The Canoe River begins in the Cariboo Mountains, west of Valemount, British Columbia, and flows east to the vicinity of Valemount, then southeast to join the Columbia River at the Big Bend of the Columbia, just upriver from Mica Dam. The reservoir created by Mica Dam, Kinbasket Lake, extends up the Canoe River nearly to Valemount. This impounded portion of the river is called the Canoe Reach of Kinbasket Lake. Although originally the mouth of the Canoe River was at the Big Bend of the Columbia, today it is said to be at the northern end of Canoe Reach.