The best MTB trails around Rural Municipality of Springfield

Right inside Winnipeg, FortWhyte Alive packs prairie, forest, wetlands, lakes, and even a herd of plains bison into one huge urban nature escape. The best part? Much of this green landscape grew out of a former industrial clay-quarry site. Today, trails and boardwalks make it easy to trade city noise for birdsong remarkably quickly.

FortWhyte’s lakes hide one of its best stories: they began as deep pits excavated for clay used in cement production in the early 1900s. Once filled with water, they evolved into wildlife-rich lakes that now attract waterfowl and support paddling, fishing, and lakeside wandering.

Stop at the Bison Viewing Mound for a prairie scene you probably wouldn’t expect inside Winnipeg. From here, you can scan the grassland for bison, along with their watering hole, rubbing stones, and the small mounds they sometimes stand on to catch the breeze and escape insects.

The Overwater Pond is small and peaceful, with a couple of benches that practically invite you to stop. The surrounding grassland makes it a great place to watch for wildlife, especially deer, which are often seen moving through this part of the reserve.

Assiniboine Park has been a public greenspace for over a century and is Winnipeg’s largest urban park, spanning 450 hectares along the Assiniboine River and named for the Assiniboine people. Several multi-use trails wind throughout the grounds, with open lawns, mature trees, and gardens spread across the park. The park is home to the Assiniboine Park Zoo (the oldest zoo in Canada), The Leaf, English Garden, Leo Mol Sculpture Garden and Riley Family Duck Pond, with plenty of space to walk, cycle or simply relax. The park is open year-round, with its gardens and outdoor spaces offering something different for any season.

The Assiniboine Park Conservancy Inc. is a non-profit charitable organization that was established in 2008. It was created to oversee the development of the 162 hectare Assiniboine Park. This building was built almost 100 years ago in 1930 in Tudor Revival architecture with Swiss chalet elements and a 28-meter central square tower rising above the park. Today, it is used as a multilevel public cultural space with free art galleries, a museum dedicated to Winnie-the-Poo and the grounds have a rectangular lily pond, and sculptures for the public to enjoy.

There are a few nice paved trails to explore in the park, and the north side has some fairy houses and a cenotaph (empty burial memorial) to veterans of the first world war. You cross the creek via a pretty pedestrian bridge as it winds into the Assiniboine River.

Two long benches have been built by a clearing on the riverbank and offer a tranquil view of the Assiniboine. You can walk over via the singletrack Monkey Trail or the paved Wellington Crescent Trail. The path down to the lookout is accessible, well-maintained crushed gravel.