Here’s a fine city trek, a loop of sorts taking in the entire length of Edmonton Trail in Calgary’s (shallow) Northeast and on the return leg quieter residential streets off to the east. It’s like going back in time, the closer one gets to downtown, the older things become. There’s plenty to see including many interesting old houses and churches and other stuff. If you get growlies there’s plenty of places that can fill the void. Not a bad little stroll if we do say so.
Begin at the far northern reaches of Edmonton Trail where it dead-ends at a bus gate. There’s some on-street parking here. Head south passing commercial strip malls, residential areas and numerous businesses. To your left, an old hotel is seen. Closed up for a few years now, the former Quality Inn (nee: Airliner Motor Inn, built 1960s), is today being turned into housing for the working poor.
Edmonton Trail: there ‘n’ back and a homage to “The King”. A Chris & Connie Adventure!
No surprisingly this project has been met with lots of resistance from local homeowners. “It’ll bring down property values or some such thing” – that tired old song.
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By the way, Edmonton Trail, long ago, was the main route north out of Calgary.
Pass beside the neighbourhood of Highland Park, houses here dating from the 1940s-1960s. Pass through an industrial/commercial area for a time. Long ago there was a drive-in theatre here. Now it’s all autobody shops and things like that.
Across the road, the oddly named “Deer Head” Cafe, an old school diner if there ever was one. Your author stopped in here in the 1990s – might have to make a return some time.
Edmonton Trail bends a bit here and there. Block after block of houses, with occasional strip malls or businesses. There’s a church here and there. Have a thing for them, strangely. Never attended but love to photograph and explore places of worship of any denomination or faith.
Edmonton Trail separates the communities of Tuxedo Park/Balmoral and Winston Heights/Mountview. The former dates from the 1920s, the latter the 1930s. Lots of nice old homes here, simple and unassuming, quaint and charming and rather tiny where compared to the McMansions of today, which look like hotels in comparison. Pass the Italian Market – lots of yummy here! You have been warned.
Cross busy 16th Avenue, the Trans-Canada Highway through Calgary. Try not to get mowed down. You’re now in Crescent Heights (left, from the 1910s) and Renfrew (right, from the 1910s-1950s era), which at one time was home to the city’s earliest airport. More home and businesses.
Drop down to river level, hit Memorial Drive, where Edmonton Trail ends and loop back. Many old commercial blocks here from the 1910s. Downtown is just across the river and here we’re in Bridgeland. A grilled-cheese/beer/wine restaurant? Okay…trying to be trendy I guess.
Heading back up…if you’re hungry at this point the top of the escapement is where most of your dining options will be. We picked a burger joint. The “Fat Elvis” (peanut butter, banana, bacon) at “Boogies” is the best milkshake ever! All the hail the King! Paired with a heart attack burger, it’s pure bliss.
There’s some old arcade games here. No time for pinball this day, sadly…
Back to the hike loop around Boogies and hit 8th Ave NE. Soon on, in the community of Renfrew now, come to Stanley Jones School, an imposing century old structure made of sandstone and one of many in town built to a similar design. Across the street, Stanley Jones Grocery is equally as old. Lotto stop! Afraid we came up empty though. BIGDoer rules for inner-city hiking…see a corner store (independent, not a chain) and one must stop and buy a couple scratchies. We do. And one day it’ll make us rich!
Take the time to head south a block or so to view the…deep breath…”Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church”. Now there’s a title! It’s from the 1950s and follows the Orthodox (sometimes called Byzantine) style of architecture. Those domes are a sure fire spotting feature.
Head north on 6th Street, cross 16th Avenue again. Left on 17th Avenue, soft right on 5th Street, left on 18th Avenue and finally right on 4th Street. Pass by Mount View Elementary (Winston Heights/Mountview Community). Interestingly this building was used for “Civil Defence” exercises in the 1950s. It’s hinted the building has a bunker in the basement, but requests to check this out have gone unanswered. Oddly, we didn’t take a photo of the place. Silly us!
