Bucket List No. 8 - Hike - Top of the World Trail

Top of the World Trail - AllTrails Link

Why it is on my list:

View from the Top

I choose this trail as one of my first trails to actually hike because it seemed to have the potential for 

amazing views. It was a relatively short hike, listed with moderate difficulty (...which I didn't think was bad) and it was close to my parents place at the lake which meant it was accessible. The hike is 2.2 miles with 127 ft elevation gain. According to AllTrails it takes an average of 45 minutes to complete but it took us 1 hour 36 minutes to complete (note: this does not include the time we sat and hung out checking out the view and flying the drone). 

I did it! 

On September 18, 2024 at Falcon Lake, Manitoba with Justin. 

How I felt: Amazing! So many things went wrong on the way to the hike and had the potential to ruin the trip or make us cancel but I trust myself and not what I thought were 'signs' that we shouldn't do the hike. I relied on the fact that I'm always prepared and it was awesome. 

Reflecting at the top

I will say this - this was the hike that almost didn't happen. The skies were looking like they could storm but relying on many years of prairie girl knowledge of storms and some weather forecasts we were pretty sure that we could do the hike ok so we headed out. On the way out I noticed a sweet smell in the car and couldn't figure out what it was - I thought for a bit maybe it was a hand soap but it didn't make sense. We ended up stopped at the store in Falcon lake to check for something and when we did that I opened the back of the car and noticed that everything was wet. My entire water bottle had leaked all over the back of the car and my bag; and to make things EVEN better it started to lightly drizzle. I was so close to calling the hike at this point - I mean my bag was soaked in strawberry lemonade crystal light flavoured water and the car was wet and it was starting to drizzle. But I figured we had come this far we might as well take a little tour around the far side of the lake and see what we could see.. When we got to the parking lot I was pretty determined to not let these "signs" dissuade me from doing the hike and I mean I am generally over prepared for everything. So as luck would have it I found my compact hiking towel that I got off amazon or something like that in the car and I dried off what I could and then put the towel between me and the bag and decided off we would go. The hike was amazing - and it starts with going up a ski hill which was very reminiscent of one of my favourite hikes in my life into the mountains as a cadet. 

General Hike information:

Getting to the Trail:

Getting to the trail is really easy - you basically drive to Falcon Ridge Ski Slopes which is on the south side of Falcon Lake. It is located within a provincial park so a park pass is required. If you read all trails and everything else they are very specific about where you can and cannot park and it was slightly confusing - but the basics - keep driving until you can't drive anymore because you are in a parking lot and  the road ends. You will see other signs about parking for the lodge in the summer and restaurant - keep driving by those. You will know if you are in the right spot if you see a red outhouse on the edge of the parking lot. The other spots are for guests of the Lodge and restaurant. 

Navigation on the trail:

Trail Signs

Navigation on the trail I would say is fairly easy - one of two things: Download all trails and you get *most* of the hiking trails available in the area. As Top of the World is not the only hike here. I haven't tried it but I understand Trailforks have the entire system. If you don't want to do that then it's pretty easy just to take a picture of the resort map before you begin. The only thing I will say is a lot of people seemed to miss the turn off towards the cliff view - which honestly the entire reason to do the hike in my opinion. 

Starting the trail:

When you start the trail you will go up and to the right behind the outhouse and it is an ATV/Equipment trail for the most part. The nice thing is that all of the climb is at the start of the trail and it is a steeper climb up but there are no rocks or other things to be climbing over the path is mostly just packed gravel type situation. When you get to the point where you cut off that trail to go to the "top of the world" there is going up and down some rocks on the hike but it is very easy and no large climbs. 

When you get to the cliff there is a little bench and an amazing view where we took a break and flew the drone for a while.

Final thoughts: 

If you are looking for a nice, easier style hike that isn't just flat then I would recommend this trail. The best thing is - as you start wanting to develop you can add other sections on to the trail. 

  

Bucket List No. 6

Bucket List No. 6 - Hike - Pembina Rim Trail

Pembina Rim Trail - AllTrails Link

Why it is on my list:

This trail looked like an amazing fall hike for the colours. It is also not too far from the house, and given the length of the trail it seemed like a good way to build stamina. 

The hike is 4.2 miles with 587 ft elevation gain. According to AllTrails it takes an average of 1 hours 49 minutes to complete but it took us 3 hours 10 minutes to complete. 

I did it! 

On October 10, 2024 in the Pembina Valley Provincial Park with Justin. 

How I felt: Amazing, overwhelmed and definite moments of doubt about why I was doing the hike and my ability to do the hike. 

General Hike information:

Getting to the Trail:

Trail signs

The hike is on a network of trails in the Pembina Valley Provincial Park (MB Gov't info there) and there is is a trail map available through the link. Because the trail is located within a provincial park a park pass is required. When we went we took the turn down highway 432 from just outside Morden - which was mostly gravel roads and had a section where you drove down and through the valley and the sides of the road had obvious wear from weather. On the way out we drover over and took highway 31 back up towards Morden. I highly recommend that drive as its mostly paved roads. It does bring you extremely close to the US border and the Windygate/Maida crossing. Also the park and highways to the park hav spotty cell service so make sure you download the maps for direction to the park. One other IMPORTANT NOTE: make sure you turn off Data Roaming on your phone you are likely to ping a US Cell tower every now and again and will be charged for roaming. 

Navigation on the trail:

 The only thing to know before going is that the actual Pembina  Rim Trail is not doable because a section of the trail is washed out; however, you just fall the rest of the trail and stay off the section marked "closed".  The park contains a series of interconnected trails which look daunting when you look at the map; however, there are sign posts that clearly show the trails and directions at every junction making this an easy hike in terms of navigation once on the trail. 

At the Trail Head

Starting the trail:

The only thing I will say is when you are looking at the trail head map it looks like the only option is to go down to the left on the very obvious hiking trail and then look at a branch to start the loop. If you look in the picture of me at the trail head in the back left corner that is the obvious trail. We went in that direction first. This means you start the trail with some easy declines and then some small up and down climbs before starting the climb up the edge of the valley - which is a steep and steady elevation gain. If/when I do this this trail again I would instead go to the right of the trail head sign - it looks like an ATV or access path which it is. there is two or three climbs before a nice walk across the edge of the valley where there are two look out points and an observation tower at Panorama Point. This was a great place for us to climb even with really tired legs and have our snack and drinks. We shared the tour with another pair and had a lovely talk about hiking the options. 

Final thoughts: 

It was an amazing hike to be doing in mid-October. It was a warmer day out - I think about +13C but it was still super warm on the trail - I don't think there would be a lot of protection from the sun in the summer. There were not a lot of mosquitos (because of the time of the year) but there were a lot of other bugs that I think are no see ums and I did some pretty bad bites from them as we didn't start the day with bug spray so 10/10 recommend making sure you have that on before starting. I found largely that the hiking poles weren't necessary and often had them in our bags during the hike but were happy to have them on the steep final climb up the valley. 

Closed section

Water Crossing

Climb up the Valley

Final Section

End of the Path - start here instead