Pearce Estate Park and Playground

Location    map 
Community: Inglewood – 4500 14A St. S.E

Gordie’s Review: “I liked the playground!”
Nicky’s Review: “Quack!” (she liked the ducks)

Parking: free parking lot. 
Park Features: reconstructed wetland with interpretive signs, ponds and stream, playground picnic sites, washroom (seasonal) cross-country skiing, pathways and trails, Sam Livingston Fish Hatchery and Bow Habitat Station.

Overall: Pearce Estate Park is not a huge park, but it has a lot to offer. It boasts, mature trees, a picnic area, playground and interpretive wetland pathway system in addition to being right next to the Bow Habitat Station and Fish Hatchery.

The recreation area of the park is right across the street from the parking lot to the East. They have a nice little playground which has a nice variety of equipment and big trees for plenty of shade.

There are a number of picnic areas close by the playground.

There is also a picnic site that is bookable through the city of Calgary website.

The washrooms are only a short walk away on the North end of the recreation area.

We ended up going through the park a little bit backwards. There’s a map on the North side close to the Bow Habitat Station that gives you an idea of some of the Park highlights and where the pathways are.

I highly recommend giving that a look before you head out. Gordie was dying go play at the playground and so we headed around in that direction without looking at the map.

Although, there is nothing inherently wrong with following in our footsteps, I found the pathways a little confusing without having a bit of a mental map ahead of time, and we ended up missing the Weir lookout point.

We started our walk along the Ducks Unlimited Canadian Marsh pond area.

At these ponds, they have a few little boardwalks set up so you can take a peek at the pond life. We found some water bugs and minnows in this spot.

We spotted a couple of very calm ducks at the next one. Gordie didn’t notice them at first.

After the Ducks Unlimited Pond the pathways and bike paths criss-cross a little and there’s a backwater pond.

We saw some Canadian Geese there. The backwater pond is fed by a couple of streams that run through the middle of the park.

There is a cute little waterfall by this bridge that crosses the stream. The cold water stream (the more winding stream that runs to the East of the hatchery stream) wasn’t running while we were there.

Stephen was sitting on the fence waiting for us to catch up and Gordie was so excited to sit on the fence too.

This is the hatchery channel, we saw a little robin in the middle of the bush.

We walked right by the weir lookout and ended up at the North ponds. This one is pretty cool. The stuff on the right of the photograph looks solid, but is actually not. There is subsurface flow and the stuff on top is floating.

The view of the recreation area from the hill on the North side.

The sandstone pool.

The Bow Habitat Station and Fish Hatchery are also worth a visit. In addition to the interpretive centre, there is a concession that is open seasonally as well as a gift shop.

Between the Bow Habitat Station and the parking lot, is a piece of park area that has been recently converted into a catch and release fish pond. Fishing poles can be rented inside the Bow Habitat Station for $5. There is a ban on all bait and Barbless hooks are required. Gordie is beyond excited to try this out.

There wasn’t any fish in the pond yet when we were there. The fishing pond is open May 15 to October 31.

This park is also a great spot to take your bikes. The parking lot is a ‘park and bike lot’ and you can ride your bikes along bike paths inside the park and if you are looking for a longer ride, they also connect to the wider pathway system.

There is a ton to see an explore at this park. I highly recommend putting it on your places to visit this summer. You can play, eat, explore and learn all in a beautiful park setting.