Crooked River is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

that flows from headwaters in the

Southern Alps The Southern Alps (; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) is a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the range's western side. The name "Southern ...

Lake Brunner Lake Brunner ( mi, Kōtuku Moana or ) is the largest lake in the West Coast Region of New Zealand, located southeast of Greymouth. The main settlement, Moana, New Zealand, Moana, is on its northern shore. It is an important settlement and ways ...

in the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

region of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

. It is named for the erratic path it takes. Near Lake Brunner, it passes through reasonably flat farmland, but closer to its source, it rushes through gorges and

rapids Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade''. ...

. One tributary is the Poerua River from

Lake Poerua Lake Poerua ( mi, Pouerua) is a shallow lake located in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island roughly 13 km southeast from Lake Brunner. It is located between the Alexander Range and the slopes of Mount Te Kinga, to the north ...

. Fishers visit Crooked River to catch

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...

. The river is also used by

canoeist Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. Common meanings of the term are limited to when the canoeing is the central purpose of the activity. Broader meanings include when it is combined with other acti ...

s. Recently, there has been a minor silt build-up in the river's middle reaches. There are two

backcountry hut A wilderness hut, bothy, backcountry hut, or backcountry shelter is a free, primitive mountain hut for temporary accommodation, usually located in wilderness areas, national parks and along backpacking (wilderness), backpacking and hiking route ...

s available for trampers along the Crooked River.

References

Grey District Rivers of the West Coast, New Zealand Rivers of New Zealand {{WestCoastNZ-river-stub