Park overview
Located within the western ranges of the southern Rocky Mountains, Elk Lakes Park is an easily accessible wilderness park. It boasts outstanding sub-alpine landscapes, remnant glaciers, rugged peaks, and productive lakes.
Elk Lakes offers a variety of hiking experiences, including some maintained trails that are appropriate for all family members with some experience in backcountry hiking.
Advisories
Dates of operation
The park is open year-round
- Facility type
- Cabins and huts
- Main operating season
- 2024: year-round
- Winter season
- Not known
- Booking required
- 2024: year-round
- Service note
- Year-round
- Booking note
- Reservations booked through PO, the ACC.
- Facility type
- Backcountry camping
- Main operating season
- 2024: year-round
- Winter season
- Not known
- Service note
- Year-round
- Booking note
- Backcountry registration available through reservation service or self-registration in park.
- Winter season note
- All designated sites are available for winter camping.
Safety info
Trail Report [PDF] (November 3, 2023)
- The park is a wilderness area without supplies or equipment of any kind. All arrangements for supplies and transportation must be made in advance.
- Weather conditions can change suddenly, and lightning storms with hail and snow are common in summer.
- Wear strong, water-proofed, lug-soled boots. Carry a day-pack with rain gear, extra clothing, and food. For overnight trips, a sleeping bag, ground pad, water-proof tent or bivouac bag, and light-weight stove are essential.
- Bring your own drinking water, as potable water is not available in the park. To ensure that water from streams is safe to drink, it must be boiled for at least five minutes or treated or filtered.
- Use provided caches for food and garbage storage and keep a clean camp.
- Only experienced climbers, practiced in crevasse rescue and properly roped, should venture onto snowfields.
- Loaded logging trucks and other industrial traffic may be encountered while accessing this park from British Columbia. Drive with extreme caution, and for your safety, always yield to industrial traffic.
- Public communications are not available at this park.
Learn more about backcountry safety in our backcountry guide.
Special notes
- Snowmobiles are not permitted in any area of Elk Lakes Park. The previous special exemption to use snowmobiles to access Abruzzi Lake along the seismic corridor is no longer in effect. The entire park is closed to all motorized activities. Non-compliance of the motorized closure will result in enforcement actions.
Camping
There is a hike-in campground located 1 km from the parking lot on the northeastern shore of Lower Elk lake, which provides pit toilets, fire rings, food cache, and tent pads.
Backcountry camping fee: $5 per person per night (age 6+)
BC Parks reservation service allows you to purchase a backcountry camping permit before leaving home. Although the system does not reserve a campsite, the system provides visitors the convenience of prepaying for their trip and not having to carry cash. We encourage all visitors to register online so we can reduce the need to collect fees in the field.
For in-park registration, please fill in a self-registration envelope and deposit payment into the drop box. The camping fees are collected by the Alpine Club of Canada. Retain your permit for presentation to the ACC custodian during routine campground check.
See the wilderness camping section for other camping opportunities in the park.
The Alpine Club of Canada operates a small public lodge at the entrance to the core area of the park. For more information or reservations contact the Alpine Club of Canada at 403-678-3200 or through the Alpine Club of Canada website.
User fees are payable to the Alpine Club of Canada. The ACC advanced booking policies do not apply to the Elk Lakes Cabin. All visitors are able to make bookings for this facility up to one year in advance.
| Alpine Club of Canada Park Operator Agreement: The Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) is the successful proponent for the Park Operator Agreement in Elk Lakes Park to maintain and operate the Elk Lakes Cabin and Lower Elk Lakes Campground for another ten-year term, ending March 31, 2030. Beginning March 16, 2020, the ACC will be accepting reservations for overnight bookings in the Elk Lakes Cabin for April 1, 2020, and onward. For reservations, contact the Alpine Club of Canada at 403-678-3200. |
Wilderness camping is permitted at several areas in the park. There is no camping fee for these locations.
- Petain Creek: Camping is permitted in the Petain Creek Valley and Petain Basin.
- Cadorna Creek Watershed: Camping is permitted in the Cadorna Creek Watershed. The backcountry campground at Abruzzi Lake offers a pit toilet, fire ring, and two tent pads. Please use existing rock rings and impacted campsites throughout the Cadorna Watershed.
- Fox Lake: Camping is prohibited.
Please practice wilderness camping Leave No Trace ethics.
Facilities
Campfires are permitted in designated areas. Communal fire rings are located at the Lower Elk Lakes campground. Have fires only when necessary and keep them small to conserve trees. Bring a portable stove for cooking.
Firewood is stored at the Alpine Club of Canada Cabin and a wheelbarrow is provided to transport firewood to the campground from the cabin.
Campfire bans may be in place. Before lighting a fire, check for bans or restrictions on BC Wildfire Service and on local or Indigenous government websites.
This park only has pit toilets, no flush toilets.
Activities
Developed trails exist in the core area from the trailhead to Upper Elk Lakes, and connect to Peter Lougheed Park in Alberta.
