The Mistaya River is a short river in western
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. It flows through the
Canadian Rockies, and a section of the
Icefields Parkway
Highway 93 is a north–south highway in Alberta, Canada. It is also known as the Banff-Windermere Parkway south of the Trans-Canada Highway ( Highway 1) and the Icefields Parkway north of the Trans-Canada Highway. It travels through ...
was built along its course.
Mistaya River originates in
Peyto Lake
Peyto Lake ( ) is a glacier-fed lake in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies. The lake itself is near the Icefields Parkway. It was named for Bill Peyto, an early trail guide and trapper in the Banff area.
The lake is formed in a valley of ...
, a
glacial lake of typical blue colour (due to
rock flour
Rock flour, or glacial flour, consists of fine-grained, silt-sized particles of rock, generated by mechanical grinding of bedrock by glacial erosion or by artificial grinding to a similar size. Because the material is very small, it becomes suspe ...
). Mistaya flows north-west, receiving the waters of creeks such as Delta, Silverhorn, Cirque, Noyes, Chephren, Totem, Epaulette, Bison, Kaufmann and Sarbach. A series of elongated lakes are formed along the river: Mistaya Lake and Waterfowl Lakes.
Mistaya merges into the
North Saskatchewan River
The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows event ...
at
Saskatchewan River Crossing
Saskatchewan River Crossing is a locality in western Alberta, Canada. It is located within Banff National Park at the junction of Highway 93 (Icefields Parkway) and Highway 11 (David Thompson Highway). It is administered by Improvement Distri ...
.
From its headwaters of Peyto Creek, Mistaya River has a total length of 38 km.
The origin of the name is from the
Cree language: () means "
grizzly bear".
See also
*
List of rivers of Alberta
Alberta's rivers flow towards three different bodies of water, the Arctic Ocean, the Hudson Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Alberta is located immediately east of the continental divide, so no rivers from Alberta reach the Pacific Ocean.
List of r ...
References
Rivers of Alberta
Banff National Park
North Saskatchewan River
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