The river flows through the Elbow Valley district of Kananaskis, that starts about 8 km west of Bragg Creek along highway 66 and runs some 25 kilometres from the Kananaskis gate to the Little Elbow Recreation Area - from the foothills to the towering Rockies. There are many campgrounds, hiking, horseback and cycling trails set among extraordinary scenery. The highlights are Allen Bill Pond, Forgetmenot Pond and Elbow Falls where a paved interpretive trail leads to a lookout over the falls.
View of the falls in summer (left) and winter (right)
The source of the Elbow River is Elbow Lake, located 2,130 m (7000 ft) above sea level in the Elbow-Sheep Wildland Area of Kananaskis Country. The lake is a 1.3 km (.8 mi) hike up 150 m (500 ft.) from Hwy. 40 at the Elbow Pass. The pass is about 127 km (79 mi) from Bragg Creek. Take Hwy. 22 north to Hwy 1 west to Hwy 40, go south to Elbow Pass. Hwy 40 is closed between Dec. 1 - June 15 south of the winter gate at the Kananaskis Lakes turnoff.
The lake is a popular destination for campers, skiers, fishermen and horseback riders.
Canoeing and rafting are popular activities on the Elbow River.
You can canoe or kayak several parts of the river, but watch out for rapids, rocks and sweepers - trees that have fallen across the river. The upper stretch from Beaver Flats campground to Elbow Falls is the easiest, but watch out for the Elbow Falls. There is a boat launch at Canyon Creek which gives access to a more difficult run with a number of rapids and a Class 3 ledge.
This is probably why they call it the Elbow River. Elbow Falls is in the upper left. Photo taken from the Prairie Mountain trail.
River discharge - cubic metres per second (m3/sec) |
Name of river |
Watershed area (sq. km) |
Daily Mean |
Min (Month) |
Max (June) |
Bow at Banff |
2210 |
39.7 |
7.64 (Mar.) |
127 |
Bow at Calgary |
7860 |
90.9 |
44.2 (Mar.) |
231 |
Elbow above
Elbow Falls |
437 |
7 |
1.8 (Mar.) |
17.2 |
Elbow at
Bragg Creek |
791 |
7.1 |
2.6 (Feb.) |
24.2 |
Kananaskis near Seebe |
933 |
15.4 |
7.2 (Apr.) |
40.6 |
Sheep at Black Diamond |
595 |
4.6 |
0.9 (Feb.) |
18.2 |
|
The Elbow River Watershed
The watershed is the area of land that drains into the Elbow River. The Elbow River Watershed Partnership was established to increase the awareness of water issues and encourage cooperation, coordination and knowledge sharing among stakeholders including: Alberta Stewardship Network (www.ab.stewardshipcanada.ca), Government of Alberta - Environment, City of Calgary - Waterworks and the Municipal District of Rocky View.
For more info about the Elbow River Watershed Partnership, call 403-685-5580 or visit their web site.
Elbow River Watershed Partnership
www.erwp.org
Elbow Partnership News
Please see the latest ERWP Newsletter on their website (from the drop down menu News and Project or click this link http://erwp.org/pdf/issue24summer2005.pdf ).
It is a quick summary of some of the happenings in the Elbow River watershed in the past couple of months. Our 2005 Operational Plan calls for 8 Newsletters. | 
