River
Clark Fork
499 km from source to mouth · United States.
United StatesFlows into Lake Pend Oreille
In numbers
Length
499km
Average flow
620m³/s
Basin
59,324km²
Drop
834m
from 1,457 m to 623 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
499 km of river and 16 stops on the way: 7 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,457 m
- 0 kmWarm Springs3,000 people
- 23 kmConley Street Bridge
- 41 kmLittle Blackfoot Rivertributary
- 148 kmBlackfoot Rivertributary
- 157 kmMissoula71,022 people
- 158 kmBeartracks Bridge
- 163 kmOrchard Homes5,197 people
- 168 kmBitterroot Rivertributary
- 213 kmNatural Pier Bridge
- 258 kmSuperior830 people
- 279 kmSt. Regis313 people
- 282 kmSt. Regis Rivertributary
- 313 kmFlathead Rivertributary
- 358 kmThompson Rivertributary
- 368 kmThompson Falls1,336 people
- 463 kmClark Fork513 people
- 499 kmLake Pend Oreilleat 623 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Idaho and Montana in the United States
At the mouth it carries 621 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 4.0 seconds. It drops from 1,457 m to 623 m, 1.7 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 59,324 km², about the size of TG. 342,000 people live in it. Highest water, with the snowmelt: from April to May; lowest: from November to February. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (31% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- MissoulaLargest city on its banks · 71,022 people
- Missoula Montana Airport (MSO)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 9 km from the cityCar hire at MSO airport (Missoula)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water41 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe5 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
Clark Fork, month by month
Highest water: from April to May
Lowest water: from November to February. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from December to January. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 230 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,600 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
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The basin
Clark Fork: the basin in numbers
57,570 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 342,000people live in the basin
- 6/km²people per km²
- 1,564maverage altitude of the basin
- 569mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 3.6°Caverage air temperature
- 17%protected areas
- 1.5%covered by lakes
- 6.8km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 76% Forest
- 4% Cropland
- 12% Pasture
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
Clark Fork: what you find on the way
- 15WeirsBrennan’s Wave, Flynn Ditch Diversion, Grass Valley French Ditch Diversion and 12 more
- 4RapidsCliff Side II Rapid and 3 more
- 1Canoe put-insRalph's Takeout
- 41Boat rampsBeartracks Take-Out, EMS Boat Ramp (Emergency Only), Lena Lane Boat Ramp and 38 more
- 5River beachesMadison Bridge River Access, East Toole Park River Access, West Toole Park River Access and 2 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Clark Fork 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.
4mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Mountains at the source (4)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Cottonwood Mountain11 km away
- Gospel Hill14 km away
- O'Donnell Mountain13 km away
- Orofino Mountain12 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
Clark Fork in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (7)
Also: Flathead River, Blackfoot River, Bitterroot River, Thompson River, St. Regis River, Little Blackfoot River, Bull River
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Canada209 km740 m³/s130 km awayKootenay RiverCanada780 km780 m³/s157 km awaySnake RiverUnited States1,735 km1,600 m³/s303 km awayBow RiverCanada587 km130 m³/s389 km awayOldman RiverCanada445 km95 m³/s389 km awayJefferson RiverUnited States134 km54 m³/s444 km awayThompson RiverCanada489 km770 m³/s443 km awayFraser RiverCanada2,657 km3,500 m³/s499 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q664874) · 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 | 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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