Bragg Creek – Gateway to Kananaskis ™

Bragg Creek is a cute little hamlet with lots of character, an easy, enjoyable day-trip from Calgary and provides access to the hiking, biking, equestrian, off-roading and skiing trails of Kananaskis and West Bragg Creek in particular – as well as the scenery and day use areas (picnics) of the eastern slopes wildland of Kananaskis. Oh, and then there’s Elbow Falls.

This site isn’t updated often, so some information may be out-of-date, but there is a lot of valuable information and photos about the history and living, working and playing in and around Bragg Creek.

Moose Mountain Weather Webcam

This webcam image of Moose Mountain is updated every 15 minutes. If it is cloudy or dark you won’t see the mountain, but there are other images on this page that show what you’re missing. Come back later when the conditions are better. The image is captured using a camcorder and a telephoto lens from about 5 km away in West Bragg Creek.

Weather in Bragg Creek can be “challenging.” It is always different than Calgary’s or Canmore’s weather. There is a solution – Weather Underground. Sounds radical. It is, a bit, as it was originally a kind of cooperative of thousands of private weather stations, but it is now owned by IBM, still drawing on data from thousands of private weather stations – which makes it the best local weather info you can get. You can access it here: https://www.wunderground.com/ or get the app from the Google or Apple app stores. Once you have it, search for the location IBragg6 where you’ll see current weather conditions and forecasts for West Bragg Creek.

Hikers on the summit during the summer solstice

Gérard Lachapelle is Professor Emeritus, Department of Geomatics Engineering, University of Calgary and an avid hiker. Using modern  GPS  technology, he measured the elevation of 14 Rocky Mountains in Kananaskis and Banff. He found Moose Mountain to be 2430 m or 7972 ft. The current measurement of Moose Mountain in a variety of publications is or 2437 m or 7995 ft. I assume revising the existing heights would be a tricky process as there are many thousands of publications with the existing measurements.

You can’t get to the summit anymore. The Kananaskis administration has blocked access. But, it is still one of hundreds of great hikes in Kananaskis.

Elbow Valley and West Bragg Creek Trail Locator

There are hundreds of kilometres of trails in the Elbow Valley and West Bragg Creek – it’s a chaotic tangle of lines. You can use this map to choose a trail on your smartphone while driving out to Kananaskis for a day on the trail. If you want to explore and lose yourself in the wild lands of Kananaskis, this may help. This map shows the entire Elbow Valley from the Little Elbow Recreation Area to the hamlet of Bragg Creek. Although it is currently under construction, the map even shows the West Bragg Creek Road Trail, part of the Trans Canada Trail. The new, upgraded parking lot for the West Bragg Creek Day Use Area will be open by the end of July, 2017.

The extraordinary thing about the map is its interactivity. Roll your mouse over, or tap on a trail and you’ll see the name and length of the trail. There’s more than meets the eye.

See the Interactive Locator Map

Bragg Creek Health and Wellness

The Hamlet got hammered in the flood of 2013, but, five years later, we’re back and as good as ever. Lots to see and do here – great food, good times, art and fashions. Gift shops, homes to buy, aboriginal arts and crafts, motorcycle and bicycle sales and services. Health and wellness is yours through Yoga, Pilates, Physiotherapy, Chiropractic care and Health foods. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, go to the General Store, they’ve got lots of cool stuff. The grocery is a wonderful mix of basics and delicacies. Bars, booze and ice cream, we’ve got that too. All a short drive from Calgary. Oh – not to mention 100s of kilometres of trails, facilities and awesome scenery in West Bragg Creek and Kananaskis.

See an aerial view of Bragg Creek shopping centres recorded in 2018.