Camping at Gull Harbour

Check this photo out! To me...this is a perfect picture for relaxation. The water was so calm the day we got there. You can even see the rippled sand beneath the surface of the lake.


I was bummed about my summer and so was Sam. Between dealing with our own lives, family problems and work related frustrations, our stress levels were through the roof! We decided we'd go camping to get away from the norm for some relaxation time. Neither of us have really been anywhere in Manitoba but Gimli and Winnipeg, so we decided to go to Hecla Island. It's only 2 hours away, and is supposedly the place to go to relax. We left Friday after work and came home around 4 pm on Sunday. It was short, but I think it was just what we needed.

Sam's sister had told us that she had a tent we could borrow, so on our way, we stopped to pick it up. It was when she realized that someone had borrowed it and never given it back that anger began to set in. Sam and I were thinking "who says they'll lend you something and then doesn't have it?" We got over that when we found someone else that would lend us their tent. Two issues presented themselves once we began to set it up.

Issue#1 - No instructions. Neither one of us had put a tent up in so long and not having instructions tried our patience! We got annoyed at each other as we tried to understand the inner workings of it. We ended up tieing the back poles to a tree and the front up so that together, they would keep it from suffocating us at night. There was a third length of poles that didn't even make it to setup. We figured the tent was secure enough, and it was.
Issue#2 - It reeked! Not just any smell either. Pot and Cattle. Yes! It sounds strange. But I assure you, that IS what it smelt like. But it seemed to air out enough to be bearable to sleep in for two nights.

Hiking: The trails were great. Easy to walk through and were surrounded by beautiful scenery. We snapped tons of pictures! There are a few at the top of this page.
Marsh Boardwalk: The only "wildlife" we saw there was a couple of snails. My favorite part of it: The wind was very strong and all we could hear was the calming rush of the bulrushes in the wind. It was much different than the waves hitting the shore or the rustling of the trees.
Wildlife: We stood on a tower at sunset to see some moose but were unlucky. There are a lot of bald eagles on the island but we didn't get to catch a glimpse of them either. The only animal we saw was a fox as it trotted across the road.

We didn't do a whole lot while we were there. But I think that was the point. No tv, computer or cell phone made it easy to settle into relaxation. It's amazing what a couple days away from technology and the frustrations of every day life can do.