A few weeks ago my friends and I decided to go to Riding Mountain National Park to camp for the weekend. Most of the day was surrounded around the beach and bonfires, but we decided to sneak in a few small trails in between.
It was a tough choice to pick which trails we will be doing, as there are so many great trails out there.
Brule Trail
This 4.2km trail is very easy to locate and has a lot of parking space at the trail head. This trail is a loop with one end opened to the Kinosao Lake, which is what we were looking forward to. The walk over to the open water was great with the scenery of the peaceful forest. We saw a free canoe for public use next to the dock. Although we didn’t use the canoe that day, I am really looking forward to the next time I visit, so I can take her for a spin. The calm open water and the weather forced us to sit of a while so we could soak it all in. Right next to the dock was a boardwalk, which reminded me of another trail that I did a few years back and always wanted to do again. That’s was our next choice.
Boreal Trail
This 1.1km loop trail is a must visit when in Riding Mountain National Park. Pretty much the whole trail is a boardwalk but the best part is the water. There are multiple streams that you will come across when doing the trail. Tall strong trees, forever streaming water and a boardwalk, what more can anyone ask. This trail also includes colourful signage throughout which is ideal for families with kids.
Bead Lakes Trail
I wasn’t too excited for this trail because it looked like it didn’t have an opening to the water and it was raining when we got there. I was completely wrong and the whole 3.9km trail was breathless. There were multiple areas that had a small path to get down to three of the four Bead Lakes. Also the rain made the trail a bit challenging as there is steep incline and decline, total elevation gain of the trail is 105m meters. We saw a lot of fresh bear feces, so beware, there might be bears on or near this trail.
Ominik Marsh Trail
Almost everyone who regularly visits Riding Mountain National Park knows this trail. Just like Boreal Trail, this trail is completely on a boardwalk. But this boardwalk goes on water surrounded by marsh. The water here is so calm that there were moments when my friends and I just saw the reflection of the trees in the water and didn’t say a single word. If you want to relax and calm down, this trail is a must when visiting Riding Mountain National Park.
