This is a medium length trail that has a 4.6 km (2.7 miles) and a 2.8 km loop option that I found through the Province of Manitoba Website. I found this hilarious as AllTrails has the hike listed as taking 58 minutes while the information from the province says to allow 3 hours for the long loop and 2 hours for the short loop. The elevation gain was listed as moderate with only 193 ft of gain but a lot of the reviews said that the terrain can be challenging so I was intrigued but scared. Mostly it was on my bucket list as it would be my first solo hike in my renewed passion for hiking and even better it is an area that was known to have active bears (so active they had closed down some local waste collection sites), this was in the fall which is when bears can become more active preparing for winter. I thought I was fairly prepared for the hike but very nervous.
I did it!
On October 1, 2024 at McGillivary Falls Trail, Whiteshell Provincial Park, Manitoba - and it was a solo hike.
How I felt: absolutely amazing. I have let fear rule so many parts of my life and it almost prevented me
Me at the end... yes you climb down that
from accomplishing this hike. Being alone, doing a trail that had some climbs to it, in bear country - well I had family that thought I was slightly insane but I was prepare. Literally the only thing I didn't have was a bear bell for my backpack. I did end up buying one before hitting the trail and I was happy about that but mostly I actually just had my phone on the mount on my poles and listened to music (low volume) to make sure I didn't have any big surprises. There were so many points on the trail that I doubted my ability to do the hike, that I was certain I was going to have to be called to be rescued off the hike and I did it and I felt so amazing until I got to the last few meters of the hike and realized there was a massive steep climb down to my car. When I got to the bottom of that climb - let me tell you I sat and I cried. So many feelings and just so proud of myself.
General Hike information:
Getting to the Trail:
The trail is very easy to get to - there is a parking lot just on the west side of Highway 44 north of the Caddy Lake Campground. I will say this driving to the area from west the sign for the turn off for the falls is very easy to miss but if you make it to the caddy turn off which is just a few moments down the road you can easily turn around.
Navigation on the trail:
Long Loop Sign
I did have my AllTrails Map up for this hike, but for a large part of the trail it was very well marked with metal signs on which way to go. Actually, I should specify for the short loop it is very well marked. So the trail is designed with a "large" loop and a "short" loop. The large part is actually an out and back section which departs from the short loop. It leads you to a trail along the edge of the lake for a bit and then over to a small shelter and fire pit. The signs showing this part of the trail were old and in very poor condition but if you had looked at the map before hand it was easy to tell what the signs had meant.
Honestly the long loop was the best part of the trail for me - but I think that has less to do with the trail than what happened at the shelter. Once you come back you continue on the short loop back towards the car - you do not go back over the falls or the first part of the trail. However, this is where navigation can get a little tricky as the hiking trail does overlap with a biking trail. As long as you carefully look at the sign markings you will have no problem making it back to the parking lot. I did encounter a group that had an issue and ended up following the bike path instead and they ended back at the falls and had to walk back the first portion of the trail - maybe 50 meters.
Starting the trail:
First Section of trail
There is a large parking lot with an outhouse and the trail head. Now, if you're not into a big hike and want to see the falls you are in luck. Just past the parking lot there is a little picnic area and then the bridge over the falls. The Falls.... were not falling when I was there in the fall, in fact there was very little water and I could walk on the falls but I hear they are amazing in the spring and look forward to seeing that. I will say this when I saw this section of the trail I thought I was in for a super easy hike and put my poles away on my bag and then quickly learned that if your there just to see the falls it is very easy but anything past that is more work.
Final thoughts:
Honestly for me there were so many things about this hike that made it a big moment for me. The first major category was going on a hike by myself. Forget the fact that I am a female for a moment, and that I am overweight - I was alone on a hike for the first time ever and I had a lot of fear of falling and something happening to me where I would get injured. Add to this the fact that I was hiking in bear country alone in a season where the bears have been very active and some of the local waste disposal sites were closed because of bear activity. I was scared - and a large part of this was not around the getting hurt and what I would do - but rather what would people think. I knew I was prepared for the hike: I had the following with me:
small first aid kit for hiking issues like blisters (items I put into a large pill bottle);
a large first aid kit for more pressing concerns like deep cuts, breaks, springs etc;
Apple phone with emergency satellite messages (even though I was in a good cell service area);
Medications in case of anything (tummy, pain, allergy, etc).
