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Active kids

Watch my CTV Calgary segment on Fall Kananaskis Rockies hikes for Families, friends and avid hikers

September 2, 2017
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I took CTV Morning Calgary viewers on some spectacular Fall Kananaskis Rockies hikes that are perfect for families, visiting relatives and more adventurous avid hikers! And we talked about bear awareness- check it out. And for more regular updates on all this walking and hiking, follow me on Facebook @calgarysbestwalks

Watch my CTV segment here

 

Trailhead for both hikes: Highwood Pass Parking Lot, Hwy. 40, Kananaskis

Check out the visuals from Ptarmigan Cirque (4.5 km round trip + 250 meters elevation, interpretive hike). Perfect for kids, visiting family, or new hikers) and

Pocaterra Ridge (12+ km and 700 meters elevation with an option to do a linear ridge walk, two cars needed or a good hitch hiking thumb, or an out and back hike) no signage, need the Gemtrek maps). These two Kananaskis hikes are larch filled and get your above treeline for phenomenal views.

Learn about the FREE BEAR AWARENESS SESSIONS at MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op)

It is berry season so bear awareness is important! Make noise, yell YOOOOO BEARRRRR! as loud as you can, often when no other people noise is being made. Bear bells ARE NOT loud enough to warn bears, give a false sense of security and just annoy all your fellow hiking pals. FREE bear awareness sessions happen MEC all September so check their calendar of events. The more you know the better!

CTV Walking Wednesday: Kid Favourite Calgary Walkabouts!

June 8, 2016
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All walks are great for kids of course, but there are some urban walkabouts that are clear favourites. Bring on the ice cream stops, watermarks, massive hills to roll down, single track trails along escarpments, waterfalls and for the teenagers in the group, a burger stop in Kensington!

Watch my Kid Favorite CTV segment! 

 

 

 

 

 

Blakcfoot Truck Stop milkshakesScreen Shot 2016-06-01 at 12.16.46 PM

CTV Walking Wednesday: Snowshoeing in Calgary and the Rockies!

February 18, 2016
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Snowshoeing Rawson Lake, Kananaskis Rockies, Alberta
Rawson Lake, Kananaskis

 

I took CTV viewers snowshoeing on my latest segment. Watch the segment here!

If you want to know more about where to snowshoe, maps and trails, check out my post on where to snowshoe in and around Calgary. And for more info on snowshoeing, where to rent, what to bring, take a read of my snowshoe page on this website.

Snowshoeing is great exercise, just like walking but slower, in spectacular terrain. It is a wonderful family activity (bring the crazy carpets and the shovels for snow caves). It is a wonderful, FREE, outing that refreshes the mind and the body.

 

 

 

 

Eve snowshoeing the Canadian Rockies
Hogarth Lakes, Kananaskis
Snowshoeing the Icefields
Parker Ridge, Icefields Parkway

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

YJackrabbit Trail, Glenmore Reservoires, it is true. I have walked Canadian cities from coast to coast and this I know is true, Calgary is the best city for walking, by a long shot. What makes Calgary such a walking paradise is the way nature is integrated into all parts of the city. When you add canopies of trees to a street, it makes for a nicer walk. Our urban forests blanket communities thanks to early parks superintendents William Reader and William Pearce.

 

Screen Shot 2015-05-28 at 8.25.03 AM

 

A walk in Calgary, from most neighbourhoods, can lead to a complete immersion in the wilderness followed by an exit onto a neighbourhood street with varied terrain and a great little coffee shop. Cross one of the many pedestrian bridges that criss cross the Bow and Elbow Rivers and the pedestrian is connected to a new community and interacting with new neighbours.

 

 

The variety in Calgary, the rolling topography, the escarpment viewpoints with panoramic views of the Rocky Mountains and the compact downtown core reaching prominently out of the concrete are breathtaking. The two rivers, the Bow and the Elbow, host paved pathways that connect the city. Over 700 km of these paved pathways snake through and around Calgary. Along these river pathways is nature. Full on nature, along with all the conveniences that come with a city, like access to great restaurants and shops, and of course, cafes. A personal favourite.

 

 

Glenbow ranch winter small

 

No need to stop in the winter since the paved pathways are even cleared of snow in the winter so walkers and cyclists can keep on trekking and rolling. And oh, the winter is so spectacular in Calgary. Big blue skies and snowcapped peaks in the distance.

 

 

 

 

Urban Walkers in Calgary

 

 

Single track trails and hidden stairways climb into pockets of wilderness. These hidden pathways connect the urban walker to communities that are not easily connectable by car. The pockets of nature host Saskatoon berries and Wolf-willow shrubs; prairie staples. Grazing opportunities exist everywhere is Calgary.

 

 

 

 

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Calgary’s variety means that you can choose between art and architecture, wildflowers and mountain views, people-populated commercial streets or a hidden oasis of calm. And you have all of these features on one single walkabout. Mix and match based on how you feel.

 

Les Macarons from Yann's Patisserie in Calgary

 

 

 

 

Or, you could find decadent picnic treats to bring along on the trails, like these macarons from Yann Patisserie on 4 Street, SW.

 

 

 

So, after walking Fredericton and Halifax, Montreal and Quebec City, Ottawa and Toronto and also Vancouver and Victoria, I can say, without a doubt, that Calgary is a walking mecca. A pedestrian paradise. An outdoor lovers dream city. Got the point? It is the way that nature is integrated into the city that makes it stand out. That is what makes Calgary unique. I am so privileged to call Calgary my home. What a beautiful city!

 

Lori is featuring a walk a week on her segment “Walking Wednesdays” on Calgary’s CTV Morning. Tune in or check on-line each Wednesday at 7:55 am to learn about a new walk in Calgary!

All walk segments will be posted on her blogs, Facebook and Twitter.


Peace Bridge and Calgary

It was an excellent start to a Saturday morning when I opened the Calgary Herald newspaper, wait, I didn’t have to open it since I WAS ON THE FRONT PAGE! Sorry to yell, but it was a great start indeed.

Click on the photos below to read the stories on the Calgary Herald website. See you out there, walking the city!

 

BLOG NOTE: I post more often on the www.calgarysbestwalks.ca blog

 

Snapshot of Calgary herald Article

 

 

Calgary Herald Article walk suggestions

My book, Calgary’s Best Walks, is released on March 9, 2015! Here’s a teaser video to get your pumped up about walking in Calgary. Check the books website for more information on the book, and a full list of book launch events!

 

www.calgarysbestwalks.ca

s Best Walks Front Cover

Best-selling author of Calgary’s Best Hikes and Walks and Calgary’s Best Bike Rides and Trails, Lori Beattie is back with a brand-new guidebook. Full colour maps, informative walk descriptions and sidebars, lead and inform you as you walk throughout Calgary.

Calgary’s“Queen of the Urban Hike” is back with a new guidebook that leads locals and visitors throughout the best parks, neighbourhoods, people-watching streets and pathways of Calgary. Stroll the River Walk past the East Village, climb out of the downtown core up McHugh Bluffs for Rocky Mountain views, meander the Weaslehead nature trails or mingle with the mule deer in Nose Hill Park’s ravines. Bring your kids, your dog and your sense of adventure. Detailed maps lead you through neighbourhoods and natural parks, to hidden staircases, along paved river pathways and onto people-populated walking streets. Take a step off the beaten path in your own backyard!

To be published by Fit Frog Books, March 2015

 

Check www.calgarysbestwalks.ca for book launch events and free sample walks. 

 

 

 

 

Chester Lake Snowshoe, the best Christmas present of all!

December 4, 2014
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Snowshoe Chester Lake TrailsGive the gift of the Rocky Mountains this Christmas! I snowshoed Chester Lake in The Kananaskis Rockies, yesterday and it was absolute perfection. And abundance of glittering powdery snow, and mountain peaks all around. MERRY CHRISTMAS I say!

For details on snowshoe trails in the Kananaskis, check the Alberta Parks website.  You can also join us, on our many snowshoe outings in December through March.

BE PREPARED, BE SAFE and HAVE FUN!

 

1. AVALANCHE AWARENESS- Be aware that the snowshoe trails in the park are created to keep you away from avalanche terrain. If you do not know what an avalanche slope looks like, DO NOT go into the mountains on snowshoes. You can easily walk into avalanche terrain without knowing it. Check the Avalanche Canada website.

2. Have the Gemtrek, Kananaskis map and the Snowshoe trail map. There are many, many, many alternative snowshoe trails created by people enjoying the powder. This can be confusing if you are not paying attention and navigating. There is signage for snowshoe trails created by the parks, so keep watching for those signs.

3. Take lots of clothing and lots of food. Read through our checklist on what to bring on snowshoe and ski days. And here is a list of where to rent snowshoes.

