The Sheep River Ramblers is a walking & hiking club at the Sheep River Library. We also snowshoe and cross-country ski in winter.
Founded in June 2013, this is a very active and fun initiative that has been going strong and growing exponentially 9 years later, in 2022!
With the financial assistance of a government grant, the group has acquired walking poles, snowshoes, microspikes, foldable nature guides and a number of other great items that Ramblers (who have priority) and other library patrons are welcome to borrow.
Want To Join the Ramblers?
If you would like to join the Ramblers you can submit a Membership Request on the Join the Ramblers page.
Sheep River Ramblers have their own theme song! We chose local artist’s Paul Rumbolt’s song “Walk With Us”.
Sheep River Ramblers have their own logo designed by one of the talented former walkers. (see picture above).
Sheep River Ramblers had a booth at the Lifestyle & Wellness Festival portion of the Grande Cycling Tour of Alberta in September 2013 promoting our activities within the community. We have taken part in various community events, including manning a water & Gatorade station for Millarville Half-Marathon for 4 years in a row; Black Diamond Parade; Library Book Sales during Discovery Day in Turner Valley; Longview Parade 2018 & 2019.
Sheep River Ramblers have a Facebook group where we share information, photos from our outings and other pertinent information. This is a CLOSED group with its content only visible to the group’s members (here is a link).
Sheep River Ramblers exceeded every initial expectation. As the word spreads, the club is becoming more popular and growing in membership on a daily basis. There are currently over 500 people on the Ramblers membership list. All these individuals come on walks, hikes and rambles and they also attend educational and information sessions. There is a very regular ‘core’ group of individuals who commit to the program for most outings; there are others who join in when they are available. Many more members of the community have been taking advantage of the available equipment and informational materials purchased for the Ramblers’ program.
Sheep River Ramblers have been featured in the local media a number of times.
Okotoks Western Wheel published an article about the Nordic Pole Walking Clinics in June 2013 (Pages 27 & 28)
The whole issue of the Okotoks Western Wheel Weekend edition was featuring snowshoeing and Ramblers in relation to it. This was in close cooperation and partnership with another local outdoor group, Full Circle Adventures.
Most recent article was published in The Okotokian magazine in September 2019, Off the Beaten Path.
Educational sessions have been organized with hired certified instructors in the following areas:
On our first outing - two groups of about 20 people each were taken by bus to Upper Kananaskis Lake for the “big” fall hike in October 2013. The most popular outing proved to be Solstice Snowshoe Walk in the Moonlight in December 2013, with 23 people in attendance.
The Friendship Trail is a paved pathway between the towns of Turner Valley and Black Diamond which is just over 6 kms long going both ways and is a frequent outing for our walkers.
Today we walk and hike in a number of different places around the area including:
Some of the outings have been extremely well attended, with 20 or more people participating at a time. New friendships are formed. People open up to new social situations.
Weather permitting, walks, hikes and/or snowshoe and cross-country skiing outings in winter months are organized on a weekly basis. A group of 12 volunteers have stepped forward to facilitate the outings – those individuals received first aid training and a couple of them got certified as Outdoor Hiking Leaders with the Outdoor Council of Canada.
Our outings range in difficulty - from Easy and Beginner walks and hikes to Intermediate and Advanced hikes. The Hike Ratings page on this website explains more about how we categorize hikes.
Check out our Hikes and Walks page to see information about upcoming and recent hikes.
