Roan Creek rises on the Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

 and North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

 border, in Johnson County, Tennessee, near the town of Trade, Tennessee

Trade, Tennessee

Trade is an unincorporated community in Johnson County, Tennessee, United States. It is easternmost community in the state and is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, at the headwaters of Roan Creek. The community is located between the towns of Mountain City and Boone, North Carolina, along US-421...

. It flows through Cherokee National Forest

Cherokee National Forest

The Cherokee National Forest is a large National Forest created on July 19, 1936, by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, operated by the U.S. Forest Service and encompassing some 640,000 acres .-Location:...

 to join the Watauga River

Watauga River

The Watauga River is a large stream of western North Carolina and East Tennessee. It is 60 miles long with its headwaters on the slopes of Grandfather Mountain and Peak Mountain in Watauga County, North Carolina.-Hydrography:...

 in Watauga Lake

Watauga Lake

Watauga Lake, located southeast of Elizabethton, Tennessee, was created by the Tennessee Valley Authority with the completion of the TVA Watauga Dam and Reservoir....

, the reservoir behind Watauga Dam

Watauga Dam

Watauga Dam is a hydroelectric and flood control dam on the Watauga River in Carter County, in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the 1940s as part of efforts to control flooding in the Tennessee River watershed...

.

From its source, Roan Creek flows north, then turns west around the northern end of Stone Mountain. Then it flows south and west in the valley between Stone Mountain and Doe Mountain, until entering Watauga Lake and the Watauga River.

Its waters eventual flows through the Watauga River, the Holston River

Holston River

The Holston River is a major river system of southwestern Virginia and east Tennessee. The three major forks of the Holston rise in southwestern Virginia and have their confluence near Kingsport, Tennessee. The North Fork flows southwest from Sharon Springs in Bland County, Virginia...

, the Tennessee River

Tennessee River

The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...

, the Ohio River

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

, and the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

 to the Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

.

In 2005, Roan Creek was cited as one of the top ten most endangered rivers by American Rivers, a national non-profit conservation organization focused on rivers.

External links

• http://www.americanrivers.org/ American Rivers