The river begins at a small lake about 100 kilometres (62 mi) north of the northeast Dease Arm of Great Bear Lake.
It passes through the Smoking Hills and reaches its mouth on the east side of Cape Bathurst at Franklin Bay on the Amundsen Gulf of the Beaufort Sea, where it forms a small delta, about 125 kilometres (78 mi) northwest of the community of Paulatuk.
The mouth had been 100 kilometres (62 mi) further north at Harrowby Bay on the west side of Cape Bathurst until about 1800 when a meander eroded through.

There is an airstrip just north of the mouth.
The river begins at a small lake about 100 kilometres (62 mi) north of the northeast Dease Arm of Great Bear Lake. It passes through the Smoking Hills and reaches its mouth on the east side of Cape Bathurst at Franklin Bay on the Amundsen Gulf of the Beaufort Sea, where it forms a small delta, about 125 kilometres (78 mi) northwest of the community of Paulatuk. The mouth had been 100 kilometres (62 mi) further north at Harrowby Bay on the west side of Cape Bathurst until about 1800 when a meander eroded through.
There is an airstrip just north of the mouth.
Horton River (Canada)