River
Red Deer River
801 km from source to mouth · Canada.
CanadaFlows into South Saskatchewan River
In numbers
Length
801km
Average flow
70m³/s
Basin
45,100km²
Drop
1,285m
from 1,859 m to 574 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
801 km of river and 16 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 1,859 m
- 0 kmDouglas Lake0.9 km²
- 7 kmSkeleton Lake0.4 km²
- 141 kmJames Rivertributary
- 181 kmGleniffer Lake17 km²
- 190 kmLittle Red Deer Rivertributary
- 190 kmRaven Rivertributary
- 195 kmMedicine Rivertributary
- 221 kmMintlaw Viaduct
- 235 kmRed Deer100,844 people
- 235 kmRed Deer Canadian Pacific Railway Bridge
- 235 kmCanadian Pacific Railroad Bridge
- 249 kmBlindman Rivertributary
- 251 kmBlackfalds Lake1.1 km²
- 433 kmDrumheller8,430 people
- 441 kmRosebud Rivertributary
- 443 kmStar Mine Suspension Bridge
- 801 kmSouth Saskatchewan Riverat 574 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada
At the mouth it carries 70 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 36 seconds. It drops from 1,859 m to 574 m, 1.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 45,100 km², about the size of EE. 273,000 people live in it. Highest water: June; lowest: from December to March. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (18% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- Red DeerLargest city on its banks · 100,844 people
- Edmonton International Airport (YEG)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 117 km from the cityCar hire at YEG airport (Edmonton)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water14 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe23 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
Red Deer River, month by month
Highest water: June
Lowest water: from December to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from November to March. Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 57 m³/s in the lowest month to 67 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
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
Red Deer River: the basin in numbers
44,043 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 273,000people live in the basin
- 6/km²people per km²
- 961maverage altitude of the basin
- 418mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 2.3°Caverage air temperature
- 3%protected areas
- 1.0%covered by lakes
- 1%permafrost
- 0.3km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 16% Forest
- 46% Cropland
- 30% Pasture
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
Red Deer River: what you find on the way
- 2WaterfallsBighorn Falls
- 23Rapids
- 10Boat rampsGreat Chief Park Boat Launch, Boat Launch, Waskasoo Boat Launch and 7 more
- 4Ferry piersBleriot Ferry and 3 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Red Deer 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.
4lakes on its wayLakeyas
25mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (4)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Douglas Lakekm 00.9km²
- Skeleton Lakekm 60.4km²
- Gleniffer Lakekm 17517km²
- Blackfalds Lakekm 2421.1km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (25)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Mount St. Bride6.9 km away · prominence 1,207 m3,315m
- Cataract Peak14 km away · prominence 938 m3,333m
- Mount Richardson6.9 km away · prominence 922 m3,086m
- Ptarmigan Peak5.6 km away · prominence 209 m3,059m
- Mount Douglas5.5 km away3,235m
- Lychnis Mountain7.8 km away · prominence 244 m3,124m
- Pika Peak6.0 km away3,053m
- Redoubt Mountain7.8 km away · prominence 570 m2,902m
17 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
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 RiverCanada1,000 km250 m³/sTributaries (7)
Also: Blindman River, James River, Medicine River, Rosebud River, Raven River, Little Red Deer River, Bullpound Creek
In the same basin
Canada644 km2,800 m³/sSaskatchewan RiverCanada547 km700 m³/sNorth Saskatchewan RiverCanada1,380 km240 m³/sRed River of the NorthCanada890 km260 m³/sAssiniboine RiverCanada1,275 km45 m³/sBow RiverCanada587 km130 m³/sOldman RiverCanada445 km95 m³/sWinnipeg RiverCanada298 km950 m³/sQu'Appelle RiverCanada743 km14 m³/sSouris RiverCanada1,240 km60 m³/s
United StatesWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q850119) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | 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.
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Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit