Fish Creek Park is one of my favourite places to go with Clara anytime of the year. In the winter we bundle her up, use her sled and explore the various snowy pathways. In the spring, summer and fall we love to explore the trees, fields, ponds and rivers.
Clara has a fascination with bridges and watching the rivers and streams. She also loves pointing out all of the wildlife she sees while we’re out and about. It is mostly squirrels and birds, but we have come across some deer and even a couple of coyotes (luckily they kept their distances, but I was in full-on Dad protecting his baby cub mode).
As I’ve mentioned before we like to let Clara climb and explore as much as she would like, as long as their is no immediate risk to her safety. For instance, she would probably jump right in the river if I let her, so we keep our distance. Once we have a life jacket and Clara is a better swimmer we will likely explore the rivers and places like Sikome lake, but for now we just like to look. She has a blast roaming around, and it’s interesting to see what she focuses on at any given moment.
Fish Creek Park
Fish Creek Park is a provincial park and is the second largest urban park in Canada (JUST edged out by Pippy Park in St. John’s). As one of the largest urban parks in North America Fish Creek Park is 4 times the size of Central Park in New York City and three times the size of Vancouver’s Stanley Park. (Fish Creek is 3,349 acres, Central Park is 843 acres, Stanley Park is 1,001 acres).
Here are our three favourite places to explore in Fish Creek Park and for more of our adventures check out How To Make Cooking With Your Toddler Fun and 6 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do.
Bow Valley Ranche
This is probably our favourite spot of all of them. From late spring to early fall you can visit Annie’s Cafe and grab a coffee or a bite to eat. This makes for a great gathering place if you’re meeting up with people, and for Clara it makes a great place to visit all of the puppies and other little kids around.
From there you can head south towards the Ice Caves which, in and of themselves, is a great day adventure. Or you can simply follow the path towards the river.
Although we haven’t tried it ourselves, we have seen and heard great things about the Fish Creek Mountain Bike Skills Park, which is located the turn before you enter Bow Valley Ranche. We will definitely be checking it out once Clara learns to ride a bike.
Glennfield
The Glennfield entrance to Fish Creek Park holds a special place in my heart as the background to my youth. I used to skateboard in the parking lot, and my brother and I frequently mountain biked in the area, competing to see who could get dirtiest.
From Glennfield you can head under the Canyon Meadows overpass and check out the McInnis & Holloway memorial forests, or you can head in the other direction, which if travelled long enough would take you to Bow Valley Ranche.
Marshall Springs
Marshall Springs offers wide open paths with views of ponds, or narrow paths winding through various forested areas. It’s this diversity in terrain that makes this a fun area to explore for us. While getting to and from the parking lot is a workout on the legs – its steeply downhill entering the park making it steeply uphill on the way back – Marshall Springs is a great spot, and offers some nice sitting areas to enjoy a snack.
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