9 hours Ago By Calgary Herald
Lori Beattie knows a thing or two about walking. She’s travelled every path and trail listed in her new updated book, Calgary’s Best Walks. She explained why she loves to explore this city on foot in a Weekend Life column on March 29, and now we’re encouraging you to follow in her footsteps.
Over the next few months, we’ll highlight one of the 95 walks in Beattie’s book, complete with necessary details and tasty stops along the way. We start with walk No. 58: Roxboro Natural Park- Erlton – Ramsay.
Walk at a glance: Connecting five communities, this route sheds light on the kind of diversity Calgary can pack into a five-km radius. I suggest that you walk every street in Ramsay and Mission as there is character and colour throughout these neighbourhoods. This walk begins in Roxboro’s off-leash dog park and then climbs a dirt path with a few stairs into Roxboro Natural Park, an escarpment green space.
The views from the top of the bluff are expansive, taking in the tree-canopied streets of Roxboro and backdropped by the towers of Calgary’s downtown core. Connect through St. Mary’s cemetery in Erlton and continue up and over Macleod Trail.
You’ll get a glimpse of the treadmill of life, the cars whizzing below, before you descend into the calm of Union Cemetery. Reader Rock Garden is the next detour, a wonderful, inner-city, perennial garden that sits below the cemetery, on the south side of the Stampede grounds. It is the perfect Stampede escape for those of you who crave a little nature with your corn dogs and mini doughnuts.
The garden is named after creator William Roland Reader, the City of Calgary parks superintendent from 1913 to 1942. In the early 1900s, Reader collected alpine plants while hiking in the mountains. He introduced them to this formerly bare hillside.
Over 30 years, he continued to develop his garden, testing the abilities of over 4,000 plants in the prairie climate. The now-reconstructed garden blooms from mid-March through October. It is a mini oasis, a nice spot for a picnic or just a wander.
Walk east and set your sights on Ramsay and Inglewood, Calgary’s first communities. Variety is the spice of life, and not knowing what you might find around the next corner is what makes for a fun urban walkabout. Ramsay is a neighbourhood wherein residents’ interests and their characters are visible to all who pass by.
An art installation, a colourful house, the little free library on a front lawn; I always have my camera at the ready for the unexpected. Climb to Scotsman’s Hill and snap a photo of the iconic view over Stampede Park: city towers reach skyward, and the Rocky Mountains stretch out across the horizon. Find the escarpment staircase and drop down to the RiverWalk pathway and Stampede extension.
Follow the Elbow River Pathway south along the Stampede grounds to Lindsay Park. Walk through the side streets of Mission and along popular Fourth Street for a coffee, lunch or some shopping or continue along the Elbow River Pathway to the hidden pathway that leads you back to Roxboro Park. Tasty pit stops Be sure to keep your appetite for a stop at Apprentice Cafe (1024 Bellevue Ave.
S.E). Their small but mighty menu includes delicious housemade focaccia (they even make gluten-free) for the variety of sandwiches on offer.
Their made-in-house ice cream is habit-inducing, and I highly recommend the affogato. Another great stop is the original Cafe Rosso (803 24th Ave. S.
E.) tucked away in an industrial landscape. Enjoy the on-site roasted coffee and freshly baked goods and lunches.
If it is a cold beer and pizza that piques your interest, then Dandy Brewing (2003 11th St. S.E.
) has you covered. The Crossroads Market is the perfect spot to grab a picnic lunch. Maisie’s Eatery in the SAM centre (632 13th Ave.
S.E.) is a beautiful cafe with decadent pastries, desserts and meals.
The outdoor patio is the perfect spot to settle in with your pup. And if wonderful pastries and breads are what you need (yes, sometimes it is a need), then take the detour north along 4th Street S.W.
to find a host of restaurants, cafes and shops, like Yann Haute Patisserie, Phil & Sebastian, and the Purple Perk. The deets What you’ll see: Cafes, dogs, nature, neighbourhoods and parks, people watching, history, sistas, river Start: In Roxboro at 30th Avenue and 2nd Street S.W.
, or 9th Street and 17th Avenue S.E. or anywhere along the route.
Transit: Erlton LRT or various bus options along the route. Facilities: Cafes along the route. Bathrooms in Lindsay Park, at MNP Sports Centre.
Distance & Difficulty: 7.5 km or 8 km via alternate route in black (hills, stairs, sidewalks, paved paths and single-track trails) The City of Calgary hosts cemetery tours throughout the summer. Walk through time and learn all about the Mounties, ministers, cowboys, cooks, prohibitionists and politicians that have shaped Calgary’s history.
Check Calgary.ca for 2025 dates. Lori Beattie is a bestselling Alberta author and owner of Fit Frog Adventures.
Her new book, Calgary’s Best Walks: 95 urban jaunts, nature strolls and tasty pit stops released on March 4. Join her at upcoming signing events: April 26 at MEC at noon; May 3 at Gibson Fine Art at 1-3 pm; May 2 and May 4, Free Jane’s Walk; and a Walking Celebration at the Calgary Central Library on May 31. www.
fitfrog.ca.
