Southern Manitoba

Our visit to northern Manitoba was short, but sweet. Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg are very big, long and narrow. What a difference going to the south! We drove through the Narrows of Lake Manitoba, where the large north lake narrows down to the size of a two lane highway (literally) before widening back out to the south part of the lake. It was a windy day (and with the flat land we drove through - no wonder) and the water even at the narrows was a grey-green colour with whitecaps. Almost immediately, you could see the signs of flooding. We camped on Dauphin Lake, just to the south of Lake Manitoba. The campsite had just opened up the last couple of weeks of August because they had been flooded out 3 times this summer. There was driftwood everywhere.

On the way to the eastern border, we passed an "Historic Site", according to the sign on the highway. Not ones to let such things pass by unnoticed, we pulled into this long, one lane gravel driveway. Thinking of the trailer in back of us, I had suggested we walk in, but after 1.5k down this "road" I was glad hubby just drove in. We eventually came to a wide spot, beside a path. The signs along the path described a "Thunderbird Nest". Another 400 meters down the path there was a sign that asked us to leave a "gift" of cloth or tobacco.

Having nothing with us closer than 400 meters, hubby offered up a pocket from his shirt. Because we were camping, the clothes we brought weren't our best and newest. And obviously, the shirt was sewn on pretty tight. And the rest of the shirt was thin.

The Thunderbird Nest, when we stopped laughing and moved on, was a large circle of stones, built to encourage the good spirit, Thunderbird, to take up residence. If nothing else, it was a good walk for us, and a good reason to get rid of an old shirt.

We camped at Whiteshell Provincial Park on the Labour Day Monday. The campgrounds were quiet, and the gatehouses closed. But it was a nice place to stay for a couple of days. We have friends from the Town of Pinawa, so we wanted to tour the area and, of course, do some fishing.

Coming into Ontario, we decided to aim for the Sleeping Giant provincial park outside of Thunderbay. We were surprised by how far off the main highway we had to drive to get to the park. The peninsula didn't look that big from the mainland! And once on the peninsula, there were so many lakes that we drove around even before we got to the one we were camping on! Again, the campgrounds were quiet. We met a deer going in, who wasn't inclined to move off the road, and a couple of ducks came up from the water to nose around our campsite as we were unloading. These animals are obviously used to people.

This is a shot from our campsite to the end of the peninsula, where the Sleeping Giant lays. With all these tall, rocky cliffs, we must be back to the Canadian Shield. In the morning, we could hear wolves howling and a family of mergansers swam right off shore.

Isn't life beautiful?
W