Manitoba is filled with all sorts of beautiful treasures that most people will never see because they think they need to travel somewhere else to see things. Manitoba has everything from rock cliffs like Étretat France to waterfalls like B.C. to blue water like the Philipinnes (okay maybe some of these things are smaller versions of those places, but still, pretty damn cool you can see all that in Manitoba!) Do yourself a favor and travel to some of these incredible places. It will give you a greater appreciation of this wonderful province.
Northern Manitoba Road Trip
Route Plan:
- Winnipeg -> Cooks Campground: 4hr 45 min (452 km)
- Cooks Campground -> Little Limestone Lake: 45 min (66 km)
- Little Limestone Lake -> Paint Lake: 2hr 15 min (235 km)
- Paint Lake -> Pisew Falls: 33min (49 km)
- Pisew Falls -> Kwasitchewan Falls -> Pisew Falls: Overnight hike/12 hr (30km roundtrip hike)
- Pisew Falls -> Wekusko Falls: 1 hr 40 (160 km)
- Wekusko Falls -> Clearwater Lake: 2hr 10 min (200 km)
- Clearwater Lake -> Steep Rock: 4hr 50 min (475 km)
- Steep Rock -> Winnipeg: 2 hr 30 min (235 km)
Stop #1: Little Limestone Lake
Imagine stepping out the resort doors at your place in the Bahamas and looking at the water. Manitoba weather may not be quite the same, but you can bet the water is. Little Limestone lake changes colors from teal blue to turquoise green as the day goes on when the sun is shining. Hopefully, you get it on a sunny day so you can admire the changing color and the clear lake. In cooler weather, the water is crystal clear. This is because it is the LARGEST marl lake in the world. This means that the ground gives off special dye like food coloring and colors the lake! Okay, no it doesn’t, but that would be cool right?! It has something to do with calcite reacting and rising when it is warm and drops when it is cold, making it clear (or something probably pretty close to that, go somewhere else to learn science).
We left Cooks Campground in the morning and drove to Little Limestone as a pit stop in the morning. The turn off is super hard to see because the sign is small. The road to get to Little Limestone is terrible. If you think the pot holes in Winnipeg are bad, you haven’t seen anything yet. We were driving a Honda Fit, not exactly built for bad roads, so we pulled over to the side of the road and walked to the lake. Tbh the road is pretty short so this isn’t hard to do.
There are campsites right at Little Limestone lake but you need to get permission from the Mosakahiken Cree Nation as it is their land. We were the only ones there when we arrived in the morning and didn’t have any canoes/kayaks so only stayed for 30 min before continuing on to our next stop. The pebble beach area isn’t very big so you can walk the shore in 5 minutes.
Activities: Admire the beautiful lake or bring your own canoe/kayaks to paddle around. You can fish on the lake and bring your boat but there isn’t a boat launch.
Campground: Cooks Campground- this campsite is not a provincial campsite, but privately owned. Go see Terry in the office when you arrive (trailer when you first drive into the campground). The site costs like $20 and you just pay and find a site once you’re there. ALSO there are bathrooms & showers, they are beside the main office/Terry’s house. We discovered them in the morning and he was confused if we just held it all night. Sorry Terry, we peed in the trees.
Closest City/Town: Grand Rapids
Stop #2: Paint Lake
Paint Lake is the perfect pit stop if you are planning on heading to Pisew Falls or to Thompson. We camped the night before then woke up early to make the 30 min drive to Pisew Falls. The campground is awesome. Definitely take time to walk around. You can walk across a thin strip of land to another island where there is a basketball hoop and lots of swimming areas. You can also rent yurts which looked super cute. We rented a canoe and went to a nearby island to hang out. We contemplated swimming but the water was ice cold. If we came earlier in the season it would have been beautiful to swim.
Activities: Rent canoes/kayaks on Paint Lake from the Paint Lake Lodge. There is also a restaurant by the lodge with an adorable patio. It was $15/hr for the canoe rental or $50 for the day. There is a boat dock/launch and a SEPARATE DOG SWIM AREA! HOW CUTE IS THAT. Only 30 minutes north from Paint Lake and you’ll hit Thompson, 30 minutes south you get to Pisew Falls. Choose your own adventure.
Campground: Paint Lake Provincial Park Campground
Due to COVID all the campsites we booked through the provincial website and went straight to our site. No checking in which was sweet. Most campsites check in time is 4pm and check out time is 3pm.
Closest City/Town: Thompson
Stop #3 Pisew Falls -> Kwasitchewan Falls
Manitoba’s top two largest waterfalls are only 15 km apart! Pisew Falls is a massive waterfall measuring13 metres high and Kwasitchewan Falls holds the title for largest waterfall in Manitoba standing 14 metres high, only one metre taller than Pisew Falls. You can drive right up to Pisew Falls and stop for a picnic beside the falls and walk around on the well-travelled trails. If you are up for the adventure (and have the right gear) you can hike the 30 km roundtrip to Kwasitchewan Falls.
This hike route info says it is only 22km, but it is a lie. Do not trust any of the distance signs because it may get your hopes up too high. This is an intermediate trail for people who are used to hiking (or have done the Mantario), but mostly because it is long. There isn’t a ton of elevation change and the path is pretty straightforward. HOWEVER, there are some portions where there are multiple paths and the signs are misleading. Try to follow either the most straightforward path or the blaze tape. Or close your eyes spin around and pick one. Most paths lead to the same place in the end, it just may take you on a little detour.
To start the hike GO ACROSS THE ROTARY BRIDGE. We didn’t and found a blazed trail on the parking lot side, which was not very clear and followed it for five minutes in the pouring rain. We then spent five minutes trying to justify why we were probably going the right way, “the bridge looks pretty new, there is no way we have to cross it to get to Kwasitchewan Falls…” The bridge was built in the 90’s. We were stupid and overconfident. Look at the map maybe before you start. You’ll save time.
