This is an in-town hike, but that the route mostly travels through parks and green spaces belies the fact. We’re in Camrose Alberta making use of the city’s extensive pathway system and linking together a couple loops into a nice little cohesive package. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and should you duplicate it, we hope you do too. The fun starts at aptly named Mirror Lake and then you’ll head down Stoney Creek valley before doubling back – easy as pie.
There’s one little hill about half way in, but otherwise it’s pretty flat, and given some health issues we’ve been having, that was about perfect for us. This was a we’re in the area anyway and craving something to do kind of outing and after photographing a nice historic site the evening before, was a great way to end a wonderful weekend. Then we drove home, but let’s not dwell on that suckage.
Mirror Lake & Stoney Creek Loops Camrose – doing it in-town. A Chris & Connie outdoor adventure.
Start out at the tourist info place down by Mirror Lake, originally a reservoir put in by the railway long ago as a water source for their steam locomotives. It once supplied homes in town as well, but today it’s purely recreational in use.
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Head east and pass some…how shall we say…interesting…metal sculptures. Then just before crossing 48th, turn and look north across the lake to a church. It photographs nicely and in fact we came the evening before to take a few shots of it lit up and reflected in the lake ice. You’ll pass right in front of the building on the return leg of this hike.
After crossing the 48th, enter Jubilee Park and hit the pathway on the east side of the lake. Other paths lead out into various neighbourhood and if you find yourself on a residential street you’ve gone astray. The valley deepens as you go and in places is nicely wooded, which makes for a pleasant in the city but not feeling like it experience. For the next while you’ll parallel Stoney Creek (Stony on some maps). You’ll cross over it a few times and a road or two, before entering Four Seasons Rotary Park. It’s also home to a small ski-hill and cross country trails.
A rail lines runs nearby at this point and if you’re lucky a train might show. Right on cue, one did for us.
Still keeping to the valley, pass Lion’s Memorial Grove (trees planted in someone’s memory) and soon after the downhill runs comes into view off to the left. It’s not much of a ski hill, but this is the prairies and sloped land is always in short supply. I wonder if they’d allow inner-tubes or snowracers? No, that’s a silly idea.
Duck under the train trestle, then reverse directions and do it again after crossing the creek. If only another train would show at this point. It’d shoot nice on the structure, but this track is a secondary line and not super busy, so the odds were not in our favour. Those timbers are huge and that we can get close affords the chance to see how it’s constructed.
Now climb up the wooded slope to the valley top. Incidentally, the entire route described is along a paved pathway and there’s map’s at certain points should you need any help.
And here comes the snow and with that, a deep chill. We’re prepared, but still it was odd how it went from nice to blustery in such a short time.
On open slopes now, there’s a nice overall view of the valley you just visited and the ski hill behind. An information plaque along this section of pathway speaks of a coal mine that once operated close by. It produced domestic coal (so for heating homes) for the local market and was in business from 1910 to the mid-1940s. There’s vast tracks of this material under Alberta, but it’s not always easy to get at, but here the seams were close enough to the surface to exploit. Looking at old mine maps, the workings extend far under the neighbourhood to the west.
Drop down to the valley floor to meet up with the trail you came in on, and turn left. More snow for us and it’s getting cold! After the dam take the underpass – nicely done up with art and this is something far better than the featureless walls we’re told it had before. There’s that church you looked at earlier and just down the pathway more scrap metal art, only these ones have even more of a nightmarish vibe than those seen earlier.
Another info plaque marks the site of a former railway bridge (ca 1910) and presumably those couple poles sticking out of the water are what’s left of it. Hard to image there was a railway here, but it was pulled up in the 1920s, so a lot has changed in that time. Interestingly, Camrose was a three railway town early on, which is something usual for a smaller community such as it.
Two of those rail lines are still in use, by the way, one east-west in nature (Canadian Pacific) and the other, the one we witnessed that train on, running north-south (Canadian National).
We find a nice lunch spot and enjoy some well chilled wine. Why didn’t we bring something warm? You know…coffee…or rum spiked coffee…or maybe just hot rum? Bingo! Cold hands, cold bottoms and now an inner-chill from drinking literal ice wine…I mean, it turned into a slushie. Even if freezing our heinies off, we still love doing this kind of stuff.
At the far end of the lake, the pathway loops around to the other side and in no time, you’ll be back where you started. We really love the mountain hikes but they’re not always possible (especially lately), so doing it in-town helps keep us active and happy. No matter where we are in our travels, we’ll get in a good walk.
If you wish more information about this route or if you love to chat don’t hesitate to contact us!
Date of adventure: November, 2021. Location: Camrose, AB. Distance: 11km. Height gain maximum: 50m. Height gain cumulative: 80m-ish. NOTE: all distances and heights are approximate and may differ slightly from other trip reports (including our own).
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.
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