Ninette Manitoba is a small village nestled in a wide valley along the North shores of Pelican lake, located only 45 minutes from Brandon.

The lake its situated on is 14 miles long and is filled with Pike, Walleye and Perch., along with your standard bullheads and suckers. The village itself has little to offer due to it’s small size but it does have a pleasant campground situated right along the lake shore. The area boasts great birdwatching opportunities. Pelican Lake also offers a unique opportunity for people interested in yachting. The Pelican Lake Yacht Club offers lessons to novice and experienced sailors alike and has a marina with over 30 boats year round. In the Summer the lake is host to Sailing races and events.

To get to Ninette/Pelican Lake, drive South from Brandon on Highway 10 until Highway 23 which you take East (left) until you go straight to Ninette.

Another beautiful lake in Turtle Mountain Provincial Park. This lake features, fishing, boating, camping, a beach numerous hikes up to 17km in length, a lookout tower, play structures and an interpretive centre. The lake is large and there is still plenty of opportunity to get away from all the noise of city life even when it’s busy at the lake. The beach is packed sand and you can see leeches in the water up to a few inches in length.

For fishermen, you can catch:

• Pike
• Various Trout

For hikers the lake has a lookout tower only 1km from the road system and has a multitude of hiking trails with trail heads all beginning at the same spot. There is also a fitness trail where you will encounter a bunch of fitness challenges such as running across logs and leaping from stumps to stumps. The trail goes along the shoreline and makes for beautiful views of the lake.

To get to Adam Lake, take Highway 10 South past Boissevain and past Bower Lake until you see a sign on your right pointing you to Adam Lake.

Another one of Manitoba’s great lakes, just one hour South of Brandon. While not featuring a beach and smaller than William Lake, Bower lake makes for a great fishing destination and without any camping spots you may find you have the entire lake for itself. There is a boat launch and a small pier as well as a few BBQ boxes to cook up a lunch. There are a couple trail heads which extend farther into the Turtle Mountains.

There are 3 types of fish you can catch here:

• Brown Trout
• Largemouth Bass
• Rainbow Trout (More than 1000 Master anglers have been caught in Bower Lake, which is a stocked Trout lake, in the last 20 years)

If your fishing from the shore, Bower Lake is much more preferable than William Lake as there are no weeds. None! You can seen baby trout swarming by the shore as well as muskrats who live under the pier, herons and Kingfishers. It’s also close enough to Adam and William lake that you can easily change in between them if you wanted too.

To get to the lake just take Highway 10 South past Boissevain until you see a large wooden sign on your right saying Bower lake. If you see a sign saying Adam Lake, turn around because you’ve just gone past Bower. A park pass for Turtle Mountain Provincial Park is required but for 2011 entrance is free of charge.

Typical campsite setting for the lake.

This is the beginning of a series of articles about locations in Riding Mountain National Park (RMNP) which can be accessed from Brandon within two hours.

A beautiful pristine lake with a dozen campsites all along the lake shore, located only an hour and a half from Brandon. Each campsite has a small fire pit and access to the lake which offers great opportunities to go canoeing or fishing in the great outdoors. Usually not too busy in the summer although it has become more popular over the years as more and more people start discovering this gem of a lake. There are two trails running by the lake shore, grasshopper valley which will bring you South around the lake and into the rolling hills of South central Riding Mountain, and a short trail flowing North which will lead you to the Central Trail trail-head. The trail going North runs along the Bison enclosure but they are fenced in and it runs through a forest the whole way.

Make sure to pack away your food, especially overnight as it has become common place for Black Bears to wander into the campsites at night and early morning looking for food. Generally they do not cause any problems but one should never take a risk around them. There is a Ranger station 20 minutes South of the lake along the Park’s entrance. You have to buy a park pass in advance as there is sometimes no rangers present at the entrance or at Lake Audy to issue you one, though lately there has been a couple who have been camping out all summer at the lake and can issue park and overnight camping passes.

The lake shore is rocky and not sandy. There is a boat launch and outhouses and a small open air cooking cabin. There are benches and firewood available at the campsites.

To get there, drive North along highway 10 to Riding Mountain National Park and turn West on 354 about 3km South of Wasagaming and follow the road West until you see a sign point North to Lake Audy and the Bison Enclosure. You will have to drive through the enclosure to get to the campsite, don’t worry about the bison they’ll probably avoid you. Just remember, they have the right of way.

This is the bear who woke me up in the morning after the first picture here was taken. Just a few campsites down the road from us

Just because Brandon is located thousands of kilometers from the nearest ocean it doesn’t mean we don’t have any beaches, it just means we just don’t have many. However one of the best and closest beaches in the area is located only half an hour North of Brandon Mb.

Cool sand and warm waters are exactly what you’ll find at Minnedosa beach. With over 200 meters of sandy beach front sitting by the side of the scenic Minnedosa lake, you’ll be sure to enjoy this wonderful beach. The water is very clean, although not too clear. Occasionally you’ll find that some leaches have attached themselves to you, but this is Manitoba and that’s a given.

Just behind the beach there is a play structure for the little ones as well as a large field to play in. The beach also has a boat launch and a large parking area. There are no animals allowed on the beach but if you want to go check out some animals, you’ll find a herd of plains bison just a few minutes away from the beach at the bison enclosure.

Also situated around the beach is a great marshy walking path, the flag walk which represents the various flags of the people of Minnedosa and a look out tower over the marsh and bison enclosure. A round-trip walk from the beach will only take at max 1 hour and you’ll be amazed at all the things you’ll see. It’s common to find deer in the middle of the path ways as you walk on the trail. There is also a small swinging bridge in the middle of the marsh.

To see the exact locations of all the nearby attractions, please reference the map.