Nose Creek Pathway: Bike Trip - 10Aug13

With this trip we completed 500 KM of cycling this season. And what more, we discovered a new trail that goes all the way North. How we got there? This weekend we had decided to head North East instead of the regular North West and also South that we are accustomed to. 

Canadian Pacific Railway - We measured this end to end, it was 2.98 KM long

The Nose Creek - at the beginning of the trail

The difference in this trip was that it was done in more light as opposed to our other trips which we have been doing at night. For us, we got out of Downtown Calgary at around 6.30 PM and headed East on Bow River Pathway. This goes parallel to Memorial Drive for the most part; going past the Bridgeland Memorial Train Station, and then around the Eastern bank of Calgary Zoo alongside Bow River before taking North. There are two options here - one could drive South on the Bow River Pathway or take up the Nose Creek Pathway. We opted for the latter. By this point we had done about 6.5 KM on the odo starting from our apartment.

Dandelions midway

Making the most of available light

7:10 PM

The last time I had been here was in the year 2010 and there was construction going on and I was forced to take another trail which had landed me up elsewhere. This time I was glad that it was open all the way through. 

Took this on the way

The other end of the Anaconda that some call CP Rail

Further North on Nose Creek

Fox Hollow Golf Course - 0.5 KM North of 16 Ave NE (Trans Canada HWY)

We did take a few snaps on the way up whenever we got something greener or colourful to see. I was also keeping track of our position on the GPS unit on my cellphone. The trail takes you past the Eastern ridge of the Fox Hollow Golf Course. This is approximately 4 KM North of the bend on which we had turned on to Nose Creek Pathway. 

This electric pole is made of one giant single tree

Almost nearing the Airport

Calgary Airport Ramp - towards the right

We were making good progress on the number of kilometers crunched and 32 Ave and then later McKnight Boulevard came by. We were quick to calculate that our regular groceries store was around 8 KM East from this point. Further ahead came 64th Ave NE and we knew that we were almost on the median that divided Nose Hill Park that was was about 4 KM to our West. The weather was just phenomenal and in a little more time we reached the Calgary International Airport. 

Further North of Calgary Airport - 17.4 KM North of Downtown

Downtown Calgary 15 KM South - on our way back

There was good light still in the sky and we decided to push ahead until 8 PM. This is when we stopped. It coincided with a bend in the pathway. Had we gone further ahead, we would have reached Country Hills/Panorama Hills. At this point we had done about 17.4 KM on the odo. We took a break, watered our throats and then headed back home. 

Laycock Park, North East - shot on the way back

Flock of Bison at the Calgary Zoo

We covered a trail of 35 KM in about 2 hours and 40 minutes - not bad!