The Watauga River is a large stream of western North Carolina and East Tennessee. It is 78.5 miles long with its headwaters in Linville Gap to the South Fork Holston River at Boone Lake. The Watauga River rises from a spring located south to the base of Peak Mountain at Linville Gap in Avery County, North Carolina. The spring emanates from the western side …The Watauga River is a large stream of western North Carolina and East Tennessee. It is 78.5 miles long with its headwaters in Linville Gap to the South Fork Holston River at Boone Lake. The Watauga River rises from a spring located south to the base of Peak Mountain at Linville Gap in Avery County, North Carolina. The spring emanates from the western side of the Tennessee Valley Divide, which is, at this location, congruent with the Eastern Continental Divide. On the other side of the divide at Linville Gap are the headwaters of the Linville River in the Upper Catawba watershed. Waters of the Linville River eventually reach the Atlantic Ocean, whereas waters of the Watauga River reach the Gulf of Mexico; hence the Eastern Continental Divide. The river then flows across Watauga County, North Carolina, crossing the Tennessee state line at Johnson County, then into Carter County, Tennessee and ends at its confluence with the Holston River's South Fork on the Washington/Sullivan County border.
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