The river flows in a generally eastward direction from the Tahquamenon Lakes of Columbus Township, Luce County to its mouth at Whitefish Bay, a bay of Lake Superior, in Chippewa County.

In 1930 Jesuit scholar, Father William Gagnieut, concluded that the meaning of the name had been lost.

The Tahquamenon Falls are thus acclaimed as being the largest naturally dyed or colored waterfall in the United States.

In Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's famous poem, The Song of Hiawatha (1855), the hero learned how to paddle a birchbark canoe in the Tahquamenon.

The Toonerville Trolley Train and Riverboat Tour, a private firm, offers 21-mile (34 km) boat tours of the upper Tahquamenon as part of an overall family experience that includes a narrow-gauge rail ride and visit to the Upper Tahquamenon Falls.