Mantario Trail - September Long Thru Hike, Day 4

Date: September 3, 2018

Length: 10.5 km

Elevation: 378 m

Time: 4 hours 10 minutes

Day number 4 of our Mantario trail hike. We were up pretty early, early enough that going out side was really, really cold. We woke up early enough to get some pictures of the sunrise over Hemenway Lake and manage to take some pictures of it and the surrounding area as the sun rose.

Interestingly, getting up early has been one of my favorite parts of the hike. The early morning air, the stillness, and the smell all combine to make it a very peaceful time of day. It's also really nice to get up and moving well before the temperature starts to rise, and getting 10 to 12 km in before lunch makes you feel pretty accomplished.

The trail out from Hemenway quickly made it to Big Whiteshell Lake, and flirted with the shore line on and off for the last 7 km until a small climb up to the parking lot. There were a couple of nice beach walks and the morning sun coming over the lake was pleasant. Around the 7 km mark we ran into cool landmark and the trail started following a quad trail.

While walking on the quad trail we saw a lot of animal tracks, including some decent sided black bear prints. We were going in the opposite direction so we weren't too worried about it. What we did end up needing to worry about was wasps again though! After a beach walk we were jumping back on the trail and Roslyn stepped over a long and stepped on another nest. Another sprint and we were well along the trail and away from the nest, but Roslyn was stung 5-6 times on her legs, which made the last kilometer of the trail a bit less enjoyable.

We arrived at the parking lot a bit before noon and Roslyn started soaking the wasp stings to make the swelling go down while we packed everything into Tyler's truck. Then it was back to the south parking lot to get our car and into Winnipeg to shower and go eat a victory supper!

All in all the hike was one of the best experiences we've ever had and we are looking forward to doing many more in the years to come.