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River

Bow River

587 km from source to mouth · Canada.

CanadaCanadaFlows into South Saskatchewan River

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouthCalgary
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

587km

Average flow

130m³/s

Basin

26,200km²

Drop

1,123m

from 1,821 m to 698 m

Country

1

The journey

From source to mouth

587 km of river and 60 stops on the way: 28 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

1,821 m698 m
Bow Glacierat 1,821 m0 km
Bow Falls9 m86 km
Lac des Arcs2.5 km²124 km
Ghost Lake11 km²164 km
Calgary1,306,784 people221 km
Highwood Rivertributary264 km
Bassano Dam395 km
South Saskatchewan Riverat 698 m587 km
0200400587 km
  1. 0 kmBow Glacierat 1,821 m
  2. 0 kmBow Lake3.1 km²
  3. 11 kmHector Lake5.5 km²
  4. 28 kmLake Louise0.8 km²
  5. 65 kmJohnston Creektributary
  6. 85 kmBow River Bridge
  7. 85 kmBanff8,305 people
  8. 86 kmBow Falls9 m
  9. 87 kmSpray Rivertributary
  10. 94 kmCascade Rivertributary
  11. 108 kmCanmore13,992 people
  12. 124 kmLac des Arcs2.5 km²
  13. 132 kmChilver Lake0.4 km²
  14. 133 kmSeebe Dam pipeline bridge
  15. 133 kmKananaskis Rivertributary
  16. 136 kmHorseshoe Falls
  17. 164 kmGhost Lake11 km²
  18. 164 kmGhost Rivertributary
  19. 181 kmCochrane32,199 people
  20. 183 kmRiver Avenue Bridge
  21. 204 kmTuscany19,700 people
  22. 205 kmStoney Trail Bow River Bridge
  23. 208 kmSilver Springs8,570 people
  24. 208 kmDalhousie8,530 people
  25. 210 kmVarsity12,040 people
  26. 210 kmBowness10,770 people
  27. 211 kmJohn Hextall Bridge
  28. 212 kmWest Springs11,560 people
  29. 212 kmAspen Woods9,435 people
  30. 218 kmBeltline25,880 people
  31. 218 kmLouise Bridge
  32. 219 kmCentre City41,000 people
  33. 219 kmSunnyside CTrain Bridge
  34. 219 kmPeace Bridge
  35. 220 kmDowntown Commercial Core8,225 people
  36. 220 kmPrince's Island Pedestrian Bridge
  37. 220 kmCentre Street Bridge
  38. 221 kmCalgary1,306,784 people
  39. 221 km4th Avenue Flyover
  40. 221 kmReconciliation Bridge
  41. 221 km5th Avenue Flyover
  42. 221 kmHenry Kroeger Bridge
  43. 222 kmGeorge C. King Bridge
  44. 223 km12 Street SE Bridge
  45. 224 kmElbow Rivertributary
  46. 226 kmDover10,795 people
  47. 230 kmOgden8,315 people
  48. 232 kmAcadia9,915 people
  49. 233 kmRiverbend9,205 people
  50. 235 kmLake Bonavista10,145 people
  51. 238 kmDouglasdale12,920 people
  52. 240 kmNew Brighton12,885 people
  53. 240 kmMcKenzie Towne17,505 people
  54. 240 kmMcKenzie Lake13,290 people
  55. 242 kmChaparral12,500 people
  56. 242 kmSundance9,590 people
  57. 244 kmCranston20,850 people
  58. 244 kmAuburn Bay18,090 people
  59. 247 kmLegacy8,000 people
  60. 264 kmHighwood Rivertributary
  61. 395 kmBassano Dam
  62. 587 kmSouth Saskatchewan Riverat 698 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

Watercourse in Alberta, Canada

At the mouth it carries 129 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 19 seconds. It drops from 1,821 m to 698 m, 1.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 26,200 km², about the size of RW. 1.5 million people live in it. Highest water: from April to June; lowest: from December to March. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (49% of a year's flow).

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

  • CalgaryLargest city on its banks · 1,306,784 people
  • Calgary International Airport (YYC)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 9 km from the cityCar hire at YYC airport (Calgary)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
  • On the water48 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
  • Kayak and canoe11 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
  • From June to AugustThe best months to visit

Bow River, month by month

Highest water: from April to June

Lowest water: from December to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from December to February. Best months to visit: from June to August.

