Elbow River

It’s the weekend and it’s hot. You and your friends are looking for a way to cool off. If you’ve been in this city for any amount of time, rafting should be the first thing that’s comes to mind.
There are a few different spots you can embark on your rafting adventure down the Elbow, on the weekend we happened to start out at the Glenmore Resevoir. It was a leisurely float, the river wasn’t all that high, but there were a couple of decent deep spots to jump out for a quick swim.
I prefer the Elbow to the Bow for floating… Better scenery and a little less scary when there’s a lot of runoff.
Rafting tip: Make sure your bottom is well cushioned, preferably with a nice big floaty. Floating down a shallow river can get a little rocky otherwise.

I don’t think I can write a review about Calgary and leave out this very important geographical vein.
The Elbow River gets its water source from Elbow Lake located 7000 feet above sea level. The lake is 150 m from Hwy 40 at the Elbow Pass. The ER is part of the Bow River Basin and is an important source for Bragg Creek, as a source of water, transportation, irrigation and household use. It runs 25 kilometres and eventually runs into and merges with the Bow River.
I write about ER, because just as important as a park, this river provides Calgarians with one of its most enjoyable services … recreation. There was not a hot day that went by this summer that I didn’t see dozens of dots of inner tubes, rafts and umbrellas floating beneath my mother’s balcony.
Families, large groups of friends, couples, dogs, and rafts attached to other rafts, inner tubes acting as bars… all floating by. It was one of the most beautiful spectacles I have ever seen here in Calgary.
I had just moved from a long stint in Mexico, where finding a water area that is clean is so very rare, so moving back to Canada and witnessing the joys of Canadians just mindlessly floating down the river made me oh so proud.
We have it so good here eh!