River
Nechako River
462 km from source to mouth · Canada.
CanadaFlows into Fraser River
In numbers
Length
462km
Average flow
280m³/s
Basin
47,100km²
Drop
326m
from 891 m to 565 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
462 km of river and 16 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmRocky Mountainsat 891 m
- 0 kmSt. Thomas Lake4.1 km²
- 2 kmReid Lake1.6 km²
- 74 kmEutsuk Lake250 km²
- 112 kmTetachuck Lake55 km²
- 179 kmNechako Reservoir839 km²
- 186 kmCheslatta Rivertributary
- 186 kmMurray Lake6.0 km²
- 187 kmCheslatta Falls
- 250 kmLeg Lake0.4 km²
- 253 kmRorison Lake0.3 km²
- 264 kmFraser Lake54 km²
- 316 kmVanderhoof4,346 people
- 333 kmCarrole Falls
- 354 kmStuart Rivertributary
- 436 kmCameron Street Bridge
- 437 kmPrince George76,708 people
- 462 kmFraser Riverat 565 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Watercourse in British Columbia, Canada
At the mouth it carries 277 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 9.0 seconds. It drops from 891 m to 565 m, 0.7 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 47,100 km², about the size of BT. 54,000 people live in it. Highest water, with the snowmelt: from April to May; lowest: from December to March. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 215% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- Prince GeorgeLargest city on its banks · 76,708 people
- Prince George (International) Airport (YXS)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 6 km from the cityCar hire at YXS airport (Prince George)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water8 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe23 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From July to AugustThe best months to visit
Nechako River, month by month
Highest water: from April to May
Lowest water: from December to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from December to February. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from July to August.
From about 260 m³/s in the lowest month to 430 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Nechako River: the basin in numbers
46,942 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 54,000people live in the basin
- 1/km²people per km²
- 994maverage altitude of the basin
- 553mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 1.6°Caverage air temperature
- 15%protected areas
- 7.5%covered by lakes
- 1%permafrost
- 24km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 80% Forest
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Nechako River: what you find on the way
- 1WaterfallsCheslatta Falls
- 23RapidsRedfern Rapids, Isle de Pierre Rapids and 21 more
- 8Boat rampsBoat Launch and 7 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Nechako River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
2waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
9lakes on its wayLakeyas
2mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Waterfalls (2)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Cheslatta Fallskm 194
- Carrole Fallskm 344
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (9)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- St. Thomas Lakekm 04.1km²
- Reid Lakekm 21.6km²
- Eutsuk Lakekm 76250km²
- Tetachuck Lakekm 11655km²
- Nechako Reservoirkm 185839km²
- Murray Lakekm 1926.0km²
- Leg Lakekm 2580.4km²
- Fraser Lakekm 27354km²
1 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (2)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Noel Fergusson Hill10 km away
- Key Mountain13 km away
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Nechako River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Fraser RiverCanada2,657 km3,500 m³/sTributaries (4)
Also: Stuart River, Nautley River, Cheslatta River, Chilako River
In the same basin
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q271025) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Cascadyas, Lakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
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