The Ride Part II

A woman came along on a bike and just happened to have a paper trail map. She didn't know where the pathway went but we all looked it over and found the trail. She was taking the same route so we pedaled off together. we cam to a few other spots that left the location of the trail somewhat a mystery but managed. As we rode along the trail came to a Y and the woman rang her bell at a jogger and then almost ran her over.  We rode along a bit further and came to a park, the woman decided she was going on another way so we pulled up at a sign with a map of the trail. We saw we were going around a dam and lake in Glenmore Park and figured out the shortest way as the trail split and followed both sides. Off we went and within a few hundred yards we seemed to be going the wrong way, but the Elbow river has plenty of turns so we carried on. Until we passed the jogger that we had encountered earlier... going the other way. We came to the other side of a suspension bridge we had seen 30 minutes earlier and knew we were cooked. We crossed it and redid the route back to the park and map. Mike had noticed a trail going under the bridge leading into the park and it was the route we should have taken, confusing to say the least. You'll notice the loop on the red track at Stanley Park.
The trail followed the river for  bit and then dumped us on a street again but this one had some blue cycling signs so we stuck with them. Eventually we found the pathway again and made our way over the Glendale dam (passing map lady as we did) and around the man-made lake. We got to the south end of the park and picked up the trail as it went straight south through a huge dogpark, Weaselhead Flats (love that name). Here the sun was out in full force, shade was non-existant and our fluids were running out. After about 45 minutes we crossed 37th Street and coasted down a long hill to the entrance to Fish Creek Park. Mike was more familiar with the area as it was close to the old apartment. The trails in the park are everywhere, winding their way across Fish Creek over and over again. At one point we crossed the creek on exact copies of a bridge about 3 times in 5 minutes, I was almost sure we were getting lost again. After covering about one third of the park we stopped at a map and determined that to get some food and liquids we needed to climb out of the valley and get to a Mac's. We found a route out and struggled up the hill to Canyon Meadows Drive where we found a closed Husky Truck Stop and finally a Mac's. Canyon Meadows is probably the only road in all of Calgary without a trail or at least sidewalks on both sides and we had to ride on the sloped grass boulevard or on the road but it went mostly down hill so it was pretty easy especially since we had fueled up. We found another entrance to Fish Creek and Mike thought if we went down into the valley again we could ride the trails across and save a lot of time. We slid down into the park again and crossed to the entrance to McKenzie Meadows Golf Course. We ended up going a bit too far south, climbed out at Highway 22x, crossed the Bow River and then dropped down into the valley where we faced a long hard climb out onto MacKenzie Lake Blvd. which runs back over the Deerfoot and into Copperfield. In all our return was 51 km for 81km in 6 hours for the day. I have to say I'm proud a a bit amazed at Mike's performance. It was his third bike ride in 20 years and to do that distance without complaint is amazing. He didn't sit down for a day or so after that butt he managed to finish an epic ride and made bringing Eowyn worth it. For a detailed map hit the link below and then the red marker for data.



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