Hurst sits at 50.71508, -116.32193, running stream order 5 (mid-to-high on a scale from 1 for a headwater trickle to 6 or more for a full river) for roughly 5 km before joining
Frances Creek, which drains into
Forster Creek and then the
Columbia River.
North Hurst Creek joins from further up the same side drainage, and
Akenside Creek enters Frances from the neighbouring alpine-lake plateau. The regional fish habitat survey that covers this ground recorded low or dry conditions in several nearby tributaries during its low-flow sampling window, a reminder that an empty record here reflects thin survey coverage as much as an empty creek. Fish moving up from the Columbia are blocked well downstream by a cascade and a roughly 3 m falls in lower Forster Creek, so anything living this high in the system would be a resident or lake-connected population rather than a mainstem migrant.