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River

Teslin River

632 km from source to mouth · Canada.

CanadaCanadaFlows into Yukon River

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

632km

Average flow

300m³/s

Basin

35,500km²

Drop

818m

from 1,410 m to 592 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

632 km of river and 9 stops on the way: 1 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,410 m592 m
Sourceat 1,410 m0 km
Atlin Lake589 km²130 km
Tagish Lake352 km²298 km
Marsh Lake95 km²359 km
Chadburn Lake1.8 km²408 km
Lake Laberge198 km²546 km
Yukon Riverat 592 m632 km
0200400632 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 1,410 m
  2. 130 kmAtlin Lake589 km²
  3. 298 kmTagish Lake352 km²
  4. 359 kmMarsh Lake95 km²
  5. 408 kmChadburn Lake1.8 km²
  6. 412 kmChadden Lake0.6 km²
  7. 416 kmEar Lake0.3 km²
  8. 419 kmSchwatka Lake1.4 km²
  9. 422 kmWhitehorse28,201 people
  10. 546 kmLake Laberge198 km²
  11. 632 kmYukon Riverat 592 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

Watercourse in British Columbia and Yukon in Canada

At the mouth it carries 300 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 8.3 seconds. It drops from 1,410 m to 592 m, 1.3 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 35,500 km², about the size of TW. 28,000 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.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • WhitehorseLargest city on its banks · 28,201 people
  • Whitehorse / Erik Nielsen International Airport (YXY)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 1 km from the cityCar hire in WhitehorseDiscover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water19 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • JulyThe best months to visit

Teslin 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: July.

150
-19°22 mmJan
150
-15°18 mmFeb
150
-8°12 mmMar
150
0°8 mmApr
730
6°15 mmMay
690
11°30 mmJun
680
13°40 mmJul
360
11°37 mmAug
390
6°33 mmSep
400
0°25 mmOct
300
-10°22 mmNov
220
-16°22 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 150 m³/s in the lowest month to 730 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

Teslin River: the basin in numbers

32,233 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 28,000people live in the basin
  • 1/km²people per km²
  • 1,150maverage altitude of the basin
  • 365mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • -2.9°Caverage air temperature
  • 18%protected areas
  • 6.4%covered by lakes
  • 4%glaciers
  • 31%permafrost

What covers the basin

  • 22% Forest
  • 4% 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

Teslin River: what you find on the way

  • 2DamsThe Whitehorse Dam
  • 2Weirs
  • 1WaterfallsRacine Falls
  • 16Boat rampsSix mile river resort lauch, Tagish Lake Campground boat launch, Marsh Lake Marina Boat launch and 13 more
  • 2MarinasBrewery Bay Marina, Marsh Lake Marina
  • 1Boat rentalsKanoe People

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Teslin 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.

  • 8lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 2mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Lakes and reservoirs (8)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Atlin Lakekm 85 · 283 m deep589km²
  2. Tagish Lakekm 194352km²
  3. Marsh Lakekm 23395km²
  4. Chadburn Lakekm 2651.8km²
  5. Chadden Lakekm 2680.6km²
  6. Ear Lakekm 2710.3km²
  7. Schwatka Lakekm 2721.4km²
  8. Lake Labergekm 355198km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (2)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Mount Nesselrode12 km away · prominence 924 m2,474m
  2. Papaya Nunatak13 km away

Open Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Teslin River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Teslin River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth24 km across

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

Teslin River in pictures

Teslin river 1988 01
Smiley.toerist · CC BY-SA 4.0

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q284495) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas, 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

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.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit