Little Elbow River

I live less than 45 minutes from the Elbow-Sheep Wildland Provincial Park. I usually access this area from the Kananaskis side but it is also accessible on the east side via Highway 66. I don’t know why but it seems like the closest areas from where we live are the ones we tend to forget about. This access point is way faster and easier to get to but I somewhat overlooked it for a few years. But on a Friday off from work, I decided to finally check the very popular Elbow River Trail.

I left my house in the dark and while the air was frigid, I was rewarded with the beautiful sunrise colors casting different shades of pink and purple on the snowy peaks.

Little Elbow Trail is part of a trail system called the Elbow Loop. One side of the loop follows the Little Elbow River and leads toward Elbow Lake while the other portion of the loop follows the Big Elbow River. I chose to venture on the Little Elbow, mostly because it’s less popular and the river is easier to walk along.

To start the trail, the Elbow River first needs to be crossed. I always enjoy a good river ford but if there’s a bridge, I always go for it. This time, a big and sturdy suspended bridge kept my feet dry to start this day. I wasn’t going to complain about it!

Right after the bridge, I turned left and made my way towards the Little Elbow branch. The sun was rising more and more and started to warm up the air slightly. It was still chilly and I was looking forward to get out of the shade. To my big surprise, the river bed was bone dry. Perhaps this branch only flows during the snowmelt in the spring? While I had water in my backpack, I was expecting to find water to cook my lunch later on. Oh well.

The lack of water offered me a fairly easy and open path to navigate the valley. With random camping allowed in this area, I spent the morning marking potential future camping spots on my GPS. This place would make for nice overnight trips with mountain views and an easy hike in.

Late October morning frost

After walking for a few hours, I started hearing water. I had almost given up on finding some today. But my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me. I had reached the point where the Little Elbow was disappearing into the ground. So I decided to make this spot my resting place not only for lunch, but to enjoy the scenery.

The sun provided nice warmth. I took my wood stove out and collected some dry wood sticks. I didn’t have to walk too far, the ground was littered with sticks and branches. The wind picked up as I was ready to hike back to my truck. Clouds started to roll in and the more I walked, the more the sky was turning from blue and sunny to gray and overcast.

I picked up a side trail that would take me to the main trail. I felt like it was safer to use the main trail to save some time and perhaps avoid approching bad weather.

I made it back to the bridge in no time. And as fast as the weather can flip in Alberta, it did once again. In a blink of an eye, the sky got darker, the wind picked up even more and rain started to drizzle as I crossed the bridge.

This was a short day hike. At the time, I didn’t know it but that would be my last hike alone. What do I mean by that? Well, a big change happened in December of 2021. It is the reason why I am so behind on all the trip reports I would like to share. This blog is still definitely active, I just need to catch up on the editing and drafting of all the trips I have done since. Stay tuned and you’ll be introduced to something new in the next adventure!