McLean Creek Staging Area

Lat: 50.887993 Long: -114.676149 Click to see map Don’t bring your family here for a picnic, but this is the place to get your dirt bike or ATV juiced up and ready to rip through the wilderness. This is a great place to meet-up before or after a day of off-road activity. There are two parking lots at the end of the road. To find it, you pass the store and keep right, drive past the pond turnoff on the left and several roads into the campsites on the right then drive to the end of the road. There is a picnic area and even a shelter down the second to last road on the left. This is the only day use shelter in the Elbow Valley. It’s not pretty. In fact the same can be said for the whole Staging Area, but it serves a purpose. The 35 tables in the area are scattered about the forest around the parking lots. There are a couple of old style toilets and some of the picnic pads have firepits. The shelter has a concrete floor, a few small windows and a big sliding door. Obviously it has the very attractive feature of being dry no matter the weather. I assume this was the reason for holding a meeting of the Elbow River Watershed Partnership here a few years ago. I don’t know how busy it is, but I imagine off-roaders spend more time out on the trails than in the picnic area.

Dark, dingy and dry
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The shelter is a good idea that doesn’t seem to work very well. Although it is dry, it is dark and not very appealing. Maybe they could build something like this at Allen Bill. If they had a metre high low wall with an open top and large overhang, it would be dry and a valuable addition to the valley. Actually, a few smaller gazeebos would be better.
Meet-up and Go
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One of these girls was on her cell inviting a friend to come and join them. I seldom see phones in use out in the valley. The coverage isn’t very good.
Staging Area Parking
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Both of the parking lots are quite big, appropriate considering the size of some of the trailers people use to haul in their off-highway vehicles. Apparently some people just drive their 4-wheel drive vehicles right onto the trails as I often see mud-covered Jeeps driving back to the city.
2 of 35 picnic tables
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This pad was just a few metres away from the parking lot. It looks like a nice spot to get together with friends. I saw a water faucet on a pipe sticking out of the ground. I don’t think this is for drinking water. More likely it is provided so you can clean the mud off your vehicle.
It isn't pretty, but it works
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I guess this is a McLean Creek version of a drive-in.
The only Day Use Shelter
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The shelter is fairly large. This is the only place in the Elbow Valley where you can meet-up without worrying about the weather. The group campsites have shelters, but you have to reserve them. Since the flood all but wiped out the River Cove Group Campground, only Paddy’s Flat remains.