So far, we have been up the west side of Manitoba, all the way to Churchill. So what about the return down south?
Now it’s time to head south again, along Highway 10. I encourage you to take a detour along PTH 366 and travel south through Duck Mountain Provincial Park to visit Old Baldy (Manitoba’s highest elevation at 833 feet above sea level).
Dauphin
Back on Hwy 10, you will be heading to Dauphin, a city and RM of 10,850 with all the amenities. It is home to the Dauphin’s Country Fest, usually held in late June and the Dauphin Ukrainian Festival, usually held in August but cancelled this year due to flooding,
But Riding Mountain National Park is calling. It was the second Canadian location named as a national park (after Banff) and was once the home of the famed Grey Owl, the Englishman who travelled the world posing as a native person.
If you are travelling early in the morning or just around dusk, you may see some amazing wildlife – an elk, or a black bear. And if not, the scenery is worthwhile. Near the south end of the park, is the summer townsite of Wasagaming. It is teeming with cottagers in summer and offers some very good accommodation as well as fine restaurants. This picturesque little town is on the shores of Clear Lake and there is a very beautiful golf course just outside of town.
Brandon
Next stop is Brandon, population about 50,000. It’s a pretty town on the banks of the Assiniboine River that owes its existence to the railroad as the first terminus west of Winnipeg. When it was under development, it was called the Wonder City of the Northwest as European immigrants poured into the region to take advantage of farmland offers. It then became the Wheat City.
It is home to Brandon University, founded in 1899, which has one of the best schools of music in Canada, and it is home to Keystone Centre, one the Canada’s largest agriculture complexes, combining sports, entertainment and accommodation.
Just over an hour south is the International Peace Garden but be sure to take a quick detour to experience Souris and its swinging bridge. The longest swinging bridge in Canada at 184 metres, it was first constructed back in 1904 to connect the two sides of the town together across the Assiniboine River. While in Souris, stop by and see the 550-year-old Mystical Oak, now designated a heritage tree in Manitoba.
You are just 40 minutes from Boissevain, home of Tommy the Turtle and some mouth-watering cinnamon buns at the Sawmill Café, and from there, another 20 minutes to the International Peace Garden.
The one-and-only in the world, International Peace Garden
Opened in 1932 as a symbol of brotherhood and everlasting peace between Canada and the United States, once inside, the garden allows you to pass freely from one side of the border to the other with no barriers.
The beautiful new conservatory also houses one of the most extensive cactus and succulent collections in North America. The perennials gardens are worth the visit, but there is also the exclusive monument to the World Trade Centre that contains some of the twisted girders from the wreckage, a symbol of what happens when peace is discarded.
Since the trade dispute of the past two years, the garden has hosted a Hands Across the Border event where folks from both countries line up and shake hands as a symbol of their commitment to continued peace.
There is a café and gift shop in the interpretive centre and vintage buildings and picnic shelters to explore as well as a fully serviced campground. The International Music Camp with both an indoor and outdoor theatre is worth visiting in summer when the park resounds with the sound of young musicians.
Home to Winnipeg
From here you will have to find your own way home, but look for highlights such as the tiny village of Ninette, once the home of the tuberculosis sanatorium in Manitoba. The town is nestled on the pretty little Pelican Lake.
You may pass by or through towns such as Wawanesa, home of the insurance company and once home of a museum which illustrates the life of famous bigamist Percy Criddle and his talented family, or Glenboro, near the Manitoba’s Spirit Sands celebrated with a gigantic statue of a camel named Sarah, a hotel built in 1881, and the bow timbers of the last of the prairie navy with steamboats that plied the river between 1875 and 1885.
Holland, Manitoba proclaims its Dutch heritage with a very large windmill. Treherne has a bottle house and church, complete with a bottle-built biffy, all made out of whisky bottles!
You have been on a 2,130 km journey as the crow flies, just 200 km short of a road trip to Vancouver or about 100 km further than a trip from Winnipeg to Toronto (U.S. route), but you haven’t left your province. And we have barely touched the surface of all there is to see and do on other routes!
To find out more about Manitoba sights, check out Travel Manitoba.