Located only 25 minutes from Brandon, just south of Shilo, this provincial park provides the visitor with a view of life in the Prairies in the 1800′s and also showcases an important figure of the Westman area.

Criddle/Vane Homestead Provincial Park is Manitoba’s 79th newest provincial park and was created just recently in 2004. It features a number of buildings constructed at the turn of the 20th century, Manitoba’s first golf course (which is now free to play, although the experience will be rustic), a number of interpretative signs along a trail and a short 1.4km trail which leads you around the area and mixed prairie-land with a great view of the Brandon Hills towering in the distance.

The site has the original house of the family along with two other buildings used by the family to catalogue and study the area’s ecology. There are many signs which explain the significance of each structure and as well as the family cemetery.

The park is currently asking for volunteers to help with various improvements.

If interested contact:

Paul Criddle (727-8179) Home, (570-2983) Cell

Gary Everard (728-4135) Home

Help is needed to improve golf greens, work small gardens, plant flowers, work ground for vegetables, planting and placing wild flower names by their proper blooming flowers.

To get to Criddle/Vane Park go east from Brandon on Veterans Highway and take it until 340 which you will go South on towards Shilo. Drive past Shilo and you’ll see a sign point to your left (east) towards the park. It takes 25 minutes to drive.

Turtle Mountain Provincial Park is easily on of the most accessible and eventful parks in the Westman region. Filled with tens of lakes and a rich forest cut by dozens of trails the entire park makes for an excellent day or week trip.

The park was created in the 1960′s and since then has been a favorite for Manitobans. The main lakes of the park are Adam lake, Bower lake and Max lake. They are all accessible by vehicle and have camping sites by the lake shore. Many of the lakes are stocked with trout and have been producing thousands of master anglers since the program began. Another key attraction is the International Peace Garden’s which lie on the border with North Dakota. William Lake Provincial Park is also located just to the East.

If your wanting an adventure head over to Max or Oskar lake with your canoe and take one of their many canoe routes. There is a shelter at Oskar Lake that can be used by registered canoers/hikers for overnight stays but can be used by anyone during the day. There is a 40km cycling route with a trail-head at Oskar Lake. For hikers your best starting point is at Adam Lake which has the most trails of the park. Canoers can launch from Max Lake and paddle on the Oskar and explore the area as the lakes are interconnected.

For swimming the best beach in the one at Adam Lake. Adam Lake is also the most civilized of the camps as it offers full service camping with electricity and even showers.

To get to the park, Drive South from Brandon Mb on Highway 10 for 100km and you see the entrance to all the lakes on your right. Note that if you want to explore Max/Oskar Lake you need to turn right (West) on highway 3 and take it for 6.5km then turn left (South) when you see the sign for Max Lake.

A provincial park pass is required to explore the park but for 2011 all admittance is free.

Another excellent destination less than an hour away from Brandon. The william lake features many hiking trails, a sand beach, RV camping, a boat launch and a lake stocked with rainbow trout and other species of fish. You must obtain a park pass to enter however for 2011 all provincial parks are free to enter.

Fishing at William lake can be done from the shore or with non gasoline powered watercraft. If you are fishing from the shore, there is a small boat launch by the main beach you can fish from. Right off the dock you will catch perch which swarm at anything that comes near them. So it’s a great way to get kids involved in fishing as there is no way you can get skunked at this lake. The shore is quite weedy off the beach so it can be a problem to fish from there. The fish found at William Lake are:

• Brook Trout
• Brown Trout
• Northern Pike
• Perch (Some Perch are infected with Salt and Pepper disease)
• Rainbow Trout
• Rock Bass (All Bass must be released)
• Smallmouth Bass
• Sucker
• Walleye
• Whitefish

There is also a pleasant trail called the Turtles Back which will bring you to a large lookout tower from which you can see the international peach towers at the peace garden.

To get to William Lake take Highway 10 past Boissevain and you’ll come up to a junction with Highway 3 towards Killarney. Take a left (towards Killarney) and drive down 4 miles until you see a sign which says William lake exit. Take that road straight into the park. There are washroom facilities and a general park office available.

A 40 million dollar casino is to be built on First Nations land near the Spirit Sands by Carberry. The land is owned by Swan Lake First Nation.

Construction is set to begin in the Fall and expected to be completed within a year. Each of Manitoba’s bands will share 60 000$ annually from the casino.

It’s expected to create 200-300 jobs and will be the future location of a hotel, gas bar and gift shop. It’ll house 300 slot machines, 5 gaming tables and three restaurants initially.

Funding for the casino still has to be acquired but shouldn’t be a problem with most of the bands in the province in accord with the idea.

The casino will be located 16km South of Highway 1 on Highway 5, between Glenboro and Carberry.

The casino was originally proposed to be in Brandon but the citizens voted against it twice. It was then proposed to be slightly North of Brandon but that deal also fell through.

Thousands of years ago, most of Manitoba was covered by a great lake. Lake Agassiz was a glacial lake around 12000 years ago that formed by melting and retreating glaciers in Canada. The lake grew to be so huge that if it were to exist today, it’d be bigger then the Caspian Sea.

The lake flooded and retreated multiple times. So much so, that some scientists suspect that the drainage of the lake could account for early human flood stories as the amount of water that would have reached the sea would have actually increased the sea level.

The lake finally drained around 8000 years ago leaving some remnants such as Lake Winnipeg, Lake Manitoba and Lake of the Woods. It also left over is sandy shores, which became known as the Spirit Sands.

This Manitoba’s only “desert”. Not really a desert due to the amount of precipitation it receives. The provincial park that surrounds the area allows you to hike through the sands, in your barefeet if you want too, and observe this unique place. The trails will lead you to the Devil’s Punchbowl where underground running water have caused the surface to collapse and create this unique depression.

On the trail you can also expect to see Manitoba’s only cactus and our only lizard the blue tailed skink. There have also been some unconfirmed sightings of cougar in the area.

Total Time to Hike: 2-5 Hours

Located only 10km West of Brandon, this park is on top of an important archeological site in the Westman area. The area was used for hunting bison hundreds of years ago by the aboriginal people of the area and many artifacts and bison bones have been found.

The park offers a short 2km interpretive trail which tells you about the methods used to hunt the bison and the relationship between the animals and the people. Also featured is a bison enclosure that was used to trap and kill the animals. At the end of the trail there is a watch tower that will give you a great panorama over the Grand Valley.

Directions: Head West on Grand Valley Road from 18th st. until you reach the #1 highway. The park lies right beside the #1.

Cost: Free

Time to see everything: 1-2 hours
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