After rising in Colorado, the Canadian flows east-southeast across the New Mexico border, then south, passing west of Raton, New Mexico. It forms a deep canyon south of Springer, New Mexico. The Sabinoso Wilderness area is located in side canyons near the river. At its first dam at Conchas Lake, the river turns eastward. It is also dammed at Logan, New Mexico, where it forms Ute Lake. From there it crosses the Texas Panhandle, dammed at Sanford, Texas, where it forms Lake Meredith. The canyon the river carves through eastern New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle is the northern border of the Llano Estacado, separating it from the rest of the Great Plains. From Texas, the Canadian continues eastward into Oklahoma, passing just south of Oklahoma City. At Eufaula, Oklahoma, it flows into Eufaula Lake, the largest on this river. About downstream, it joins the Arkansas River at Robert S. Kerr Reservoir, around west of the Arkansas border.