columbia River Basalt.