For the adventurous, a less developed trail system leads into Cadorna, Wolverine, and Abruzzi Lakes. For your own safety and the preservation of the park, obey posted signs and keep to designated trails. Shortcutting trails destroys plant life and soil structure.
For trail descriptions, visit the Elk Lakes Park hiking trails page.
For trail maps, see park and activity maps.
Check the trail report before visiting.
There are limited cold swimming opportunities at this park.
There are no lifeguards on duty in BC Parks.
Both canoeing and kayaking can be done in the lakes. The streams and rivers are not navigable. The closest lake to the main access parking lot is a 1 km walk with a 30 m elevation change.
A favourite activity of many park visitors is angling in the Elk River, Cadorna Creek and lakes throughout Elk Lakes Park. Species include bull trout, Rocky Mountain whitefish and cutthroat trout.
Consult the B.C. Fishing Regulations for special restrictions.
Tips for fishing in Elk Lakes Park:
- The best time period for fishing is right after break-up and from September to freeze-up.
- Fishing in the river and main lakes is poor during run-off (July-August).
- If cleaning fish along the shore please ensure the entrails are thrown into deep water or dispose of fish remains in a hot fire.
- Do not disturb spawning fish.
Anyone fishing in British Columbia must have an appropriate licence. To learn more, see the fishing and hunting guide.
Biking is permitted between the Elk Lakes trailhead parking lot and the Lower Elk Lake campground. Biking is not permitted beyond the campground or on any other trails. Bicycle helmets are mandatory in British Columbia.
For details on e-biking within Elk Lakes Park, see the e-biking section.
Please note that bicycles with electric assist motors (e-bikes) are permitted on signed or designated trails within Elk Lakes Park, provided they meet the definitions and criteria for e-bike use as outlined in the BC Parks cycling guidelines.
Elk Lakes Park is open to hunting. Check the B.C. Hunting and Trapping Regulations Synopsis for more details.
Ice fishing opportunities exist in the park however both Lower and Upper Elk Lakes are closed to ice fishing.
Elk Lakes Park is located in southeastern BC, about 104 kilometres north of Sparwood. Turn off Highway 3 at Sparwood and go north on Highway 43 until you reach the community of Elkford, a distance of 35 kilometres.
From here, travel the gravel road on the west side of the Elk River. Approximately 47 kilometres north of Elkford the road crosses the Elk River and joins the Kananaskis Power Line Road. It is 5.8 kilometres from the crossing to the Cadorna Creek trailhead. The Elk Lakes trailhead is a further 16.1 kilometres.
Driving time from Sparwood to the park is approximately two hours. Access to the park is also possible from Alberta’s adjoining Peter Lougheed Park.
Park and activity maps
- Park map [PDF]
- Topographic park map [PDF]
- National Topographic Series Map 82J/11 (Kananaskis Lakes) at a scale of 1:50,000 covers the Elk Lakes vicinity. Map 82J/6 (Mount Abruzzi) at a scale of 1:50,000 depicts most of the Cadorna Creek watershed. Map 82J/7 (Mount Head) depicts the southern park entrance and access points in the Elk Valley. These maps are available from most map retailers in British Columbia and are very useful if traveling off-trail. Topographic maps do not show park trails.
Learn more about this park
Park details
- Date established: May 18, 1973
- Size: 18,006 hectares
Park contact
This park proudly operated by:
Alpine Club of Canada
info@alpineclubofcanada.ca
Nature and culture
Conservation
Much of the park is above treeline. At lower elevations, alpine fir, Engleman spruce, and lodgepole pine predominate, interspersed with juniper, twinberry, false azalea, white rhododendron, and buffalo berry. Yellow violets, foam flowers, and bunchberries add a touch of colour. The meadows are alive with scrub birch, cinque foil, Saskatoon berry and gooseberry. Alpine flowers such as fireweed, castilleja, blue violet, elephant’s head, and giant ragwort splash the area with vivid displays of colour.
Flowers, trees, and shrubs are part of the park’s natural heritage. Please do not damage or remove them. The area surrounding the Elk Lakes is a mature old growth forest and includes dead snags that provide excellent habitat for cavity-dwelling birds and small mammals.
Wildlife
The wildlife at lower elevations includes scores of red squirrels and snowshoe hares. Beavers reside near the Elk Lakes and upper reaches of Cadorna Creek. Elk, white-tailed deer, and moose frequent the meadows throughout the park. Occasionally a mountain goat, Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, grizzly bear or black bear may be seen by the observant visitor. Birdlife is common in the area. While hiking or sitting quietly, one might see spruce grouse, wrens, juncos, snipe, flickers, or the Clark’s nutcracker. A variety of waterfowl is transient in the lake areas, as are osprey and blue herons.
Learn more about wildlife safety.
Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples
BC Parks honours Indigenous Peoples’ connection to the land and respects the importance of their diverse teachings, traditions, and practices within these territories. This park webpage may not adequately represent the full history of this park and the connection of Indigenous Peoples to this land. We are working in partnership with Indigenous Peoples to update our websites so that they better reflect the history and cultures of these special places.