[1][2][5][6][7] It is a tributary of the Bay of Quinte and is thus in the Lake Ontario drainage basin.

[1][2][5] Potter Creek begins at an unnamed pond in Quinte West at an elevation of 110 metres (360 ft)[3] and heads south, then southwest, then south again, and passes under Ontario Highway 401.

It continues south, then turns east, flows under Wallbridge-Loyalist Road, and enters the city of Belleville.

The creek turns south, heads under the Canadian National Railway main line and Moira Street, and curves southwest.

[8] It then turns south, flows under the Canadian Pacific Railway mainline, heads by the Quinte Conservation headquarters,[9] flows under Old Highway 2, and reaches its mouth at the Bay of Quinte at an elevation of 74.1 metres (243 ft).