One of the 'bad' signs
I was prepared. I have been trained as a medical assistant as a cadet in my youth and a first aid instructor so if something happened I knew I was prepared. What I was really scared of was two things:
getting on the trail and finding myself in a situation I couldn't get out of because I physically couldn't because I wasn't strong enough;
getting hurt on trail in a manner anyone could get hurt doing, just twisting and ankle or slipping.
The fear didn't certain on those things themselves but the judgement and comments I might get from people who would have to come and rescue me, knowing if I break a leg or get injured in some other fashion they were going to have to carry my 300 lbs body out of the woods and the thoughts I would face from people thinking I shouldn't have been there in the first place.
Looking towards the lake
I had so much fear and doubt but when I got to the top of the falls which ironically is probably the easier part of the trail - I was so proud and there was such an amazing view I was so happy but then I got to the decision point. The point where you have to decide to do the out and back section to finish the "long loop" or just head back and I had a moment of hesitation where I almost decided not to but I so wanted to see the fire pit on the side of the lake so off I went on what is the easiest part of the hike. When I got to the shelter and the fire pit I wanted to take on my second challenge - making fire with a fire stick and knife. Honestly, I've always wanted to be on survivor but how do I do that if I don't learn how to make fire right?! So I tried for a while and then couldn't get it right, so I stopped filming and watched some youtube videos and learned the difference between a flint and fire stick and then off I went and guess what I made a fire. So I sat on the ledge of a rock, beside a fire pit with a fire I had just started with nothing but a knife and fire stick, and ate my snacks over looking the lake. Truly I did not want to leave it was pure happiness just being in nature. It was in that moment that I knew I wanted to do more of this, that I wanted to hike and spend nights in spots like this, overlooking lakes and just being - something I'm horrible at.
I eventually had to pack up and head back on the trail and it was amazing, and again I had doubts about if I could do it but then I remembered when I looked at the path in front of me that I had just done things as hard or hard and I could do it - that was until the final decent back to the car which honestly I laugh watching my GoPro footage back because I literally stopped and swore at what was in front of me. The final part you start at the top of what is actually a high cliff that you don't realize your on until you see that your standing basically at the tops of full size trees and the car down in the parking lot that seems tiny is your car and then you see you have to go down a rock scramble to get to the car. but... I did it and then sat and cried because I was so proud of myself - I had done it - I had done the hike, I had made fire, I had done it alone, I had done it scared, I had done it at peace, I had done parts of it dancing, but I did it.
My parents have a place close to Caddy Lake and I have heard about the tunnels for a number of years and with the rise of things I have seen about traveling in Manitoba on Social media lately I became far more interested in the tunnels. I never did much research as they seemed a lot out of reach but lately since our purchase of our Body Glove from Costco (similar to this one) for about $400 I have been taking every opportunity I can to explore. I want to be clear while it is a stand up paddle board and I have since learned how to stand on them and can do fairly well I still haven't manage to get myself back on the board so usually I will sit or kneel on the board. I like them more than Kayaks because I can lay down on it or drag my feet through water - but alas that is a different post. The point is I have had a lot of excuses why I should NOT do the paddle - including the fact that it's a decent paddle, about 2 miles in one direction; that the wind can suddenly kick up on the lake and give big waves. Honestly though I am tired of living but not actually living because of fear and excuses.
I did it!
On August 19, 2024 at Caddy Lake, Manitoba with Wynn.
How I felt: Amazing - I learned many lessons on this trip including learning that really - when people say you shouldn't look back it's not true. Sometimes you need to take a minute, look back on where you came from and the progress you made and just marvel and what you accomplished.
General Hike information:
Getting to the "Trail":
There is no "official" start to the this trip but there are generally two options: launch from Green Bay Resort OR park and launch from the Caddy Lake Camp ground parking lot. I parked at the campground and would recommend that for a number of reasons.
