It rises in the piedmont country, in northwest Guilford County northwest of Greensboro, It flows E, passing north of Greensboro, then SSE past the town of Haw River just east of Burlington. In Chatham County it flows through the Jordan Lake reservoir, at which it is joined by the New Hope River, which forms the north of the reservoir. Just below the reservoir at Haywood it joins the Deep River to form the Cape Fear River.
