It drains part of the Sierra Nevada range along the California-Nevada border in the watershed of Walker Lake in the Great Basin.

[3] It rises from snowmelt in the Sierras of northwestern Mono County, north of Yosemite National Park approximately 20 miles (32 km) south-southwest of Walker in the snowfields on the northeast faces of Tower Peak and Forsyth Peak on the Sierra crest in the Toiyabe National Forest.

[4] It flows north, along the west side of the Sweetwater Mountains, emerging into the Antelope Valley, a ranching region around Walker.

It flows north past Coleville and Topaz and enters southern Douglas County, Nevada southwest of Carson City.

In January 1997 a record-setting flood along the West Walker River destroyed 10 miles (16 km) of U.S. 395.