Calgary daytrips

what are some good Calgary daytrips, featuring good scenery, various wildlife, waterfowl, streams, ponds.

Forums: 

south loop

You could do a big loop in the South half of the city. I can't remember all of it, but you can start around Eau Claire and ride the path west to Scarboro, ride through Richmond to 20 St. S.W., take that to the pathway on the north side of Glenmore Res, go west again to the 37 St. pathway, south to Fish Creek, ride all the way east through Fish Creek Park then turn north and follow the path along the river back to Eau Claire. There is some bits on the road in there, but it's mostly side streets in residential areas. The only really big climb I can recall would be coming up through Scarboro.

My Big Fat South Loop

This is fairly similar to Pinkrobe's route but I get to Glenmore via a different route, I've also included a few more details about the rest.

Start at Eau Claire

Go south on first street
turn west on tenth ave (marked bike lanes)

Go south on second street (marked bike lanes)
Turn west on bike path at elbow river and go through Stanley Park to Sandy Beach (you can get there several ways, I prefer to go on the 30 kmh streets that have all the expensive houses, like Mike Vernbon's!)

Go up the hill from SB to the water treatment plant and go waaaaay west on 50th ,

turn south and go over the new overpass on Glenmore to N. Glenmore park

keep going west to Weaselhead on pathway

come around the south side of the reservoir and after the hill that you go up coming out of weaselhead turn south (this will get you to 37th)

It's about 7 km of random off-leash dogs to Shannon Terrace at the W. end of Fish Creek, but it is an OK ride.

Alternate route from the water plant to FCP - go across the dam and around the east and south side of the reservoir. This way goes by Heritage Park and that shopping center a little ways to the south of it and also by the swimming pool, which is nice if you need food or water

Have a Good ride

Pick a highway and start

Pick a highway and start riding. The number of loops you can make with secondary roads out of Calgary is ginormous. A few specific ones:
- Rocky Ridge Co-op to Cochrane via 1A, north on Hwy 22, then back on Big Hill Springs Rd to whatever you want
- Calgary to Elbow Falls and back via Hwys 8/22/66
- Calgary to Canmore and back on hwy 1 and 1A

Bragg Creek area

Lots of Bikes out there, every day!

If you're on MTB, here's a good one. It's about 35km of road and trail.

Go West from the shopping center at Bragg Creek to Bill Allen Pond

Do the Fullerton Loop - it's a killer climb but the DH is fun

Go North to West Bragg Creek Road on the trail

Return to shopping center at BC via WBC road

Have a beer at the pub

Rides out of town

Here is a short list of rides I really enjoyed this year:

1. Calgary - Cochrane via Old Banff Coach rd and Twp rd 250 and #22 - Horse Creek Rd to Water Valley - eat - return via Horse Creek and 1A
2. Follow the route out to 37th Street SW south of Hwy #22 and tonnes of beautiful rides follow...
2a. #773 south, to #549 west to the raod just east of Hwy #22, go North to the first stop sign and turn right. This little road winds it's way back to #773. Very nice country ride.
2b. Turn left when #773 goes right and ride to a 'T' junction and head south to next 'T' and head east top blacktop, which takes you to Okotoks.
2c. continue above ride from #549 to #22 south and into Millarville, then to Bragg Creek via #762. Return to Calgary via #8? or Springbank etc...
2d. Continue down #22 to Longview, take #541 west to #40 then around to Seebe, west along #1 to 1X and over to the 1A and the Return through Cochrane back to Calgary.
3. Ride the canal trail to Chestermere, around the lake and get on some nice quiet country roads to Carseland for a beer.

Visit www.mapmyride.com for these and many other great ride suggestions. As long as you aren't put off by the occasional pothole or short stretch of gravel there is a huge amount of rides

Great ideas

Hey Mike

I'm looking forward to trying some of those routes this winter on my cross bike. Are there any issues riding on the routes listed as private land? I'm cool with the cow thing.

I use Google Earth and

I use Google Earth and Google Maps for most of my road rides, or simply tag along with somebody who knows where they're going. If they're going too far, I simply turn around and head back. I also log my rides with a GPS, so I can see what other roads are adjacent to the routes I have already taken.

Same

I have the bbtracker app installed on my blackberry which I use to log all my rides and generate kml files for google earth. Since I'm carrying my blackberry anyway, its easier than getting a standalone GPS.

http://www.bbtracker.org/