Another weekend in Calgary, another bike ride on city pathways. Our previous ride took in sections of the Bow River Pathway, so this time around we opted to ride on shared streets towards Glenmore Reservoir, thinking we’d ride all the way around. But once we crossed the Weaselhead and rode up the hill to South Glenmore Park, the pathway was pretty crowded with people and pups taking part in the annual Calgary Humane Society’s Dog Jog. So we gave up on our original plan and headed south along the 37th Street right-of-way on the western edge of Oakridge. We soon discovered that the transportation and utility corridor is in a state of flux, with a new Enmax substation under construction and new utilities going in. After riding south for a while, we were stopped by “Pathway Closed” sign. So we abandoned our fallback plan of riding to Fish Creek Park and turned around to head back for home. Thanks to a couple of stops to find geocaches, the Dog Jog was over by the time we reached South Glenmore Park, so it was smooth pedaling all the way home.

Weaselhead

The highlight here was watching the Cliff Swallows that are nesting under the pedestrian bridge. We also found a pretty creative geocache or two.

A stop at the beaver pond at the bottom of the big hill is pretty much a requirement.

Transportation and Utility Corridor

Turn Around Point

South Glenmore Park

SUMMARY:
Total distance = 33 km
Total time = 2 hrs 45 minutes, including 45 minutes stopped time to search for geocaches and photography
Total elevation gain = 288 meters, some from climbing up out of the Weaselhead (both directions), but mostly from the ride back to our home up on the hill in west Calgary

Planning another attempt to ride all the way around Glenmore Reservoir later this year, but we’ll check the events calendar first to be sure we won’t run into a major event along the pathways.