Relocation Transportation Transformation Exploration – Part 2

All photos taken on August 24, 2022.

…now, where was I? Oh, yeah, bike riding through the Edmonton River Valley. In Part 1, we left our intrepid duo (always wanted to say that) at the James MacDonald Bridge roughly in the center of Edmonton.

At our rest stop, we discussed our options and decided to keep on riding West, eventually looking for a bite of lunch at any handy fast food joint. The day was ours…as long as we were home on the back deck for coffee by 1:30 PM.

The map below roughly shows our route. For some reason Google was no as up to date on Edmonton’s bike routes as it should have been. Our actual distance on this leg was closer to 22.4 km (14 miles), but we did do a bit of meandering, while looking for lunch and a place to eat it.

Now in Rossdale, we rode through Irene Parlby Park…

• 

• 

…past the Rossdale Power Plant and back to the Walterdale Bridge…another stunning view

Ahead, we could see the High Level Bridge (car traffic on lower decks and streetcar and train traffic on the upper, in the day). The bridge was opened in 1913. On the other side of the High Level was the Dudley B. Menzies LRT and pedestrian bridge, opened in 1992.

Between the bridges, so to speak.

Past these bridges, the wide multi use path followed alongside River Road, past Victoria Golf Course. The 2nd slide shows that the locally famous Taber, Alberta sweet corn is now on sale.

• 

• 

• 

Up ahead, we spotted the Groat Bridge (named for Malcom Groat, a former Hudson’s Bay Company employee who settled in the Groat Estates area of Edmonton in the 1880s). A river rafting firm was doing a brisk business on this hot summer day.

• 

• 

• 

Past the Groat Bridge, we entered MacKinnon Ravine Park, which almost became home to a freeway into downtown Edmonton, before a halt was called. After a steady uphill climb…

• 

• 

• 

…we found ourselves on Summit Drive near 148 Street and 101 Avenue. A brief trip to the nearest Subway shop…

…and we set off to find a picnic spot.

This took a bit more time than we thought, as it had been a long time since we had been in this area.

• 

• 

At long last, we arrived at the edge of the river valley, where we enjoyed a hazy downtown Edmonton view and ate our sandwich under the shade of an evergreen tree.

• 

• 

• 

We tootled around on Riverside Drive, before finding our way back out to 142 Street…

• 

• 

…and the bridge across the Mackenzie Ravine.

A series of service roads took us to Buena Vista Road which led back down into the river valley near the Edmonton Valley Zoo. The downhill ride was fast and traffic was busier than we expected, as everyone was looking for some R & R in the river valley.

• 

• 

• 

At bottom of Buena Vista Rd and after badly negotiating the round-about, we found the bike path through Buena Vista Park. This is also an off-leash area, so we had to use caution to avoid the excited dogs. One of them even tried to race me.

• 

• 

• 

We were looking for the Buena Vista/Hawrelak Park footbridge, when all of a sudden it appeared on our right. This was our way back across the river to the South bank.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

After dawdling on the bridge for some river views, we rode the shortest route through Hawrelak Park…

…past the Royal Mayfair Golf and Country Club (site of our very first date), past one of many abandoned Lime scooters littering Edmonton and back to Groat Road.

• 

• 

• 

• 

As we wanted to ride South back across the Walterdale Bridge to get to our car, we first crossed the river North on Groat Bridge…

• 

• 

• 

…back to River Valley Road, where we turned Eastward. Bike and pedestrian traffic had picked up since our morning transit West

• 

• 

• 

At the Walterdale Bridge, our end goal was in sight. One last look at the river.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Our distance travelled was 32.7 km (20 1/3 miles) and we had thoroughly enjoyed the day.

• 

• 

Back home, in time for coffee. And no, I am not naked and drinking coffee from a huge straw. My wife thought this photo would be cute. You can be the judge. Thanks for riding along with us.

Advertisement