The Sunwapta River is a major
tributary
A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...
of the
Athabasca River
The Athabasca River (French: ''Rivière Athabasca'') in Alberta, Canada, originates at the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park and flows more than before emptying into Lake Athabasca. Much of the land along its banks is protected in nationa ...
in
Jasper National Park
Jasper National Park, in Alberta, Canada, is the largest national park within Alberta's Rocky Mountains, spanning . It was established as Jasper Forest Park in 1907, renamed as a national park in 1930, and declared a UNESCO world heritage site ...
in
Alberta
Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
, Canada.
Course
The headwaters of the Sunwapta River are near the
Columbia Icefield
The Columbia Icefield is the largest ice field in North America's Rocky Mountains. Located within the Canadian Rocky Mountains astride the Continental Divide along the border of British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, the ice field lies partly ...
in the valley west-northwest of
Sunwapta Pass, which divides
Jasper National Park
Jasper National Park, in Alberta, Canada, is the largest national park within Alberta's Rocky Mountains, spanning . It was established as Jasper Forest Park in 1907, renamed as a national park in 1930, and declared a UNESCO world heritage site ...
from
Banff National Park
Banff National Park is Canada, Canada's first National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous ter ...
. Several kilometres down the valley from the pass is
Sunwapta Lake, at the toe of the
Athabasca Glacier
The Athabasca Glacier is one of the six principal Glacier terminus, 'toes' of the Columbia Icefield, located in the Canadian Rockies. The glacier currently loses depth at a rate of about per year and has Retreat of glaciers since 1850, receded ...
, which is considered the nominal source for the river. The Sunwapta River then continues to run northwest through Jasper National Park, following 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 Banff Nat ...
, and finally joins the
Athabasca River
The Athabasca River (French: ''Rivière Athabasca'') in Alberta, Canada, originates at the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park and flows more than before emptying into Lake Athabasca. Much of the land along its banks is protected in nationa ...
shortly after
Sunwapta Falls.
''Sunwapta'' is a
Stoney language
Stoney—also called Nakota, Nakoda, Isga, and formerly Alberta Assiniboine—is a member of the Dakota subgroup of the Mississippi Valley grouping of the Siouan languages. The Dakotan languages constitute a dialect continuum consisting of Sante ...
word meaning "turbulent river". Geologist A. P. Coleman named the river in 1892.
[Karamitsanis, Aphrodite (1991). ''Place Names of Alberta, Volume 1''. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, pg. 240]
Tributaries
*Kitchener Creek
*Tangle Creek
*Woolley Creek
*Beauty Creek
*Diadem Creek
*Grizzly Creek
*Jonas Creek
*Poboktan Creek
Image:Melting Toe of Athabasca Glacier.jpg, Sunwapta River originates at the toe of the Athabasca Glacier
The Athabasca Glacier is one of the six principal Glacier terminus, 'toes' of the Columbia Icefield, located in the Canadian Rockies. The glacier currently loses depth at a rate of about per year and has Retreat of glaciers since 1850, receded ...
Image:TangleFallsAB.jpg, Tangle Creek, a tributary of the Sunwapta
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 riv ...
References
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Jasper National Park
Rivers of Alberta