Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park

My last hike to Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park was in August 2020. This is a short drive from Calgary if you live around here and right next door to Cochrane. I went on one of the trails that I haven't hiked before and discovered new (or rather old) delights along the way. I always like the feel around Cochrane. I get a feeling of comfort there for some reason.

Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park is not in the Kananaskis area but is definitely a must-see when in the area. There are several picnic tables at the entrance right off the parking lot and washroom facilities. The hiking trail is paved so makes it more accessible to everyone who comes out to enjoy the scenery. On the Tiger Lily Loop if you look off to the right side near the start of your hike going downhill, there is an old car that is now rusting. This isn't from a recent car crash but a much older car. I'm not an expert at cars but it looks like a vehicle you might have seen driven in the 1930s or 40s. I always wonder what the story is on that car crash.

After completing the Tiger Lily Loop, we headed around the Badger Bowl and continued onto the Bowl Link then the Bow Bend Trail. Along that stroll you can see a glacial erratic which is a large piece of glacial waste that travelled on the ice shifts; it is a boulder. Now I don't remember learning about glacial erratics in school but maybe we did, so the signage pointing it out and telling what brought it here was informative and new to me. That is also one of the nice things about this park is there is signage everywhere from glacial erratics to the wildlife to the old Waverley Ranch.

Continuing on the Badger Bowl, there is also a nice viewing point called the Windmill Lookout; but if there were ever a windmill there, I saw no sign of it. This looks down the hills along the winding pathway. There is also washroom facilities at this end of the park.

As we continued on our hike we passed a chimney and that is all that is left of the Waverley Ranch. There were still many cows roaming around that side of the fence as well. Right off to the lefthand side of the chimney there is a sign that closes off access to hiking because a population of tiger salamanders lives there.

There are also two chimneys near the parking lot. If you head down towards the park office, they are in a treed area. You can't really see them from the pathway, only if you walk a little ways in. There is a picnic table in there in case you wanted to sit there for a break.

While we were hiking here, we started to head back towards Bowbend Junction. Along the way back you might see a train going by as the train runs through Glenbow Ranch.

When we got to the pond, we saw many more animals. In the pond there were Wood frogs, muskrats and leeches. I forgot about the leeches but found a video I took of one to show my granddaughter, so I guess don't test out the water there in case you're tempted. There were also many birds around the area. We saw Cedar Waxwings and an American Gold Finch. We spent a bit of time around here as there seemed to be so much wildlife living around here. When we finally decided to leave, we were lucky enough to get a picture of a hawk. We think it was a Swanson's hawk, but we couldn't see the front of it.

This park is very enjoyable to visit and not only will you see an abundance of wildlife, it also has other interesting stops throughout the hike. You can also hike the Glenbow Trail and turn off at the Yodel Trail or vice versa.

When you're done your hike, you might want to head into Cochrane for some MacKay's ice cream. It is still a popular place to get your ice cold treat. My dad brought us there when we were kids, and it still seems to be a destination on those hot days.