The Big Bend area was well known as there was a gold rush there, beginning in 1864.

Travelers used canoes or river steamers until a dirt-surfaced highway was built on the east bank around the Big Bend, from Revelstoke to Golden, from 1930 to 1937, opening officially in 1940, and it served as the trans-provincial highway until 1962 when the Rogers Pass portion of the Trans-Canada Highway was opened.

Realignment of the highway also occurred in the early 1980s, in anticipation of the creation of the reservoir for the Revelstoke Dam (Revelstoke Lake), which flooded lower parts of the highway.

Highway 23 winds north along the eastern shore of Upper Arrow Lake for 49 km (30 mi) to its junction with Highway 31 at Galena Bay.

North of Revelstoke, Highway 23 entirely follows the east bank of Revelstoke Lake for 151 km (94 mi), past the old townsite of Mica Creek to its northern terminus at the Mica Dam facility.