Hiking in Weaselhead Nature Park

You can't always go the extra mile and by that I mean driving far. Sometimes we go hiking in our own backyard, if you live in Calgary, the Weaselhead flats are a perfect place to get away from it all without that hour drive to the mountains. This park is sandwiched between the Glenbow Reservoir and the Tsuu' T'ina native reserve. It was named after their chief, Weaselhead.

On this fine day we did the Oxbow Trail Loop It's an easy hike just under 5 km and since the place has 'flats' in its name, don't expect much climbing. Asides from the walk down into the river delta from the city, it's about as flat as a hike can get.

This is the view of the flays with the reservoir on the left and the reservation on the right. It was a clear day and since the mountains are 60 km away, you wouldn't be able to see them from here, can't see much of anything, except fields and trees.

Once down in the delta if you look across the reservoir you can see a few towers off into the distance. Downtown Calgary is behind us and it's a very large city, most of the buildings are two or less stories in the sprawling suburbs. This is one of two main reservoirs which provide the city with water.

Looking the other way you might as well be in the middle of nowhere, it was relatively busy, but we were on a bridge and I cropped out the people fishing on the left. This is a great spot for stand up paddle boards and kayaks.

This is the Elbow River. We often hike around its origins in Kananaskis or as it flows from the Rocky Mountains through the foot hills and into the city where it meets the Bow River. The Ford Knoll Loop Hike is about 70 km upstream and has some great views of the same river.

The trail is very well travelled and marked. There are so many paths crisscrossing here you can take a number of routes. The park floods from time to time and there some places off trail are wet.

Don't play with unexploded ordinance. This is rare in Canada, the last war with gunpowder was never in these parts. It was a training base for almost a century. That would explain the lack of big trees.

There are interpretive signs along the way, this one tells you that the river channels shift from time to time, such is the nature of a delta. There is beautiful flora and fauna here, it's home to thousands of birds.

It was too hot to see furry mammals, they were hiding in the trees today. We couldn't even see the beavers. Not that I would go off the path to look for them.

As far as hike goes, this one is fantastic as what it lacks in technical difficulty, it makes up for proximity to amenities. You can take a city bus here and it's perfect for children.

Thank you for reading

All photos taken with an S22