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Lots to enjoy at Glenbow Ranch this spring

Spring is a beautiful time to experience and explore Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park, according to Sarah Parker, executive director of the Glenbow Ranch Park Foundation.
Kids can enjoy the Build-a-Bison station, part of Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park’s Explore Pond program, this spring and summer.
Kids can enjoy the Build-a-Bison station, part of Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park’s Explore Pond program, this spring and summer.

Spring is a beautiful time to experience and explore Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park, according to Sarah Parker, executive director of the Glenbow Ranch Park Foundation.

The park has a wide variety of programs for kids and adults, including a brand-new addition to the park’s lineup. Parker said the Mindful Walk program will allow participants to experience the park in a new way.

“A mindfulness facilitator, trained in this, is leading the one-hour walks. They’ll be stopping along the way to have people pick up as many sounds as they can…touch a plant,” she said. “We move quickly in our lives and this is a chance to slow down.”

Happening June 9, a 9:30 a.m. walk is just for adults, while a second walk at 11 a.m. is for families.

A favourite activity among visitors, two-hour golf cart tours take participants out to view some of the park’s amazing scenery.

“We’re offering two daily, Tuesday to Sunday, at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. They’re the Best of Glenbow tours, so it has a bit of everything for everybody,” Parker said.

Visitors will also soon be able to experience the park by bike when new, guided bike tours are launched in June. For people who want to find out more about the park but don’t want to sit on a golf cart, the tours will allow visitors to bring their own bikes and learn from a knowledgeable guide.

Programming for kids will soon be in full swing, according to Parker, including a Discovery Archaeology program for kids in kindergarten to Grade 6, delivered by University of Calgary archaeology graduates.

“Kids are going to be able to actually do a mock dig on site, which is really exciting and fun for the kids and a real experiential learning possibility for them,” she said.

The Discovery Grasslands program is a guided hike along the park’s Yodel Loop.

“We have stations to teach children about the ecology of our park, the importance of native fescue, the role that our cattle at Glenbow Park play in grassland management, and that one is just so fun,” Parker said. “You’re learning about nature and it’s beautiful.”

The Explore Pond program is also especially fun for youth, she added.

“You go down the Tigerlily Loop and the kids get nets and will be able to catch critters in the water, look at things under microscopes and take pH balances. That’s always fun – the kids like to watch the strips change colour,” Parker said.

The Explore Pond program can also be booked as a birthday party event. Up to 15 kids can have a great time at the park for $150 for a two-hour program. Park staff will even keep birthday cake and other refreshments refrigerated until it’s time to blow out the candles. Parker said the program is altered to suit the age of the participants.

Back for the first time in a few years is a program for individuals ages 14 and up, which teaches fly fishing at the clubhouse in Cochrane. Equipment is provided and expert fishermen lead the program, Parker said.

“That is going to be a full-day lesson. They are going to learn right from the fundamentals of fly fishing all the way to getting out at Mitford Pond (in Cochrane) and casting their lines,” Parker said.

“Our instructors are life-long fly fishermen and they have such a passion for it.”

Renovations to the park’s visitor centre have been underway for a while, but Parker said the work is almost finished and the centre is expected to re-open in June.

More information about the park’s many programs, including how to get the most out of your visit, is available online at grpf.ca


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