Tiger Lily Loop is a short trail in the Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park. This park can be found about 20 minutes from northwest Calgary, or 10 minutes from Cochrane off Highway 1A. This is a beautiful park sits on the north side of the Bow River. It’s a great spot to get out into nature for a couple hours, when you don’t have time to get out to the mountains. There are some lovely paved pathways for cycling, but Tiger Lily Loop is a gravel walking path.
Tiger Lily Loop Summary
- Difficulty: Easy
- Distance: 2.1 km round trip
- Elevation: 81 metres
- Trail type: Loop
- Time: 30 minutes to 1 hour
- Trailhead: Tiger Lily Loop Trail
Start the trail from the main parking lot.
Detailed Trail Description
We hiked the trail in a counter-clockwise direction. The short loop around Tiger Lily trail begins with a downward slope through a grove of Aspen. This trail is beautiful and peace. We noticed lots of birds as we walked through the early sections of the trail into the forest.
As the trail leveled out, we approached a unique set of trees, curved and bent across the path or up the hill. shortly after rounding the bend and passing these trees, the path opened up to grassland. We came across a pond where a few ducks were searching for food.
Around this point, the trail connects to Bowbend trail, or loops back up the hill towards the parking lot. Initially, we had planned to do a combined route from Tiger Lily to Bowbend, but the pathway was closed due to grazing cattle.
Do check the signs as cattle migrate through the park through the seasons. Some trails may be closed periodically to allow them to graze or pass through.
Climbing the hill back up towards the park building, the trail did a series of switchbacks. As you rise above the trees, you begin to catch glimpses of the Bow River and the Rocky Mountains in the distance. All in all, this was a lovely trail that took us about an hour, at a slow, leisurely pace. I’d expect most people could do it within 30-60 minutes.
If you live in Calgary or Cochrane and you haven’t visited Glenbow Ranch yet, I highly encourage you to go!
