Laurier Park and Whitemud Trails

Eleven hikers came out in beautiful weather to hike the riverside trails in Edmonton’s west end.

At Laurier Park, along the river’s north side, the Silver Skate Festival was on. A highlight was the Heritage Village venue where we heard the Abraham Lake Singers play drums and sing.

Here are two of the seven ice sculptures:

We also saw three woodpeckers in a tree, all at once.

Lunch at Laurier was outside, just because the weather was so beautiful.

On the Whitemud (south) side of the river, it’s become trickier to find stairs from the trail to the street level above. The stairs from Groat Road/Saskatchewan Drive have been removed because of the Hawrelak Park renovation. There is an older set from the top of Keillor Road, and these were clear. By paying strict attention, we successfully negotiated the nearly two hundred steps without incident.

The question was asked, “Did we have to climb them on the return?!!” And no….

You can find more photos on Flickr.

Where we’re going next.