We arrived in Winnipeg yesterday afternoon. Actually our campground is in Ile des Chenes, south of Winnipeg. After setting up we drove into the French area, St Boniface, and found a charming French restaurant called Resto Gare Bistro and Train Bar. We ate on the patio in back. Wonderful food.
Today we drove up to Lake Winnipeg. From a geological point of view, this is a fascinating area. A HUGE portion of Manitoba and northern Minnesota were once covered by the ancient Lake Agassiz. This lake was formed by the melting glacial ice of the most recent ice age. I read the Wikipedia article and it is good reading. In a nutshell: The lake had many outflows over a very long period of time, one of which was the ancient Minnesota River. The ice gained and receded several times, and the land changed in elevation and contour giving rise to other ancient lakes and rivers. Lake Agassiz was at one time larger than all the Great Lakes put together. Finally the ice receded, the waters flowed out until what was left are the lakes of today which includes the very large Lake Winnipeg. We drove up to the main (maybe the only accessible) beach, Grand Beach, in the Provincial Park of that name, very popular in the summer. Here are some views.
We did a 2 plus mile hike in an area that geologists have identified as an ancient beach. The hike is nowhere near the water today. It involves a little easy hiking up what was once the scarp, to a level area of what was once an island. Along the path were areas of deep sand, once a beach, and of course the level of the water changed over time, so there are multiple ancient beaches. Everything now is covered by forest. I didn't take any photos but the hike was certainly interesting.
We also walked a brand new boardwalk, constructed by the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation, in an area that is forest and fen. This 1 1/2 mile boardwalk takes one in an area of rare plants - pitcher plants, lady slippers, butterwort (purple), bladderwort (yellow), wild potentilla, cotton grass (they look like hoary Q-tips), Green Bog orchid, wild comfrey and coral root. I read about these, didn't actually identify or see many, but we did see plenty of the carnivorous pitcher plant.
