I was riding my bicycle through St. Norbert, just south of Winnipeg, and decided to get a little closer to the CN bridge that crosses the La Salle River.
I’ve seen the bridge many times – never caught a train on it – but I’ve only seen it “up close” from the north end where a street crosses close by. With my bicycle, I was able to roll right under it, and discover a fun bike trail at the same time.
It’s a three-span steel bridge over the normally quiet La Salle River, hosting the CN Letellier subdivision between Portage Junction in Winnipeg and the US border in Emerson.
There’s one track across the bridge, with guard rails between the normal pair of rails, and walkways on both sides. These walkways are not for us plebians, though, as the NO TRESPASSING signs clearly indicate on both ends of the bridge.
I definitely would not want to be walking across this bridge when a train came by… the walkway is far too close to the tracks!
Below is a view of the bridge from the north end – you can see the walkways and how close they are. This photo is from April 20, 2014 when there was a derailment just south of the bridge on the S curve there. (blog post about the derailment)
Anyway, back to 2025.
After crossing under the bridge, I kept following the forest path, wondering where it led. I love exploring.
It turns out that the forest contains a twisty, narrow bicycle / jogging path!
Such fun!
I found it to be a lot of fun, and challenging too. It is NOT level and there are plenty of roots and other hazards to navigate. I had to dismount a few times to walk my bike up a steep portion, but in general it was rideable. It helps that I have a sturdy mountain bike that I don’t mind banging up a bit.
Here’s a little video I took “from the handlebars”.
At one point I broke out of the woods and found myself beside the La Salle River. It was pretty peaceful but a bit mucky.
After an hour of slamming through the woods, I reemerged at my starting point and went into St. Norbert to the excellent farmer’s market there. I had to pause on the road bridge to take one more bicycle photo.
It’s great when I can combine two of my hobbies – bicycling and railfanning. Next time, maybe CN will send a train along…
Biking is a great way to railfan. I do a 15 Km out and back from my house that gets me into the forest to see wildlife and up to CP’s Mactier sub to see trains when the timing works out.
Sounds like a great circuit!