The Wild River rises at No Ketchum Pond in the township of Bean's Purchase, New Hampshire, and flows northeast through a mountain valley separating the Carter-Moriah Range to the northwest and the Baldface-Royce Range to the southeast. Evans Brook flows northerly from the height of land in Evans Notch to join the Wild River near the former logging company town of Hastings. Maine Highway 113 follows Evans Brook and then the east bank of the Wild River from Hastings northward to the Wild River confluence with the Androscoggin River at Gilead. The Wild River is bridged by U.S. Route 2 and the St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad at Gilead.