River
Stikine River
539 km from source to mouth · United States and Canada.
United States and CanadaFlows into Pacific Ocean
In numbers
Length
539km
Average flow
1,600m³/s
Basin
52,000km²
Drop
1,229m
from 1,230 m to 1 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
539 km of river and 9 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,230 m
- 98 kmSpatsizi Rivertributary
- 137 kmPitman Rivertributary
- 216 kmKlappan Rivertributary
- 282 kmTanzilla Rivertributary
- 297 kmTuya Rivertributary
- 323 kmSawmill Lake0.3 km²
- 329 kmAlkali Lake0.9 km²
- 363 kmChutine Rivertributary
- 474 kmIskut Rivertributary
- 539 kmPacific Oceanat 1 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in British Columbia, Canada, and Alaska, USA
At the mouth it carries 1,580 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 1.6 seconds. It drops from 1,230 m to 1 m, 2.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 52,000 km², about the size of BA. Highest water, with the snowmelt: from May to June; lowest: from December to March. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- WrangellLargest city on its banks · 2,382 people
- Wrangell Airport (WRG)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 2 km from the cityCar hire in KetchikanDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- Kayak and canoe47 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From July to AugustThe best months to visit
Stikine River, month by month
Highest water: from May to June
Lowest water: from December to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from November to March. Melting snow makes up much of its water. Best months to visit: from July to August.
From about 250 m³/s in the lowest month to 4,100 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
Stikine River: the basin in numbers
50,659 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 755people live in the basin
- 1,283maverage altitude of the basin
- 660mmof rain a year (basin average)
- -1.5°Caverage air temperature
- 31%protected areas
- 0.7%covered by lakes
- 7%glaciers
- 27%permafrost
What covers the basin
- 23% Forest
- 7% Ice
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
Stikine River: what you find on the way
- 2Waterfalls
- 47RapidsJewel Rapids, Beggerlay Rapids and 45 more
- 1River beachesBuck Bar
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Stikine 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.
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
5mountains at the sourcePeakyas
1island off the mouthIslandyas
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Sawmill Lakekm 3580.3km²
- Alkali Lakekm 3650.9km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (5)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Bowsprit Mountain15 km away
- Crescent Mountain14 km away
- Tuaton Peak10 km away
- Mount Thule5.7 km away
- Mount Umbach1.0 km away
Islands off the mouth (1)
Within 30 km of the mouth, by Islandyas
- Kadin Island21 km away
Islandyas is coming soonOpen Islandyas ↗
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
Stikine River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (12)
Also: Iskut River, Chutine River, Klappan River, Tuya River, Spatsizi River, Porcupine River, Choquette River, Tahltan River, Tanzilla River, Tasakili River, Pitman River, Klastline River
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q2092571) · 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, Peakyas, Islandyas — 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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