River
Pelly River
608 km from source to mouth · Canada.
CanadaFlows into Yukon River
In numbers
Length
608km
Average flow
410m³/s
Basin
49,000km²
Drop
849m
from 1,191 m to 342 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
608 km of river and 8 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,191 m
- 110 kmFortin Lake15 km²
- 213 kmBruce Lake2.4 km²
- 244 kmpipeline bridge over the Pelly River in Ross River
- 249 kmRoss Rivertributary
- 262 kmTédāgi Lūgéʼ Lake1.1 km²
- 374 kmTay Rivertributary
- 399 kmEarn Rivertributary
- 479 kmMacmillan Rivertributary
- 608 kmYukon Riverat 342 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Watercourse in Yukon, Canada
At the mouth it carries 406 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 6.2 seconds. It drops from 1,191 m to 342 m, 1.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 49,000 km², about the size of SK. 1,109 people live in it. Highest water, with the snowmelt: from May to July; lowest: from January to April. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- Dawson City Airport (YDA)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 167 km from the cityCar hire in WhitehorseDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water2 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe17 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to JulyThe best months to visit
Pelly River, month by month
Highest water: from May to July
Lowest water: from January to April. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from November to March. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from June to July.
From about 75 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,100 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
Pelly River: the basin in numbers
50,636 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1,109people live in the basin
- 0/km²people per km²
- 1,101maverage altitude of the basin
- 355mmof rain a year (basin average)
- -5.7°Caverage air temperature
- 1%protected areas
- 1.5%covered by lakes
- 60%permafrost
What covers the basin
- 30% 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
Pelly River: what you find on the way
- 17Rapids
- 2Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Pelly 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.
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Fortin Lakekm 11115km²
- Bruce Lakekm 2162.4km²
- Tédāgi Lūgéʼ Lakekm 2651.1km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
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
Pelly River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Yukon RiverCanada3,190 km6,400 m³/sTributaries (4)
Also: Macmillan River, Ross River, Tay River, Earn River
United StatesWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1898456) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth 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 | Lakeyas — 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
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit