The Wonalancet River is a 7.6-mile long (12.3 km) river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 located in the White Mountains

White Mountains (New Hampshire)

The White Mountains are a mountain range covering about a quarter of the state of New Hampshire and a small portion of western Maine in the United States. Part of the Appalachian Mountains, they are considered the most rugged mountains in New England...

 of New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is a tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 of the southern Swift River

Swift River (Bearcamp River)

The Swift River is an 8.3 mile long river located in eastern New Hampshire in the United States. It is a tributary of the Bearcamp River, part of the Ossipee Lake / Saco River watershed leading to the Atlantic Ocean...

, part of the Bearcamp River

Bearcamp River

The Bearcamp River is a 26.3 mile long river at the southern edge of the White Mountains in New Hampshire, the United States. It is the largest tributary of Ossipee Lake, part of the Saco River watershed leading to the Atlantic Ocean....

 / Ossipee Lake

Ossipee Lake

Ossipee Lake is located in Carroll County in eastern New Hampshire, in the communities of Ossipee and Freedom. At 3,245 acres, it is the sixth-largest lake located entirely in New Hampshire. The lake is fed by the West Branch , the Bearcamp and Lovell rivers , and the Pine River...

 / Saco River

Saco River

The Saco River is a river in northeastern New Hampshire and southwestern Maine in the United States. It drains a rural area of of forests and farmlands west and southwest of Portland, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean at Saco Bay, from its source. It supplies drinking water to roughly 250,000...

 watershed

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 leading to the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

.

The Wonalancet River rises in the heart of the Sandwich Range

Sandwich Range

The Sandwich Range is located in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in the United States, north of the Lakes Region and south of the Kancamagus Highway...

, in "The Bowl", a forested glacial cirque

Cirque (landform)

thumb|250 px|Two cirques with semi-permanent snowpatches in [[Abisko National Park]], [[Sweden]].A cirque or corrie is an amphitheatre-like valley head, formed at the head of a valley glacier by erosion...

 lying between Mount Whiteface

Mount Whiteface

Mount Whiteface is a mountain located in Grafton County, New Hampshire. The mountain is part of the Sandwich Range of the White Mountains. Whiteface is flanked to the northwest by Mount Tripyramid, and to the northeast by Mount Passaconaway. Whiteface is on the eastern border of the Sandwich Range...

 to the west, Mount Passaconaway

Mount Passaconaway

Mount Passaconaway is a mountain in the Sandwich Range Wilderness of the White Mountain National Forest near the eastern boundary of Waterville Valley...

 to the north, and Mount Wonalancet to the east. The river flows south, paralleled by the Dicey Mill Trail, out of the mountains into the communities of Ferncroft

Ferncroft, New Hampshire

Ferncroft is a village lying mostly in the town of Albany in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. Some of the roads and houses in Ferncroft stretch into the towns of Sandwich and Waterville Valley...

 and Wonalancet

Wonalancet, New Hampshire

Wonalancet is a village in the northwestern corner of the town of Tamworth in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. Many popular hiking trails into the Sandwich Range of the White Mountains have trailheads in the area, particularly in the locale known as Ferncroft, up a short spur road...

. The river continues east into a forested valley and joins the Swift River three miles northwest of the village of Tamworth

Tamworth, New Hampshire

Tamworth is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,856 at the 2010 census. Tamworth includes the villages of Chocorua, South Tamworth, Wonalancet, and Whittier. The White Mountain National Forest is to the north...

.