A(sessippi) to Z(ed Lake)

with Neil Babaluk

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• Historic Hecla

  
  Fall is an interesting time of year for Manitoba's provincial parks. The busy summer season is over and the winter recreation season has yet to start up. Most parks are extremely quiet. Hecla/Grindstone Provincial Park is no exception. The lack of crowds makes this a great time to visit the park.

  View Full Post 11/18/2010 1:38 PM 0

• Provincial parks in your backyard

  
  My journey to visit all of Manitoba's 77 road-accessible provincial parks has taken me thousands of kilometres from Winnipeg to every corner of the province. When people think of provincial parks, they think of a getaway from their urban habitat, so it may surprise most people that Winnipeg is home to several provincial parks. This past weekend, I travelled from one end of Winnipeg to the other to visit three existing parks and the future home of another.

  View Full Post 11/3/2010 3:24 PM 0

• Fall beach weekend

  
  The beaches were empty and most cottages stood shuttered for the season. The leafless trees provided a stark landscape. The west side of Lake Winnipeg is a different place in the fall. There are very few cottagers remaining and the lakeside towns have mostly closed up shop for the season. Only the locals remain.

  View Full Post 10/20/2010 10:55 AM 0

• Walking through the tall grass

  
  The end of summer meant time to scale-back the road trips and buckle down for the current school year. There will be no more 13 hours drives and no more camping, but the journey isn't over. Thirteen parks remain (of the original 77) to be explored. After a two week absence, Manitoba Parks: A to Z is back, with this week's stop at Beaudry Provincial Park.

  View Full Post 10/6/2010 10:25 AM 0

• The return of the snakes

  
  Red-sided garter snakes travel great distances every fall to return to their winter dens near Narcisse, Manitoba. Tens of thousands of these snakes migrate back to the limestone crevices that serve as winter homes, using what scientists believe are "scent trails" left by snakes travelling ahead. When fall rolls around, the central Interlake is inundated with these migratory snakes.

  View Full Post 09/23/2010 1:59 PM 0

• Final northern adventure

  
  The September long weekend marked a major accomplishment for me. I've made it through the most difficult part of my quest, visiting all of northern Manitoba's road-accessible provincial parks. The trip to Bakers Narrows, Grass River, and Clearwater provincial parks, was my third journey north this summer. Like the previous two trips, it was tough to leave and return to Winnipeg.

  View Full Post 09/16/2010 1:56 PM 0

• Mountain Marathon

  
  The sun was shining, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the temperature was pushing 30 degrees Celsius. It was a beautiful day in the Porcupine Hills of western Manitoba. The problem was that even though it was a beautiful summer day, we spent most of the day in the car.

  View Full Post 09/9/2010 2:35 PM 0

• Hiking with ghosts of the Rebellion

  
  Manitoba's history came alive last Friday night at St. Norbert Provincial Heritage Park. The park's annual Ghost Hike commemorates the violent events that led up to Manitoba entering into Confederation in 1870.

  View Full Post 09/2/2010 12:21 PM 0

• Cycling along the Red

  
  Who knew the road that I grew up on is a provincial park? I had no clue about this until I began planning the schedule for my travels. River Road in St. Andrews, roughly 15 kilometres north of the Perimeter Highway, is a provincial park that commemorates the history of settlement along the banks of the Red River.

  View Full Post 08/26/2010 4:22 PM 0

• Manipogo!

  
  Lake Manitoba teems with fish. Anglers can pull out large numbers of Walleye, Northern Pike, and Yellow Perch. One species of marine life that no one has managed to catch is the elusive Lake Manitoba monster – Manipogo.

  View Full Post 08/18/2010 1:19 PM 0

• Beach Weekend, Volume 2

  
  My last trip to northern Manitoba drained my batteries completely. The combination of the seven hour drive to Paint Lake, the additional full day drive to Pisew and Wekusko falls, and the return trip to Winnipeg was exhausting. A busy week at work, combined with helping friends paint their new house and visits to several Folklorama pavilions, compounded my travel fatigue.

  View Full Post 08/12/2010 2:29 PM 0

• Falling in Northern Manitoba

  
  For hundreds of years the Grass River served as the major “highway” of the north. Cree hunters, followed by European explorers and fur traders, used the Grass River as their primary transportation route across northern Manitoba. It has been many years since roads have replaced the river as the primary artery of the north. The Grass River is now a tourist destination and no longer a route of exploration and commerce.

  View Full Post 08/5/2010 12:32 PM 0

• Beach weekend

  
  It's perfect beach weather. With that in mind, this past week's travels focused on lounging in the sun and taking it easy - a relaxing beach weekend.

  View Full Post 07/28/2010 10:42 AM 0

• Peaceful Prairies

  
  The rolling fields of blazing yellow canola illustrated to us the diversity of Manitoba's landscape. After weeks of visiting the sandy eskers of northern Manitoba, the rocky crags of eastern Manitoba, and the limestone cliffs of the Interlake, the fertile fields of south-western Manitoba provided a contrasting change of scenery.

  View Full Post 07/21/2010 11:29 AM 0

• Entrance to the Wilderness

  
  Nopiming means "entrance to the wilderness" in Anishinabe. This term couldn't be any more true, when applied to Nopiming Provincial Park.

  View Full Post 07/15/2010 11:14 AM 0

• North of 56

  
  Lynn Lake is roughly 1,090 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. Let's put that into perspective: That's almost the same distance between Winnipeg and Medicine Hat, Alberta; almost the same distance between Winnipeg and Omaha, Nebraska. It takes about 12 hours of driving through some of the most pristine forests in Canada to arrive at this remote town, built as the result of a 20th century gold and nickel rush. Twelve hours on the road – all within the province of Manitoba.

  View Full Post 07/7/2010 10:51 AM 0

• Little Haunted House on the Prairie

  
  The wide-open prairie can be a spooky place late at night. I discovered this last weekend, while driving across the lonely stretch of land between Spruce Woods Provincial Park and Brandon. The pale light of the full moon made every cluster of trees seem haunted and gave the mist that hung over the land an unearthly glow.

  View Full Post 06/30/2010 12:51 PM 0

• Sunshine on the shore of Lake Manitoba

  
  Beautiful sandy beaches, striking limestone cliffs, and the sun shining down – this past weekend’s trip to Manitoba's provincial parks was totally opposite to the previous weekend's.

  View Full Post 06/25/2010 9:52 AM 0

• The Interlake's remote Saint lakes

  
  With 77 provincial parks to visit over the course of the year, not every journey is going to be spectacular. Not every park will offer the majestic rolling hills of Turtle Mountain, the primitive wilderness of Grass River or the shape-shifting sand dunes of Spruce Woods. My recent trip to three parks in the central Interlake region was one of these journeys.

  View Full Post 06/16/2010 9:45 AM 0

• The cradle of hydroelectricity

  
  One hundred and four years ago, the turbulent flow of the Pinawa Channel forever changed the lives of Manitobans. Today, the remnants of the Pinawa Dam remain as a memorial to the birth of hydro electricity in Manitoba.

  View Full Post 06/10/2010 10:57 AM 0