We parked in the first lot at the bottom of the hill near the Riverview Bike Park and hiked along the winter biking trails set by the Devon Bike Club in Voyageur Park and then crossed underneath the bridge to Up to Stew's trail. This is a map of the route that we took.

Voyageur Park in Devon Alberta Canada is the western most point of the River Valley Alliance (RVA) Trail System. The RVA's goal is to create a trail system connecting Devon, through Edmonton and to Fort Saskatchewan.

Yes, there is actually a beach in this area...during the summer.

The North Saskatchewan River was used extensively by explorers during the fur trade. In 2008, the David Thompson Brigade set off to retrace the route from Rocky Mountain House Alberta to Thunder Bay Ontario in celebration of the bicentennial of David Thompson's 1808 travels. There was a big celebration in Devon when the Brigade stopped in town. It was during this event that the park was officially named Voyageur Park.

Peaking through the trees, you can see Highway 60 in the distance. This highway is called the Devonian Way to commemorate the discovery of oil at Leduc #1 in 1947. The oil was discovered 1.6km below the surface in the Devonian Reef. This discovery started Alberta's oil boom and resulted in Canada moving from being a have-not country to have. In fact, the Town of Devon, also named after the discovery was built by Imperial Oil to house the workers.

Up to Stew is an uphill trail that begins in Voyageur Park next to the North Saskatchewan River and climbs up to the top of the river valley. The trail is mostly made up of punchy climbs that average around a 5-6% incline with the steepest section measuring an 11% grade. Altogether there is a 106 meter elevation gain on this trail.

We hiked a portion of the 2016 Alberta Summer Games Legacy Trail named Up to Stew. This is a single-track trail for mountain biking in the summer and hiking during the winter.

Who is Stew?
Stew is a local legend in the Alberta cycling community. In his mid-70's, Stew still rides and races in road, mountain bike and cyclocross. In the winter he stays active cross-country skiing. Stew was the Mountain Biking Chair for the 2016 Alberta Summer Games.

In 2016 the Devon Bicycle Association (DBA) hosted the mountain biking competitions for the Alberta Summer Games which were being hosted in the City of Leduc. The Games are an opportunity to celebrate young athletes and to provide the venues and competitions to help them reach their potential. In recognition of the volunteers at the Devon Bicycle Association's efforts to host the mountain biking competition a portion of the overall 2016 Alberta Summer Games financial legacy was shared with the Club. The DBA used the funds to purchase trail building and maintenance equipment and worked with the town of Devon to create the Alberta Summer Games Legacy Trail System.