Bowness Park, Calgary

We took road trip to Calgary a few weeks back to visit with some family. I didn't bother bring the kayaks because I didn't think we had time to paddle. We ended up at Bowness Park one afternoon and the U of C's campus Rec Program is renting canoes, kayaks, and (for the brave) paddle boats.

There isn't much to the Bowness pond--you can do several laps in an hour--but it is a good place for kids to get some experience paddling. The launch is from docks, which can be a touch tricky in  kayak (versus a beach launch). My brother managed to botch getting into the boat and jack-knifed into the lagoon (which is about four feet deep). Sadly, I did not get this on video.

There are a couple of small channels around the back of the dock area to paddle in and then the larger east-west lagoon. The creek leading to the river at the west end of the lagoon was off limits. There were lots of ducks to float along with.

Below is a shot looking west down the length of the lagoon. In addition to the rental boats, there were private kayaks and floaties on the pond.

It looks to me like you could launch from the patio of the restaurant at the west end of the lagoon (the closest spot to the parking lot).

There is also a miniature train, picnic sites, a snack shop and a restaurant, and playground equipment. Not an interesting enough paddle to do more than once but a good place for kids to build their confidence in a pretty safe environment.