It happens in Edgemont Ravine, Northwest Calgary, and the hike presented here a nice easy one through park and natural green spaces. You might be deep in the city but it often feels far removed from the usual hustle and bustle. Stop and breathe. To extend the fun one can continue on to neighbouring communities, as we did, but the best parts are the first couple clicks at the beginning.
It had snowed the morning of our visit and the with the thermometer reading minus a billion (extreme exaggeration alert: actually -20c-ish) it had us thinking an in-town plowed pathway was in cards. Fortunately, the city seems to attend to most walking paths promptly when a dump happens.
Edgemont Ravine (NW Calgary) – a nice in-city hike and another Chris & Connie adventure.
We’ve visited Edgemont Ravine every season, and in character it always differs, but for us it seems most special in winter. It’s so quiet, so still and belies the fact that it’s an urban hike in every sense, even the sprawl is often obscured from view.
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The hike begin where Edgemont and Edgepark Boulevards meet in the neighbourhood of Edgemont. Right behind the fire station…and there’s parking for a few cars off Edgebyne Crescent here. Edge this and edge that – can’t they be more creative naming these places?
Intercept the pathway and head left. They had just started plowing this day, and the plowing not fully done, but by the time we finished, all was clear. Many streets in town are hit or miss, but pathways seem quickly attended to.
The ravine here is deep and while rimmed by houses, it’s not always apparent. At first it’s park, but later they kept it in a natural state. This island of green is home to many wild creatures and we’ve seen coyote, deer, bunnies (right beside “Rabbit Rise”, incidentally), eagles and porcupines, among others, but they’re always are camera shy. You ever notice – there’s a great nature shot and by the time you break out the camera, the moment has passed.
There’s benches, playgrounds and picnic areas along here, and side paths leading to various streets in the surrounding neighbourhood. Keep to the bottom and you’ll do fine. The ravine, and so the pathway as well, bends right and climbs a little.
This is Edgemont Ravine proper, and where most of our animal sightings have been. Look for prints in the snow and it’ll surprise you how much wild there can be in the city, even if it’s not always that obvious.
Just before Edgebrook Blvd, there’s some wetlands off your right and they’re home to many water and song birds when things are green. It’s pretty quiet in winter. This is the first street crossing since the hike started and many people turn around here, but never satisfied, we pressed on.
The ravine broadens and is gone. Those sports fields on the left, seen after crossing the road, double as a rainwater catch basin during deluges. It’s gotta go somewhere.
Duck under busy Shaganappi Trail using a tunnel and enter the community of MacEwan briefly. Then it’s under County Hills Boulevard (via another tunnel) and enter Hidden Valley. The pathway has snaked this way and that through a winding green belt and drops down a bit, then makes a hard right.
In a few moments, a side trail leads up to a little strip mall. This is the unceremonious ending for us and from here we’ll double back. But first a sickly-sweet hot beverage awaits at the Gas ‘n’ Gulp above. Reward one’s self for a hike well done…however stay clear of the peanut butter and jam latte. It sounded interesting in principle, and we thought it worth a shot, but in hindsight it’s perhaps one of the stupider decisions ever made.
We’re guilty in sampling it, out of a weird curiosity, but who green-lights this stuff?
Retrace your steps back to the beginning and for us there’s a little celebration at the end to warm the soul and be thankful for the day. And to get the taste of that earlier abomination out of our mouths. Darn near froze any exposed apendages off but made it back intact and alive.
Here’s to keeping active in adverse conditions and that’s reason enough to raise a toast.
If you wish more information about this route or if you love to chat don’t hesitate to contact us!
Date of adventure: February, 2023. Location: Edgemont, NW Calgary Alberta. Distance: 11km there and back. Height gain maximum: 140m. Height gain cumulative: 180m-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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