150
-12°26 mmJan
150
-8°21 mmFeb
150
-4°22 mmMar
350
3°34 mmApr
350
9°50 mmMay
370
13°72 mmJun
260
16°52 mmJul
250
15°50 mmAug
230
10°43 mmSep
210
5°21 mmOct
190
-3°20 mmNov
160
-8°24 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 150 m³/s in the lowest month to 370 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.

Plan the trip

Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car

Car hire at YYC airport (Calgary)Discover CarsSee 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The basin

Bow River: the basin in numbers

52,421 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Heavily regulatedReservoirs can hold 49% of a year's flow: dams shape its seasons.
  • 1.5millionpeople live in the basin
  • 29/km²people per km²
  • 1,277maverage altitude of the basin
  • 479mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 2.8°Caverage air temperature
  • 17%protected areas
  • 1.2%covered by lakes
  • 3%permafrost
  • 3.2km³held in reservoirs

What covers the basin

  • 39% Forest
  • 33% Cropland
  • 26% Pasture
  • 1% Towns and cities

RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.

Along the river

Bow River: what you find on the way

  • 8DamsSeebe Dam, Horseshoe Dam, Ghost Dam and 5 more
  • 26Weirs
  • 21WaterfallsSilverton Falls, Lower Falls, Tunnel Falls and 18 more
  • 11Rapids
  • 37Boat rampsExhshaw Launch, Public Slipway, CottageClub Slipway and 34 more
  • 2Ferry piers
  • 5MarinasGhost Lake Marina, Bearspaw Marina and 3 more
  • 4Boat rentalsBoathouse, Bow Valley Stand Up Paddleboarding and Surf, Boat Rental at Bearspaw Marina and 1 more
  • 11River beachesCrosbow Beach, Exshaw Beach, Main Beach and 8 more

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Bow River in our other atlases

What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.

  • 2waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
  • 6lakes on its wayLakeyas
  • 32mountains at the sourcePeakyas

Waterfalls (2)

On the river, by Cascadyas

  1. Bow Fallskm 909m
  2. Horseshoe Fallskm 142

Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗

Lakes and reservoirs (6)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Bow Lakekm 03.1km²
  2. Hector Lakekm 115.5km²
  3. Lake Louisekm 290.8km²
  4. Lac des Arcskm 1302.5km²
  5. Chilver Lakekm 1380.4km²
  6. Ghost Lakekm 171 · 34 m deep11km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Mountains at the source (32)

Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas

  1. Mount Baker8.9 km away · prominence 490 m3,180m
  2. Crowfoot Mountain10 km away · prominence 355 m3,055m
  3. Observation Peak3.8 km away · prominence 659 m3,174m
  4. Mount Patterson6.9 km away · prominence 810 m3,197m
  5. Mount Olive11 km away · prominence 146 m3,126m
  6. Mount Collie12 km away · prominence 423 m3,143m
  7. Mount Habel8.9 km away · prominence 227 m3,073m
  8. Mistaya Mountain6.5 km away · prominence 356 m3,096m

24 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

Bow River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
Bow River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth31 km across

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

South Saskatchewan RiverCanadaCanada1,000 km250 m³/s

Tributaries (8)

Also: Elbow River, Highwood River, Johnston Creek, Kananaskis River, Spray River, Cascade River, Ghost River, Pipestone River

In the same basin

Nelson RiverCanadaCanada644 km2,800 m³/sSaskatchewan RiverCanadaCanada547 km700 m³/sNorth Saskatchewan RiverCanadaCanada1,380 km240 m³/sRed River of the NorthCanadaCanada890 km260 m³/sAssiniboine RiverCanadaCanada1,275 km45 m³/sRed Deer RiverCanadaCanada801 km70 m³/sOldman RiverCanadaCanada445 km95 m³/sWinnipeg RiverCanadaCanada298 km950 m³/sQu'Appelle RiverCanadaCanada743 km14 m³/sSouris RiverCanadaCanada1,240 km60 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Oldman RiverCanadaCanada445 km95 m³/s0 km awayRed Deer RiverCanadaCanada801 km70 m³/s169 km awayClark ForkUnited StatesUnited States499 km620 m³/s389 km awayKootenay RiverCanadaCanada780 km780 m³/s435 km awayMilk RiverUnited StatesUnited States1,173 km17 m³/s444 km awayJefferson RiverUnited StatesUnited States134 km54 m³/s445 km awayPend Oreille RiverCanadaCanada209 km740 m³/s441 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q895385) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesCascadyas, Lakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST

Every source and licence is on the data sources page.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit