Ste. Anne, Manitoba: Exploring the trails off of the Pipeline

May 25, 2019

A short walk from my family home there is a network of trails that the locals have built and maintained for the past several years. My dad and I have recently discovered them and went for a hike on Easter weekend. It was unusually warm that day and almost felt like summer. We actually got a bit of sun which was a good reminder that it doesn’t need to be summer to put on sunscreen.

We had a few hours before we were gathering for Easter dinner so we headed out down the road and entered the trails from the pipeline. This is a cleared area where the TransCanada PipeLine runs underground. There are several trail entrances marked by little white signs. We chose Willow’s way and entered the beautiful sunny forest.

Pipeline Trail Map

The leaves had not come out yet so we could see through all of the trees and get a good look at what was hidden among the trails. We found boulders, dens, swampy areas and beautiful spruce trees! We hiked until we came to the Wilderness Lodge and found all sorts of fun decorations and a nice place for a rest. I took a photo of the map on my phone so we could figure out how to get out of there later. So many little shortcuts and directions to explore!

: Bush Trail Log

: Dad and I sign in

: Bigfoot area? What?

: Bird Outhouse

The trails were really fun because we kept finding neat little benches, signs and even teepees out in the middle of the bush. It made for a few really interesting hours of exploring! We didn’t encounter any animals but we did sneak up on some prairie chickens. They got spooked easily and fly off in a flurry of panic. We took a few rests at the Wigwam Inn and the lovely Spruce Corner. There is a section of the trail just south of Spruce Corner where a lot of young trees are growing. In future years, it will be a gorgeous stretch of trail.

: Do not remove! Lol!

: The Wigwam Inn

: It’s a long way to Tuktoyuktuk!

: Cute little spruce tree

It was starting to get late and we were getting hungry. We thought we could almost smell the turkey cooking at home. So we followed the Cottonwood trail, down to Willow’s way and back onto the pipeline. Of course we did a good search for wood ticks and luckily we had none! That’s always a good way to end a Sunday hike.