 

The Joy of a Good Walk this Holiday Season

November 29, 2014
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Snowshoeing Rawson Lake, Kananaskis Rockies, Alberta

 

With the Christmas season is upon us, things start to get a bit hectic. The malls fill up with shoppers (including you), family come from afar to stay in your guest room, you cook and bake for said family, you make lists, and look for parking at Chinook mall, and then you start to wonder WHAT exactly what is so great about the “holiday” season. I am here to tell you that a good walk is all that you need.

 

Turn off your texts and in fact, leave the phone behind and walk away. Keep walking until you feel alive (sane), relaxed and refreshed. And most importably, until you feel happy. It works, I do it everyday.

 

The Huffington Post had a great article this listed some walking quotes. Here is an excerpt.

 

Here are 17 eloquent literary quotes that remind us of the simple, restorative power of a good walk:

“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” — John Muir

“Now shall I walk or shall I ride?
‘Ride,’ Pleasure said;
‘Walk,’ Joy replied.” — W.H. Davies

“To walk is to lack a place. It is the indefinite process of being absent and in search of a proper.” — Michel de CerteauEve snowshoeing in the Kananaskis

“If I couldn’t walk fast and far, I should just explode and perish.” — Charles Dickens

“Only thoughts won by walking are valuable.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“Walking and talking are two very great pleasures, but it is a mistake to combine them. Our own noise blots out the sounds and silences of the outdoor world; and talking leads almost inevitably to smoking, and then farewell to nature as far as one of our senses is concerned. The only friend to walk with is one… who so exactly shares your taste for each mood of the countryside that a glance, a halt, or at most a nudge, is enough to assure us that the pleasure is shared.” — C.S. Lewis

“I am alarmed when it happens that I have walked a mile into the woods bodily, without getting there in spirit.” — Henry David Thoreau

“After a day’s walk everything has twice its usual value.” — George Macauley Trevelyan

“I would walk along the quais when I had finished work or when I was trying to think something out. It was easier to think if I was walking and doing something or seeing people doing something that they understood.” — Ernest Hemingway

“I find more pleasure in wandering the fields than in musing among my silent neighbours who are insensible to everything but toiling and talking of it and that to no purpose.” — John Clare

“We ought to take outdoor walks, to refresh and raise our spirits by deep breathing in the open air.” — Seneca

“I always feel so sorry for women who don’t like to walk; they miss so much — so many rare little glimpses of life; and we women learn so little of life on the whole.” —Kate Chopin

“Thinking is generally thought of as doing nothing in a production-oriented culture, and doing nothing is hard to do. It’s best done by disguising it as doing something, and the something closest to doing nothing is walking.” — Rebecca Solnit

“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk: every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.” — Søren Kierkegaard

“Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around a lake.” — Wallace Stevens

“Walks. The body advances, while the mind flutters around it like a bird.” — Jules Renard

“[Walking] is the perfect way of moving if you want to see into the life of things. It is the one way of freedom. If you go to a place on anything but your own feet you are taken there too fast, and miss a thousand delicate joys that were waiting for you by the wayside.” — Elizabeth von Arnim

I joined Mayor Nenshi at Calgary’s City Hall this morning to be part of the launch of the Major’s “Walk Challenge”. The Mayor is challenging all Calgarians to walk more, to choose active transportation, for their health and for the health of the city.

Calgary Herald Article

Calgary Sun Article

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WALK OR BIKE TO SCHOOL

Today’s launch focussed on getting kids to walk or bike to school and my video of my son’s bike gang was part of the launch.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi launched his “Walk Challenge” on Tuesday and is asking all Calgarians, especially Calgary kids, to get moving by walking, biking, rollerblading, or scootering to school. Basically, take an active route to school!

“I’m encouraging all Calgarians to get just a little bit more walking into your daily life and in particular today, we want to talk about walking to school. We want to encourage more families to walk or bike or rollerblade or pogo stick, take active modes of transportation to school, It’s a simple challenge,” said Nenshi.

The children can share their experiences on twitter using #yycwalk and on Facebook HERE.

“Walk to school and tell us about it. Share it on twitter and Facebook or do it on your own or do it as a group,” said the Mayor.

The mayor says the children will help reduce greenhouse emissions, get extra exercise to stay fit and healthy and do better in school. He says traffic congestion on the streets around schools will also be reduced if more kids walk to school.

“It’s better for our health. It’s better for the environment and as any parent in the city knows today, one of the big problems we have at most schools is congestion and safety issues around the start and end of school and having more people walk is an excellent way to reduce that congestion and increase safety.”

Nenshi says if you drive your kids to school, consider stopping a few blocks away and walking the rest of the way.

For more information on the Mayor’s Walk Challenge, click HERE.