Brandon City Loop Trail

This is not your typical trail. As in, it’s mostly pavement. But this trail is a fun way to run or bike around my hometown. This is the Brandon City Loop Trail!

The author poses alongside a borrowed bicycle and a Brandon City Loop Trail kilometer marker. She's standing just off the trail on a grassy expanse, with lush trees in the background.

My hometown is actually not a town at all, but rather a city. While not large by world standards, it is the second biggest city in the province of Manitoba, with a growing population currently close to 50,000. Fun fact: Brandon has been a city ever since it was incorporated in 1882 as a future stop on the Canadian Pacific Railway! And, the city is actually named after the Brandon Hills!

The Brandon Hills offer true trails and a wilderness experience, but do require driving (or an extra long bike/hike outing!). If you’re looking for an outing or outdoor exercise right on your doorstep, the Brandon City Loop Trail is perfect. It’s a smooth, easily accessible, 20 kilometer loop of the city that you can walk, run or cycle.

A vertical portrait of the author's husband, helmeted and standing on a small pedestrian bridge over the Assiniboine River.

As it wraps its way in a roughly square-shaped perimeter around the city, the trail passes through suburbs and parks. It’s an interesting journey through the city’s past and present, surprisingly similar to its city wall counterparts in East Asia.

My favorite thing about this trail is that its not your average city sidewalk. It was deliberately constructed in green spaces set away from major roads, and it avoids the busier, more commercial areas. Being on outer edge of the city offers simultaneous glimpses at urban development and rural expanse.

A view of a glassy Assiniboine at the Riverbank Discovery Center under a classic blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds. The banks of the river are low and grassy; natural and prone to flooding.

My favorite section of the Brandon City Loop Trail is the northern bit in and around the Riverbank Discovery Center, with connections to other great trails! I also have memories of my first runs on the eastern straightaway near Assiniboine Community College, and I’m especially well acquainted with the southwestern corner.

Although I’ve traveled over sections of this trail numerous times, Kent and I decided to spend a summer’s day in 2015 biking around it slowly: picnicking, exploring and generally taking a spin down memory lane.

A selfie of the author and her husband. Here, their two borrowed bikes and helmets lie on the grass in between them, and beyond is the Assiniboine River.

I can’t say for sure when the Brandon City Loop Trail was made. Sections of it have existed for ages, but I think the signs and the loop are newer, perhaps from shortly before we visited for our bike ride.

What I can say for sure is that it’s always fun to actively explore your home. And even better to see it through new eyes! I loved showing Kent historical landmarks and natural features that I’d forgotten about or long taken for granted.

Whether you’re a visitor or lifelong resident, Brandon City Loop is a great place for a stretch of the legs. In these crazy times, it’s so fortunate to have resources like these close to home so we can be active, appreciate nature, and stay well in body and mind!

This image is a photograph of the Brandon City Loop trail map, including a list of the locations of the kilometer markers.

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