The dam at Lake Byllesby does not affect water levels and canoeing downstream, because it maintains instantaneous flow-through.

Bounded by rolling hills, bluffs, farmland, and woods in its upper reaches, dammed by H.M. Byllesby in 1910 for hydroelectric power to create Lake Byllesby Reservoir, the Cannon enters a broad gorge below Cannon Falls, where it is flanked by bluffs up to 300 feet (100 m) high.

The upper region of the river is involved with terminal moraines and glacial drift and till, and is not in the Driftless Area.

In the reservoirs and slow stretches above Faribault the most common game fish are northern pike, black crappies, bluegills, and bullheads.

Downstream from Faribault the most common species are smallmouth bass, northern pike, walleye, and, in the stretch below Cannon Falls, Minnesota, channel catfish.

Evidence of human activity along Iŋ'yaŋ Bosdata (or "Standing Rock River" as the Cannon is named in the Dakota language) goes back at least 12,000 years.

An important part of the yearly cycle was the hunting of buffalo west of the Mississippi and the Big Woods.

The Cannon served as a primary route from the Mississippi River valley to the plains of western Minnesota where bison were common.

The 40-mile Sakatah-Singing Hills Trail begins at Faribault at the White Sands Trailhead facility, winding its way west along the Cannon River, past several lakes connected by it, ending at Mankato.