We did the Philips side first day and Grass River side the second day because we heard it was more scenic! Along the route, we encountered a few people who said just do the Philips side because the Grass river is so much harder. I really liked seeing both sides of the trail and I think they are pretty comparable in difficulty. The Grass River side may have a little more elevation changes but it is definitely prettier so I would do the full loop to get both experiences.
Activity: Hiking! (duh)
Campground: There are four backcountry sites to stay at. There is no camping right at Pisew Falls, so if you just plan to visit for the day I would recommend staying at Paint Lake and driving in.
All the backcountry sites are located around the halfway point near Kwasitchewan falls. Each site is large enough for multiple groups to stay and is equipped with a fire pit. Some also have an outdoor biffy. **Note they do not have bear boxes so you will have to hang your food.** You don’t have to book any of these in advance, just show up and camp.
Closest City/Town: Wabowden
Stop #3: Wekusko Falls
This beautiful campground offers back country sites where you walk in and front country sites that provide electrical. You can book either on the provincial government website. PLUS they provide firewood. What a steal. There are two suspension bridges within a five-minute walk where you can watch as the rushing water passes under you. We stayed at the backcountry sites which were HUGE and still provided a picnic table and fire pit. They are a lot more private and only a 3-5 minute walk from the parking lot.
Activities:
- Walk along Grass River to see Wekusko Falls and cross both suspension bridges.
- Canoe from Wekusko Falls lodge to see the Tramping Lake pictographs that are over 1000 years old and only accessible by boat. We didn’t go see them because it was cold and raining the day we planned to go, but you can rent a canoe from Wekusko Falls lodge for $30/day or a lund fishing boat for $135/day plus gas.
Campground: Wekusko Falls Provincial Park
Closest city/ town: Snow Lake- fill up for gas here!
Detour!
On the way to Clearwater Lake, make a pit stop in Grass River Provincial Park at Iskwasum Campground. You can find the Karst Spring Trail which is a 3.2km loop and about half way through the hike you will hit a section where water streams out of solid rock. :0 Nature is cool.
Stop #4: Clearwater Lake
You will not believe this exists in Manitoba. This hidden gem has caves and tunnels made of rock right beside Clearwater Lake which is insanely blue. Clearwater Caves is a self-directed trail located in between the two campsites that you have to drive to get to. The map says it is only an 800 metre hike and should only take you 45 minutes, but that’s not including picture taking and climbing in and around the rocks (which obviously you have to do). We climbed through the caves and tunnels which would have been difficult to do with small kids or mobility issues. There is a mostly flat path to walk around the caves as well. We probably spent an hour to an hour and a half just because we really took our time exploring and appreciating the pebble beaches and turquoise blue lake.
Activities: The Caves Self Guiding Trail & Boreal Way Hiking Trail
Boreal Way Hiking Trail can be accessed from Campers Cove Campground. It is a 3km loop or you can keep going and complete the whole 7km hike. If you continue past the loop, you will see old abandon vehicles and machinery that nature has reclaimed and grown around.
Campground: Campers Cove or Pioneer Bay
Closest City/Town: The Pas
Pit stop
On the way to Steep Rock you can make a pit stop in the Pas! We went to Miss the Pas which is a restaurant with a ton of antique things hung up all around the restaurant giving it a super unique look. I got a milkshake which was THE BOMB but I got SO sick after because I am 90% sure I am lactose intolerant. It affected me for days afterward, but it was worth it. I got a grilled cheese too which wasn’t anything special, it was made of kraft singles cheese too. The prices are very affordable there. We also stopped to get Donz iced coffee, because we love dollar days. Honestly, who doesn’t?!
Stop #5: Steep Rock
Large cliff faces. Goat island? Oh my! Steep Rock reminded me of a smaller version of Étretat in France. Jarring cliff faces and pebble beaches. When we got there it started raining. Obviously. Our trip wouldn’t have been complete without a little bit of rain everywhere we stopped. You have to park about 500 meters from the cliffs (follow the big P parking signs) and walk down the road to get to the cliffs. As soon as you get there you will see the pebble beaches and the snack shop/rental shop to your right. You can rent canoes or kayaks here! On your left, there are multiple trails you can walk to see different viewpoints of the rocks and climb down to walk along the beaches. This would be beautiful on a hot & sunny day to swim. You can’t camp right at the cliffs, but the campsite isn’t too far away by car. Also I wouldn’t recommend cliff jumping….seems extremely unsafe and dumb.
Activities:
- Rent canoes or kayaks to travel to an island across the lake, named goat island
- Walk the trails to see the different viewpoints of the rock cliffs
- Swim off the pebble beaches
Campground: Steep Rock Campground
Closest City/Town: Moosehorm/Ashern
Tips
- Fill up for gas whenever you have the chance, some gas stations are few and far between so don’t put yourself in the situation where you run out. Also you will encounter a lot of cardlock gas stations, where you need a code in order to buy gas. At some places, people have written the 4 digit code beside the pump where you pay to get gas. Use the code= get access to gas. You won’t be able to buy gas without it.
- Book your campsites in advance on the Manitoba Provincial Parks site (https://prspub.gov.mb.ca/FacilitySearch.aspx ) With COVID we didn’t have to check in once we got to our campsite, we just drove straight there. Check in time was 4pm and check out time was 3pm.
- Due to COVID a lot of the facilities were closed at the campgrounds ie. main office, showers, some bathrooms (yes we didn’t shower for a week). Research before you go
Enjoy experiencing Manitoba’s beauty to the fullest.
