Calgary’s urban bike paths highly recommended
Summer has arrived, rather late, but timing is everything as our 10-day e-biking holiday in Alberta and Kootenays proved.
The Sheriff and Constant Companion Carmen always thought Calgary was just another big city lacking in recreational opportunities. Then we discovered the Rotary/Mattamy Greenway, a 145-kilometre urban path that encircles the entire city and winds through 55 urban neighbourhoods.
After construction commenced in 2010, the $50-million project by the Parks Foundation Calgary became the longest urban pathway and park in the world, and it now connects to more than 1,000 kilometres of other trails.
With limited time (and battery power), we started at Fish Creek Provincial Park in southern Calgary and followed the picturesque Bow River all the way on a paved pathway to beautiful Prince’s Island Park downtown.
Along the way, we discovered Olympic kayakers training at the $16-million Harvie Passage Whitewater Park, ripped apart by flooding in 2013 (five people died, billions of dollars in damage) and rebuilt over five years at a cost of another $8 million. Returning from downtown, we watched the Calgary Fire Water Rescue Team training at the channel entrance. Talk about good timing.
We also checked out the undulating 15.3-kilometre paved loop around Glenmore Reservoir on the Elbow River, a popular area for
cycling, hiking, birding and crosscountry skiing. Highly recommended (on a weekday).
Departing Calgary through a monsoon, we fortunately missed the subsequent state of local emergency, potential flooding, downed trees and power outages.
Situated between the Purcells and Rocky Mountains, Kimberley is the highest city in Canada at 1,120 metres. We drove there specifically for the North Star Rails to Trails, a paved 28-kilometre greenway between Kimberley and Cranbrook. Panoramic views of St. Mary’s River and Rocky Mountain Trench. Highly recommended as well.
Local friends Betty and Bryan, formerly from Kelowna, showed us the Rampart Loop and Chief Isadore Trail west of Cranbrook. Isadore follows Highway 3 for a short distance and also has a buried treated sewage line (with vents, occasional smell) but then looks down on a forested canyon.
The 6.5-kilometre Rampart Loop, part of the Trans Canada Trail, has
three kilometres of rail trail and 3.5 km of a new 1.2-metre enhanced gravel trail with access via the Ramparts Rest Area on Highway 3. A wonderful beginners trail suitable for young families.
The trail traverses the Rampart Prairie which is one of the few trails in the Rocky Mountain Trench crossing valley grasslands.
Trails BC, the trail builder, has numerous interpretive kiosks as well as legacy TCT interpretive panels, an educational resource for the school-age children we saw on the trail. And 37 Western painted turtles sunning on a log. Then it rained all the way back to the Okanagan.
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Silver Star Mountain Resort opened for summer activities on Friday, but Big White Ski Resort will not open on Thursday, delaying it for one week to July 7.
Silver Star not only has Canada’s second largest bike park but has summer sliding, gondola rides and a gnome roam.
To kick off the season, Destination Silver Star is hosting an inaugural community cultural celebration in the village, including an artisan market with 20 local vendors, beer garden, culinary treats, Slay the Dragon trail running race and music from local alternative band, daysormay.
At Big White, “our motto has always been ‘It’s the snow’ and this spring has been no different. There is still plenty of snow and due to the amount of rain the area has received in recent weeks, a lot of mud and impassible areas on the mountain,” said senior VP Michael J. Ballingall this week.
“Due to colder-than-average temperatures, spring snowfall, and the inability for our outdoor crews to get to some of the biking and hiking trails on the mountain, the resort has made the tough decision to delay summer opening by a week.
“In an ideal world, we’d have our trails open for the local mountain bikers, hikers and outdoor enthusiasts who enjoy Big White every summer. But, at this point in time, we don’t predict we can do it safely by our original opening date of June 30. Despite this delay, we have plenty for people to look forward to this summer: the return of Craft and Country, Beer and Mountain Music Festival and Freeride Days to name a few.”
You can find all the upcoming events and activities for the summer at BigWhite.com/summer. Big White not only has downhill biking, but race series, hiking and scenic chair rides. If you purchase your bike season passes for B.C.’s newest lift-accessed bike park by July 6, you can combine that with a winter season pass and save $100.
“Despite having to push summer opening back a week to July 7 due to a lingering snowpack, we are extending the season with bonus days on Sept. 8, 9 and 10,” said Ballingall.
Bike season is back at Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre, near Silver Star, as well.
“It is pretty fantastic seeing dirt after what seems like the longest winter ever. We rode Soup2Nutz this weekend and it was in amazing shape. All Sovereign trails are rideable now as the snow has melted from the forest,” said general manager Troy Hudson.
“There are wet patches that should be walked to reduce the rutting of trail surfaces until runoff has finished. Thanks to the Trail Ninjas Kids Program for coming up to do some early-season maintenance on Hammered Cow. These trails are not for the faint-of-heart so please make sure you are a strong blue to black skills rider. Early-season riding on the ski trails is beautiful this time of year which allows access to all abilities. Check out the Trail Forks trail app for a complete list of trails at Sovereign and Silver Star.”