I’ve wanted to do this Birds Hill article for a long time, but it looks like it took me almost four years to put together the photos I needed!
Birds Hill Park is the Provincial Park closest to Winnipeg so it is quite all year round. That’s what I like in Manitoba, there are really as many ways to experience the landscapes as there are the weather.
WINTER
In winter, Birds Hill Park is transformed. The trails each have a designation:
- snowshoeing
- hiking
- winter biking
- snowmobiles
- cross-country skiing
- horseback riding.
There is little education done on the subject but it is important to stay on a trail groomed for the activity that you practice: it can be dangerous for you but also for others.
The best ride is Cedar Bog. It has become extremely popular since the start of the pandemic and I haven’t been in a while but it is surely the best introduction to Birds Hill as it passes through different ecosystems.
And then if the timing cooperates, stay to watch the sunset over the frozen lake (actually it’s not a lake in winter, it’s emptied). Let me rephrase: the sunset over the location of the lake is worth seing.
SPRING
Spring is the worst season in Manitoba. This season does not really exist as such, spring often lasts only a few days. Nature turns into a magma of gray and brown, the snow melts until its complete disappearance. It’s not fun going out then, except to wade through the puddles. Nature at the end of winter looks almost burnt.
Very frequently, we go from minus 20 degrees to plus 20 degrees in the space of a week. And so spring is fleeting enough to capture in photos. I only succeeded in 2020!
I had never seen the swamp on the Nimowin trail in 3 years of visiting the park.
SUMMER
In summer, Birds Hill turns neon green.
It is also in summer that the park becomes (became?) the seat of a huge folk festival. Campsites are crowded, there is a lake for swimming, the park is full of life. My first summer in Winnipeg, I went to Birds Hill at least once a week.
It is also in Birds Hills that I could see my first aurora borealis!
FALL
Like spring, fall in Manitoba really doesn’t last long. And that’s a shame, because it’s MAGNIFICENT. All Birds Hills becomes superb but I have a slight preference for the trails behind the polo field because there are small winding roads as in the photo.
I would really like this leaf period to last longer, as in Eastern Canada where there are outright interactive maps set up by tourist offices to follow the progress of colors. We don’t really have maple trees in Manitoba either, so it’s rare to see beautiful red leaves. We have birch trees and blue skies!
I hope you enjoyed this four-season ride in Birds Hill Park! To consult the official information and the trails’ map, go to the official website of Parks Manitoba.
Other Manitoba things to do and see?
– the Canadian Fossil Discovery Center in Morden
– Birds Hill Park
– Nopiming Provincial Park
– Spend a day in Neepawa
– Winter glamping and dog sledding
– 12 things to do less an hour away from Winnipeg
– 10 foods to try in Manitoba
– the Pinawa Old Dam
– a guide of Rural Manitoba Museums
– Lower Fort Garry and the Fur Trade
