The Sheep River is located in southwestern

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 T ...

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 to ...

, and is part of the

Bow River The Bow River is a river in Alberta, Canada. It begins within the Canadian Rocky Mountains and winds through the Alberta foothills onto the prairies, where it meets the Oldman River, the two then forming the South Saskatchewan River. These w ...

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

. The river begins in the mountain valleys of Elbow-Sheep Wildland Provincial Park,Elbow-Sheep Wildland Provincial Park
passes through

Sheep River Provincial Park Sheep River Provincial Park is a provincial park located in Alberta, Canada, west of Turner Valley on highway 546. It is part of the Kananaskis Country park system and encompasses a portion of the Sheep River valley. Located on the eastern slop ...

, and joins the

Highwood River The Highwood River is a tributary of the Bow River in southwestern Alberta, Canada. Course The Highwood originates in the Canadian Rockies in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, in the Highwood Pass below Mount Arethusa. It flows south and is par ...

about 8 km east of

Okotoks Okotoks (, originally ) is a town in the Calgary Region of Alberta, Canada. It is on the Sheep River, approximately south of Calgary. Okotoks has emerged as a bedroom community of Calgary. According to the 2016 Census, the town has a population ...

. The Sheep River provides drinking water for the towns of

Turner Valley Turner Valley is a town in the Calgary Metropolitan Region of Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by Foothills County. It is on Highway 22 (Cowboy Trail), west of Black Diamond and approximately southwest of Calgary. It was named after Robert ...

, Black Diamond, and Okotoks.

Tributaries

From origin to mouth, the Sheep River receives water from the following tributaries: *Rae Creek (from

Mount Rae Mount Rae is a mountain located on the east side of Highway 40 between Elbow Pass and the Ptarmigan Cirque in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta. Mount Rae was named after John Rae, explorer of Northern Canada, in 1859. Due to its relatively hig ...

) *Burns Creek *Cliff Creek *

Junction Creek Junction Creek is a creek in southwestern Alberta. It is a tributary of the Sheep River. 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 ...

Bluerock Creek Bluerock Creek is a creek located in southern Alberta, Canada. It is a tributary of the Sheep River, which itself is a tributary of the Highwood River. The creek runs for 11.4 km from its source in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains to ...

*Gorge Creek *Dyson Creek *March Creek *Coal Creek *Wolf Creek *Long Prairie Creek *Macabee Creek *Waite Valley Creek *Lineham Creek *Turner Valley *Threepoint Creek *Spring Creek *Wilson Coulee

References

External links

Sheep River Wildlife Sanctuary
Rivers of Alberta Okotoks {{Alberta-river-stub