Taking a break on the Island
1. Green Bay Resort is a private resort so you either have to pay $20 to park in the parking lot and launch your own equipment. If you have a cabin in the area and just need to use their launch it is still $10. Aside from this factor the biggest one for me is that it adds to the distance you have to paddle by about 1 or 2 miles in one direction.
2. Caddy Lake Campground hosts Caddy Lake Resort. You can park in the parking lot for "free" I say that because you do have to have a park pass but there is no specific fee for parking in the lot. The staff in the Caddy Lake Resort were amazing answering questions for us when we first arrived (they have new owners).
If you do not own your own paddle boards, kayaks or canoes you can rent them from either place. Caddy Lake also has cabins you can rent or you can find a spot in the campground if you would like to overnight.
There is an outhouse near the parking lot - it's up and over the little hill that's there and not completely obvious but fairly easy to find.
Navigation on the trail:
We had our phones with us and we had them in the protective Body Glove sleeves that came without our
phones. I will note that we have iPhones that are water proof and can be submerged and honestly I keep them in the case mostly because it has a long string on it so I don't loose or drop it in the water. I keep the string lashed to my life jacket. You can download an All Trails map - but honestly you head out and paddle North and keep going until you see tunnels so there is not a huge concern for navigation.
Starting the trail:
On the Island
Once you start the paddle it is a little deceiving how far you have to go because you can't see around the bend in the lake to where the tunnels are. We paddle out to the little island in the middle of the lake and explored that first before heading towards the tunnel. We also stopped because we felt like we were having issues with our inflatable Kayak that Wynn had chosen to take and I honestly just thought it was an "us" issue not inflating it fully. Unlike the paddle boards the Kayak is only blow up to 1 PSI - which means you can open it up and inflate it by mouth (the paddle boards are 15 PSI/1Bar - which is a lot of pressure).
As we got to the second bend in the lake it became obvious that there were issues with the Kayak so Wynn pulled up and was going to wait at one of the docks a long the lake while I continued to the tunnel. As I approached the tunnel another gentleman was coming through and I asked if he was heading back towards the beach and he was so he agreed to paddle with Wynn back to the beach and keep an eye on them given we had concerns about the kayak.
I managed to make it through the tunnels - I did use my whistle to give one loud blast going through as it is not a straight tunnel and you cannot see what's coming from the other end. It was amazing the current was strong enough to push me gently through so I could take some video and pictures.
Final thoughts:
I think we left the beach around 1:20 pm and we didn't arrive back at the beach until I would say almost 4:00 pm and there were people just heading out to paddle. I will say this if your going to do the paddle I would leave earlier in the morning and give yourself a fair amount of time. There were a number of people doing the paddle so we weren't alone but it wasn't over crowded. There were a couple of boats on the lake but all were respectful and kept their distance.
It was honestly on the way back that I learned something. The entire paddle to the tunnel I was working towards a goal I knew I wanted to reach and had dreamed of seeing but most of the paddle was on faith that I could do it that I could make the trip and that I hadn't gotten in over my head. Given that I didn't have a map or a trail guide to follow it was hard to know how far I had to go to reach the tunnel and how far I had to travel back to the beach. It wasn't until I reached the last bend and was looking at where Wynn and the other kayaker were that I realized just how far left I had to go and then in some ways worse I saw them keep going past where I thought the beach was so it was actually further.
I took a moment to stop and reflect in the middle of the lake—thinking about how far I still had to travel and how distant the little island seemed, even though it hadn’t felt that far when we started. I took a drink of water and looked back to see how far I had traveled to get to the tunnel and back to where I was. It was up to this moment that I still had doubts that I could do it, doubts that I would be able to paddle to the tunnel and back. There I was, in the middle of it, almost done, yet I still didn’t believe in myself, even though all my progress was right in front of me. I was literally staring at the distance I had already traveled, proof that I was capable but still full of doubts I sat there on my board and cried. It was such a metaphor for the last few years of my life. I’ve gone from being at my worst, seeing nothing but the end, to actually being out here and doing the things I’ve wanted to do—yet still struggling with doubt and lacking belief in myself. In that moment, I realized that the old adage “don’t look back” was wrong. Looking back showed me just how strong I really am.