Right on 25th Avenue a charming tree lined street. Lots like it around. Back on 6th Street again, turn left. That’s Winston Golf Course on your right. Off in the east one can see super-busy Deerfoot Trail down there in the Nose Creek Valley. Even from this distance, one can hear the traffic. Drop down and soon on enter an industrial area. Left at 25th Avenue and right on Edmonton Trail, the adventure near an end.
Before that, a quick stop at a corner store to gamble some more. It’s a rule you know! One day, damn, we’re going to win…I can sense it! Alas, this scratchy ticket was a dud. Had we won, of course, we’d have shared it with you all. Cross our hearts…
If you wish more information about this trail, by all means contact us!
Date of adventure: November, 2017. Location: Calgary, AB. Distance: 14km loop. Height gain maximum: 40m-ish. Height gain cumulative: 60m-ish. NOTE: all distances and heights are approximate.
That coffee sign! I’d love to see it lit up. Been thinking it’s time we stopped in the Dear Head. Just by name alone, it’s a cool place. Thanks Jenn for being a serial commenter – we appreciate it and there’s a beer in it for you next time we meet.
We used to do something called the "pointless challenge" 🤪 and miss those days. It was so much silly fun and often frustrating as heck. In these we'd invite people to send in random photos of obscure locations, but not give any information, and then we'd track where it was and shoot something similar.
Most of these came from old family collections, as was the case here. Anyone up to resurrecting the series?
In hindsight, why didn't we pose someone in our shot?
Pointless: “Devoid of meaning (or) senseless” Merriam-Webster.
If you like what we do and want to support this ongoing project (12 years now), go here: https://www.BIGDoer.com/help-the-society/ Thanks to Connie for making this post possible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: ca1970 and 2014. Posted by Connie.
Captured on a cold, cold day many years ago. We've been passing this old house for decades and it's little changed in that time. At some point we expect to drive by and it'll be gone.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
When retired old railway cars usually get cut up for scrap. Sometimes, however, they find their way into the hands of the general public or whomever. Flat cars make good bridges, and boxcars can be transformed into storage buildings and the like. Case in point here. We see them used like this often enough and in this case, it's part of a corral.
Incidentally, this boxcar dates from 1950 and this was found by tracing the old road number, which is still visible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
This central Alberta racetrack was never a commercial operation but instead just a fun place for car enthusiasts in the area to get together. Early '70s or thereabouts and it only lasted a few years. Even thought it's been abandoned for that long, there is no doubt what was here.
You know we like the the obscure stuff and this one fits the bill perfectly. Found by accident while backroad cruising and the history comes thanks to local car guy Mike.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
On top of little Myrtle Mountain in the Kimberley (BC) Nature Park.
There's some good wilderness fun to be had here and nice views as you can see, but the real reason we came is mining history. The whole area near the ski hill was extensively worked over a century ago and we were looking for evidence of this. We didn't find much in the area searched, but it's a big chunk of property and we hope to return to cover more ground again soon. Of all the subjects we cover, mining related is a favourite.
Still, it was a good hike and that can't be bad. Look to the comments for more info 👇.
Exploring nature and history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
It's a strange curiosity in south Kananaskis, there on a hillside and we have no idea who created it. We asked around and no one's completely sure about its history. In the past it showed the Canada 100 logo from 1967 but in 2017 someone changed it to reflect the country's 150th.
That's our friend Emily from DanOCan.com having a look.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
Great day out with my best friend!
Connie, you’re so kind.
Great trek though town! I stopped for that coffee sign at Christmas. The Deer Head is always interesting!
That coffee sign! I’d love to see it lit up. Been thinking it’s time we stopped in the Dear Head. Just by name alone, it’s a cool place. Thanks Jenn for being a serial commenter – we appreciate it and there’s a beer in it for you next time we meet.