Calgary - Bowness - Bridgeland via singletrack

I’m exaggerating a little, because it wasn’t possible to make the whole trip by single-track. But there are good long sections, worth exploring if you like that sort of thing.

From Bow Cycle, ride to the Shouldice Bridge, and cut through a break in the right-side pathway cable on the S side of the bridge, W side of the river. A footpath winds along the river bank beside a school. If you can ride this whole section, you’re a good rider; I had to walk parts of it.

Tuck under the Trans-Canada Highway bridge, then gain the real single-track. It soon crosses the railway tracks and climbs up about 30m above them. I was able to clean all the hills except one. There are some dips too; see if you descend without skidding! After a kilometre or so, you’ll break out onto an old car track. Soon after, look for a trail descending the Edworthy hillside from the right, and follow it up. There are a number of branches – I usually kept right, and was able to ride all the way up to the hill-top.

From here you cross the meadows to the gate at the paved road descending to the Edworthy car-park. You could descend there, and then continue E on riverside pathways, but I went E on Spruce Drive. At its end, I jumped the curb onto the grass and found some single-track between the rows of apartment buildings and the edge of the bluffs. In the trees you’ll see a few gonzo downhill trails, but we’re staying high.

Wind around to the E of the apartment buildings (pushing through one section of thick forest under the high-tension lines), then at a major ravine you intersect the gravel pathway that winds down the bluff to the riverside at the Crowchild Trail bridge.

Cross the river and head north to the base of the Hillhurst escarpment at 23 St. Then head E on the 7th Ave cul-de-sac, and get on the single-track that angles up the hillside to the hill-top at 19 St. One block E, at the end of the Bethany Care Centre parking lot, find another track beside the chain-link fence and take it uphill into a park, then E down to 17A St. Ride uphill 25m, then E on a gravel driveway to find another singletrack winding around a hillside below the expensive houses. On the E side, contour around and then head N up to the pathway beside the LRT track to 14 St.

Crossing 14 St on the road bridge, find a short single-track on the far side down to the LRT station (nice concrete ramp to try to jump up and bank off). Skirt the W side of the Jubilee Auditorium, then on its E side find the single-track diagonalling down the hillside into Riley Park. Cross 10 St, then follow the pathway and half a block of street to a staired entrance through a fence at the corner of 4th Ave & 7th St NW. Ride the broken pavement path to the top of the hill. I tried to follow a thin trail around the S side of the seminary building but the trail petered out and was unrideable.

Instead, head up to Crescent Road and ride E about 30m. Just past the last house on the right, there’s a gap in the safety cable and you can head downhill on a single-track (watch for walkers in this forested section). As soon as you reach the paved lower pathway, veer left on another single-track that diagonals back up to the top of the escarpment. After topping out, head E about 50m and you’ll find another single-track angling down to the left; this one is subject to erosion so try to not skid your tires.

At the bottom of the hill, head left on the paved pathway, then up the paved hillside pathway behind the curling arena. Beyond the wooden stairway overpass, climb the steepest part of the hill and find the park-bench on the right. It’s on a bit of a flat spot which was an old roadway years ago. Head E on the grass on this flat spot, gradually falling below the paved pathway which keeps climbing. When the flat spot peters out, angle up slightly and contour along the forested mountainside, then angle slightly down through an opening to gain a faint footpath which will take you to Centre St at the stop-light on the N side of the Bow River bridge.

Climb Samis Road, then take the first right. On the W side of Holly Park, drop down the treed hillside beside the flight of stairs. Following the paved pathway around toward the main entrance of that condo complex, veer onto the grass and find the single-track paralleling Meredith Rd. NE, which gradually descends down to Memorial Drive.

Cut through the gas station and across Edmonton Trail onto MacDougall Rd NE. Turn L on 7 St NE. At the base of the escarpment, head E a few metres on a paved pathway, then find the single-track angling up to the top of the hill; it’s doable if you work hard. Congrats, you’ve reached the end of this route.

If you want to continue further, head E on Centre Ave E to its end, then angle up to the right on single-track to the top of Tom Campbell Hill. Cross the hill to the E, then head downhill on single-track and continue around to the N on the slope overlooking Nose Creek. There’s single-track all the way up to 16 Ave NE, and even beyond (details to be posted shortly in another trip’s tracklog).