It’s time to take those bikes out for a final spin before the snow starts to fall, and you’ll find beautiful, family-friendly paved trails just west of the city for a short day trip on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Either start at Haskayne Legacy Park and bike to Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park, or drive straight to Cochrane where you can explore the pathways from Riverfront Park.
Haskayne Legacy Park to Glenbow Ranch
Haskayne is one of Calgary’s newest regional parks, opening in September 2023. The park is located west of the city on the north bank of the Bearspaw Reservoir. From Calgary, drive west towards Cochrane on Highway 1A and turn south on Woodland Road (Range Road 31). Follow the road all the way down to the reservoir until you reach the large parking lot.
The biggest attraction to this park is the extremely scenic regional pathway, which connects to Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park, with views over the Bearspaw Reservoir and Bow River. Once inside the ranch, you’ll be riding through an active cattle ranch, which is always a fun highlight for children when a herd is close to the pathway (and don’t worry, they’re safely behind a fence). Train enthusiasts will also love this park, which has one controlled crossing you’ll ride across. Trains pass through the park regularly, and you’ll be riding quite close to the tracks much of the time.
The long-term vision is to see the completion of a continued pathway extending from Calgary all the way to Cochrane. For now, however, you’ll have to drive out to Bearspaw to begin your ride, and the pavement doesn’t quite reach Cochrane.
From Haskayne Park, you’ll ride 4.5km one way on the Bearspaw Trail to reach the Narrows in Glenbow Ranch, where the reservoir ends and you start to
follow the river. This section is relatively flat. The next section on the Narrows Trail is 3km in length and has one steep hill you’ll climb and then descend to reach the Glenbow Trail. The round-trip distance is approximately 15km, so this makes for a good turnaround spot with younger children.
From the end of the Narrows Trail, there’s another 5km of pavement through the ranch on the Glenbow and Bowbend Trails until you reach the long climb to the viewpoint at the top of the Badger Bowl at the far west end of the park. Expect a round-trip ride of approximately 25km, or turn around whenever you get tired.
Note: There are periodic trail closures in the provincial park when cattle are free roaming on the pathways. Visit the website to view all closures at albertaparks.ca/parks/kananaskis/glenbow-ranch-pp.
If Bearspaw Trail is closed from Haskayne Park, you can still access Glenbow Ranch from the provincial park access off Highway 1A. From the official parking lot, you have to descend a long, paved hill to reach the Bowbend junction, but we’ve always just walked our bikes up at the end of our ride when starting from the ranch. For directions to the ranch, check Google Maps or the Alberta Parks website.
Biking around Cochrane from Riverfront Park
We love exploring the paved pathways along the Bow River in Cochrane, starting from Riverfront Park off Griffin Road. In this park, you’ll find a short, paved loop to ride with your family, which is relatively flat and perfect for novice riders. We like to stop by the creek to play, and we always head up to visit the tunnel that crosses under Griffin Road.
For a longer bike ride, continue heading east towards River Avenue and the off-leash dog park (which you don’t have to bike through). This part of the pathway is a bit hillier but still makes for a great family bike ride in just under 5km round trip.
And if you have youth who like skateparks, the Zero Gravity Skatepark can be accessed from Riverfront Park by heading west under Highway 22 and climbing up to the park. It’s one of our favorite skateparks, and it’s popular with youth on skateboards, scooters, bikes, or inline skates.
Heading west from Riverfront Park, we also like to explore the area beyond the skatepark and Mitford Park, where you’ll be riding on the Glen Boles Trail. The pathway meanders high above the river for scenic views and is one of our favorite paved pathways to ride as a family. Note that it does have a couple of big hills, though, so you’ll want to save it for older youth who’ve mastered the use of their gears and brakes.
If you bike the full Glen Boles Trail to the final viewpoint, the distance is 5km return from Mitford Park. Combining both the east and west sections of pathway from Riverfront Park brings you up to approximately 12km of riding round trip.
Finish your ride with ice cream downtown Cochrane at MacKay’s or Abbey’s Creations.
Happy riding!
Tanya loves hiking, camping, skiing, and all things mountain-related. She is the author of the blog, Family Adventures in the Canadian Rockies, rockiesfamilyadventures.com, and the founder of Calgary Outdoor Playgroups on Facebook. More information about her playgroups can be found on her blog.
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