Despite its official arrival almost four weeks ago, signs of spring remain elusive. But for careful observers, there are compelling clues that spring is creeping over the Calgary landscape: fluffy catkins, pale green leaves poking through, patches of open water on Glenmore Reservoir, and prairie crocus blossoms - the most convincing sign of spring!
Highlights along the Elbow River Pathway from its north end in Inglewood to North Glenmore Park include Jeff de Boer's "Rainbow Trout" sculpture, riding through ENMAX Park and several stretches where it's hard to remember you're in the middle of Calgary. But pathway signage is a little scarce and route-finding a bit challenging for first-time riders.
We don't visit Fish Creek Provincial Park nearly as often as we did when our boys were relatively new to cycling. Highlights from our 30+ km (20+ mi) ride on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in early June reminded us that it's always worth the effort to visit Canada's largest urban park: lots of birdsong, an abundance of trails to choose from, some lovely wetlands, and points of geological interest are just some of the reasons so many people visit Fish Creek Park each year.
After ride up Highwood Pass, we opted for something considerably easier for our next bicycle outing: 34 km (mostly) along sections of the Bow River Pathway in Calgary. It just naturally evolved into an art and architecture tour centered around 3 main stops.
Calgary's fall season is usually short, with leaves transitioning from green to yellow to the ground within a few weeks. Thanks to a heavy accumulation of snow in mid-September, the fall of 2014 started early and abruptly. Since then the weather's been quite mild. The result? Quite a few trees are still sporting leaves...and some …