 Flowing out of Medicine Lake, the Maligne River flows about 15 kilometers upstream as a full size river, but as a losing stream, quickly disappears into seeps in the ground and completely vanishes from the surface not far from the lake for most of the year.The smaller streams that feed the valley below that point rebuild the river by the time it reaches the top of the canyon.The river drops down the canyon and intersects the bedrock layers where the underground river flows.