The source of the North Branch Potomac River is at the Fairfax Stone located at the junction of Grant, Tucker and Preston counties in West Virginia.
From the Fairfax Stone, the North Branch Potomac River flows 27 miles (43 km) to the man-made Jennings Randolph Lake, an impoundment designed for flood control and emergency water supply. Below the dam, the North Branch cuts a serpentine path through the eastern Allegheny Mountains. First, it flows northeast by the communities of Bloomington, Luke, and Westernport in Maryland and then on by Keyser, West Virginia to Cumberland, Maryland. At Cumberland, the river turns southeast. 103 miles (166 km) downstream from its source, the North Branch is joined by the South Branch between Green Spring and South Branch Depot, West Virginia from whence it flows past Hancock, Maryland and turns southeast once more on its way toward Washington, D.C., and the Chesapeake Bay.
The following are tributaries of the North Branch Potomac River, listed in order from the source to its mouth.
- Stony River (West Virginia)
- Abram Creek (West Virginia)
- Savage River (Maryland)
- Georges Creek (Maryland)
- Laurel Run (Maryland)
- New Creek (West Virginia)
- Limestone Run (West Virginia)
- Warrior Run (Maryland)
- Wills Creek (Pennsylvania/Maryland)
- Brush Creek (Pennsylvania)
- Little Wills Creek (Pennsylvania)
- Evitts Creek (Maryland and Pennsylvania)
- Patterson Creek (West Virginia)
- Mill Creek (West Virginia)
- Dans Run (West Virginia)
- Green Spring Run (West Virginia)
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