Hamilton is a city of 500,000, part of the ‘Golden Horseshoe’ that includes the Greater Toronto area and 1/5 of Canada’s population. Historically Canada’s ‘Steel City’, Hamilton still has an industrial feel. Even so, there’s some very nice running in Hamilton, taking advantage of the city’s setting on the western shore of Lake Ontario, with the 200m high Niagara Escarpment dividing its upper and lower halves.
For lakeside running, there’s a lovely Waterfront Trail near downtown, and another one alongside Hamilton Beach and Burlington Beach. Another great place to run in Hamilton is along a series of multi-use paths along the Niagara Escarpment, which includes a series of stair paths — can you do all 1400 of them? The centrally located Hendrie Valley route is a lovely combination botanical garden, arboretum, and preserve. For a longer off-road run, the Hamilton-Bradford multi-use trail runs for 35 km through farmland west to Brantford. Trail runners will love our Falls and Stairs route, as well as a a section of the long-distance Bruce Trail.
Hamilton is a pretty compact city and is well served by a bus system. Runners should note that Hamilton’s winters can be cold and snowy, with temps consistently below freezing and some 100 cm of average snowfall.
