The North River is a 55.3 miles (89 km) river in the mountains and Shenandoah Valley

Shenandoah Valley

The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...

 of northern Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, the United States

United States

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

. It joins the South River

South River (South Fork Shenandoah River)

The South River is one of the two main tributaries of the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. It begins south of Staunton, Virginia, and flows northward to Port Republic, where it merges with the North River to form the South Fork...

 at Port Republic

Port Republic, Virginia

Port Republic is an unincorporated community in Rockingham County, Virginia, United States. The Battle of Port Republic occurred there in the American Civil War.-History:...

 to form the South Fork Shenandoah River.

The river rises at 4000 feet (1,219.2 m) above sea level in western Augusta County

Augusta County, Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 65,615 people, 24,818 households, and 18,911 families residing in the county. The population density was 68 people per square mile . There were 26,738 housing units at an average density of 28 per square mile...

, below Dyers Knob on Shenandoah Mountain along the Virginia-West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

 border. From the man-made Elkhorn Lake it flows south and then east through the George Washington National Forest. The river breaks out of the Allegheny Mountains

Allegheny Mountains

The Allegheny Mountain Range , also spelled Alleghany, Allegany and, informally, the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada...

 at North River Gap and flows into the broad Valley of Virginia

Great Appalachian Valley

The Great Valley, also called the Great Appalachian Valley or Great Valley Region, is one of the major landform features of eastern North America. It is a gigantic trough — a chain of valley lowlands — and the central feature of the Appalachian Mountain system...

. The river passes through the town of Bridgewater

Bridgewater, Virginia

Bridgewater is an incorporated town in Rockingham County, Virginia, United States. The population was 5,644 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Harrisonburg, Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bridgewater is home to the Reds of the Rockingham County Baseball League...

 and flows southeast, joining the South River at Port Republic. The Middle River

Middle River (Virginia)

The Middle River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia. Flowing entirely within Augusta County, the Middle River joins the North River, which in turn meets the South River at Port Republic to form the South Fork Shenandoah River.-References:...

, a major tributary, joins the North River just west of the town of Grottoes

Grottoes, Virginia

Grottoes is an incorporated town in Augusta and Rockingham counties in the U.S. state of Virginia. The population was 2,114 at the 2000 census....

, four miles above the juncture with the South River.

Other towns along the river include Mount Solon

Mount Solon, Virginia

Mount Solon is an unincorporated community in Augusta County, Virginia, United States, southwest of Harrisonburg and northwest of Staunton. Mount Solon is located in the 6th US Congressional District. It is part of the Staunton–Waynesboro Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Earliest Settlements...

, Stokesville, Sangersville, Natural Chimneys, Mount Crawford

Mount Crawford, Virginia

Mount Crawford is a town in Rockingham County in Virginia, United States. It is included in the Harrisonburg Metropolitan Statistical Area, and the town's population was 433 at the 2010 census.-Geography:...

, and the village of North River.

The river is popular among canoeists, rafters and inner tubers. At one point during the 19th century barges shipped goods upstream via a canal/lock system.

Typical wildlife of the North River includes the Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

The Great Blue Heron is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America as well as the West Indies and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores and England...

, Wood Duck

Wood Duck

The Wood Duck or Carolina Duck is a species of duck found in North America. It is one of the most colourful of North American waterfowl.-Description:...

, Canada Goose

Canada Goose

The Canada Goose is a wild goose belonging to the genus Branta, which is native to arctic and temperate regions of North America, having a black head and neck, white patches on the face, and a brownish-gray body....

, Belted Kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher

The Belted Kingfisher is a large, conspicuous water kingfisher, the only member of that group commonly found in the northern United States and Canada. It is depicted on the 1986 series Canadian $5 note. All kingfishers were formerly placed in one family, Alcedinidae, but recent research suggests...

, Baltimore Oriole

Baltimore Oriole

The Baltimore Oriole is a small icterid blackbird that averages 18 cm long and weighs 34 g. This bird received its name from the fact that the male's colors resemble those on the coat-of-arms of Lord Baltimore...

, Painted Turtle

Painted Turtle

The painted turtle is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to Louisiana and northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The turtle is the only species of the genus Chrysemys, which is part of the pond turtle...

, Common Snapping Turtle, Largemouth Bass

Largemouth bass

The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...

, Sun Perch

Centrarchidae

The sunfishes are a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes. The type genus is Centrarchus . The family's 27 species includes many fishes familiar to North Americans, including the rock bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, and crappies...

, Catfish

Catfish

Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...

, Eastern Cottontail Rabbit, White-tailed Deer

White-tailed Deer

The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...

, Raccoon

Raccoon

Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...

, Opossum, Brown Bat

Brown bat

Brown bat refers to any species of bat belonging to either of the following genera:* Myotis, see Little brown bat or* Eptesicus or Big Brown Bats...

s, Freshwater Clams

Freshwater bivalves

Freshwater bivalves are one kind of freshwater molluscs. They are bivalves which live in freshwater, as opposed to saltwater. Although the majority of species of bivalve molluscs live in the sea, a number of different families of bivalves live in freshwater...

, Mink

Mink

There are two living species referred to as "mink": the European Mink and the American Mink. The extinct Sea Mink is related to the American Mink, but was much larger. All three species are dark-colored, semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, which also includes the weasels and...

, Tiger Swallowtail

Tiger swallowtail

Tiger Swallowtail is a common name for several species of butterfly, including:*Papilio appalachiensis or Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail, endemic to the Appalachians*Papilio canadensis or Canadian Tiger Swallowtail, endemic to Canada...

 and Ebony Jewelwing

Ebony Jewelwing

The Ebony Jewelwing is a species of broad-winged damselflies. It is one out of the 170 species of the Odonata found in New England, the Mid-Atlantic states, and southeastern Canada.-Identification:...

.

Typical plantlife of the North River includes the Cardinal flower, Joe-Pye Weed

Joe-Pye weed

Eutrochium fistulosum , also called Joe-Pye weed, Trumpetweed, or Purple thoroughwort, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to eastern North America, in southeast Canada and throughout the eastern and central United States.It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 1.5-3 m ...

, Purple Monkeyflower

Mimulus lewisii

Mimulus lewisii is a perennial plant in the family Phrymaceae. It is named in honor of Meriwether Lewis...

, Great Blue Lobelia

Lobelia siphilitica

The Great Blue Lobelia is a species within the Campanulaceae family. It is an herbaceous, perennial dicot native to eastern and central Canada and United States. Growing up to a meter tall, it lives in zones 4 to 9 in moist to wet soils. It produces a spike of zygomorphic flowers in the late...

, Bulrush

Schoenoplectus

Schoenoplectus is a genus of about 80 species of sedges with a cosmopolitan distribution. Note that the name bulrush is also applied to species in the unrelated genus Typha...

, Yellow Iris, American Sycamore

American sycamore

Platanus occidentalis, also known as American Sycamore, American plane, Occidental plane, and Buttonwood, is one of the species of Platanus native to North America...

, cottonwood, Box-elder, Silver Maple

Silver Maple

The silver maple —also called creek maple, river maple, silverleaf maple, soft maple, water maple, or white maple—is a species of maple native to eastern North America in the eastern United States and Canada...

, Virginia Bluebell

Virginia Bluebell

The Virginia Bluebell is a spring ephemeral plant with bell-shaped sky-blue flowers opening from pink buds, native to moist woodland in eastern North America.Leaves are rounded and gray-green, borne on a stem up to 60 cm high...

s, and Spring Beauty.