The gate to the West Beach in Bird’s Hill Provincial Park is always open – but it is a little chilly for swimming in the winter and I’ve never gone in there. Today I decided to take a look. After parking the car, I noticed that there are trails around the lakes – so I started walking on the Lakeview Trail.
It turned out that the trails are not actually marked and there seem to be a lot of them. Of course the snow is covering the trails, which made it a bit more difficult – so I got lost. I ended up wandering around in the campgrounds. Looking at the map now, I see how far off my trail I actually was.
I took a photo of the trail map before starting out.
I was walking along, taking photos as I went (as usual). I did take photos from the East Beach so it was after that when I made a wrong turn (or 10).
From the far side of the lake looking back to beach 
Also from far side of lake 
Again, some buildings across the lake 
Showers and washroom at the East Beach 
View of the snow at East Beach 
Chapman’s was closed 
Playgrounds at East Beach 
I have no sense of direction (never have) and at this point I must have made a wrong turn. The trails I was following were covered over and I was just following footprints in the snow. It was awhile before I actually realized I was lost, but even then I had to keep going and continued taking photos.
Another playground 
White-tailed Deer 
The Chickadees were definitely following me – maybe they were trying to tell me I was going the wrong way – LOL. They already knew by this time that I didn’t have any food for them.
After awhile I started thinking I should maybe phone someone to come and pick me up – but since I wouldn’t be able to tell anyone where I actually was, I knew that wouldn’t work. I thought I was still somewhere near the West or East Beach. Then I thought I should try to reach the highway where I could flag someone down – but I couldn’t find the highway. I even checked my phone maps to see if that would help me. Amazingly enough it told me where my car was – I had no idea it knew my car. Only problem was that it thought I was in Winnipeg, so I couldn’t use that to actually find my car. I didn’t know which direction I was compared to where my car was.
Finally, I met a couple of people walking and I told them I was lost. By then I was out on an actual maintained path and they gave me the direction I should be walking. I didn’t realize the trail I was on went in a circle though and I ran into them again. They took me to the place to turn off and to the trail that would take me right to the parking lot I was looking for. It was still a very long walk from there – but I got back to the parking lot and to my car.
According to my FitBit, I walked almost 26,000 steps or 11.4 miles. No wonder my feet are sore. BUT – I survived.
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