Beginning at 4,931 feet (1,503 m) above sea level in the western foothills of the Cascade Range, it flows generally southwest through the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Elk Creek Project lands to Rogue Elk Park in Jackson County.

Below the dam, the creek passes a United States Geological Survey (USGS) stream gauge, which is on the right at RM 1.3 (RK 2.1).

When the Elk Creek Dam was about one-third finished, lawsuits to protect endangered salmon and other migratory fish led to a court injunction that stopped construction in 1987.

[7] Litigation and political battles lasting more than 20 years led to the compromise of demolishing about 15 percent of the dam and leaving the rest intact so that it might be restored in the future.

[7][8] In 2008, the United States Army Corps of Engineers dismantled part of the dam with explosives and restored the creek to its original channel.