The Elk River is a large

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

in the North Carolina High Country and

East Tennessee East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 count ...

. The headwaters begin from the Northwestern slopes of

Peak Mountain Peak Mountain, also called Copper Mountain, est. , is a traprock mountain located in East Granby, Connecticut, south of the Massachusetts border and 6 miles west of the Connecticut River. It is part of the narrow, linear Metacomet Ridge that ex ...

Avery County, North Carolina Avery County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,806. The county seat is Newland. The county seat was initially established in Elk Park when the county was first formed, but wa ...

and end at the Watauga River in Carter County, Tennessee.

Hydrography

With the headwaters beginning from the Northwestern slopes of

, it flows west to

Banner Elk Banner Elk is a town in Avery County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,028 at the 2010 census. Banner Elk is home to Lees–McRae College. History The area surrounding the Elk River was inhabited by the Cherokee before weste ...

then towards Elk Park. For most of the river's course, it runs in a deep gorge. Just before the Elk River crosses into Tennessee it flows over "Big Falls" (also called "Elk Falls"), a locally-known attraction which is approximately a 60-foot (18 m) drop. It then flows down a narrow, relatively steep valley to the tiny community of Elk Mills, which is named for a former water-powered mill built on this river at this point by early white settlers. Between the state line and Elk Mills, it flows over Twisting Falls, a drop of approximately 30 feet (nine m). At this point, it is bridged by

U.S. Highway 321 U.S. Route 321 (US 321) is a spur of U.S. Route 21. It runs for from Hardeeville, South Carolina to Lenoir City, Tennessee; with both serving as southern termini. It reaches its northernmost point at Elizabethton, Tennessee. Because o ...

. Shortly below this point, its waters become slack as part of an embayment of Watauga Lake, a sizable reservoir of the

Watauga Dam Watauga Dam is a hydroelectric and flood control dam on the Watauga River in Carter County, in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the 1940s as part of efforts to contro ...

Project of the Tennessee Valley Authority. This project has flooded the actual site of the original confluence of the Elk and

Watauga Watauga can refer to: ;Places *Watauga, Kentucky * Watauga County, North Carolina * Watauga, South Dakota * Watauga, Tennessee * Watauga, Texas ;Bodies of Water * Watauga Lake in Tennessee * The Watauga River in North Carolina and Tennessee ;Shi ...

rivers. The water eventually flows through the Watauga River, the Holston River, the Tennessee River, the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

, and the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. For more information on waterfalls in the Elk River drainage, see ''Waterfalls of Tennessee'' by Gregory Plumb,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elk River (North Carolina-Tennessee) Tributaries of the Watauga River Rivers of North Carolina Rivers of Tennessee Rivers of Avery County, North Carolina Rivers of Carter County, Tennessee

Hydrography

See also

References