Cycling Pinawa to Seven Sisters

Approximately 17 kilometres from Pinawa town centre to Seven Sisters town centre.

Pinawa’s favourite cycling path is back! The Trans Canada Trail between Pinawa and Seven Sisters is open for business again.  This trail has been closed for almost two years – first due to construction at the Pinawa lagoons, and then because of construction over the Manitoba Hydro Dam in Seven Sisters.

Trail Conditions

The trail up to the lagoons is in excellent condition. The grass has been mowed and the trail is dry and a pleasure to cycle on. The new trail through the lagoon needs a little leveling but is still a pretty nice ride. Just past the lagoon the trail turns into a soft grassy bed, a tougher ride but still okay. There is about a kilometre or so of very muddy patches, but with only one exception I was able to get through in low gear without stepping into the mud. One larger puddle got me, but Ray got through it all. Wear sandals and you won’t care.

There is a fork in the trail where one section heads up to Hwy 211 that locals commonly call the Smoky the Bear fork because that’s the sign up on the highway that marks the spot. The mud ends just a few metres west of this spot, and from here the trail is again fantastic.

New Trail Signs

New on the trail are some awesome signs. These signs are maps of the trail with a “You Are Here” star and a listing of distances to all important destinations along the trail.  I’ve actually never seen such useful trail markers on any other trail – well done Pinawa.

You may also notice some new branding on the signs. The Trans Canada Trail has made the bone-headed decision to re-brand the name of the Tran Canada Trail to “The Great Trail”.  I have no idea how much this re-branding will cost, but I’d like to see how many kilometres of trail those dollars equate to.

The Hydro Dam Crossing

My sources tell me the Hydro Dam will be open for hiking and cycling all summer long. I removed the sign on the Pinawa end that warned people about the dam closure, but there is still a sign at the dam. Currently the dam is open, so lets hope my info is correct.

We like to head over to Seven Sisters for lunch, and starting Thursday there’s quite a few choices. We ate at the Seven Sister’s Motel, but the Tourist Hotel, Little Maria’s and Jennifer’s are other options. Jennifer’s opens on Thursday (May 18) and Little Maria’s appears to be open every day except Monday and Tuesday.

There’s a pile of gravel at the town yard that  I hope is meant for this trail. The pile would go a long way to solving the mud puddles, but experience tells me that so will the season. That trail has been muddy every spring since it was built. A couple of weeks will make all the difference.

Many thanks must go out to all the Pinawa trail builders. I don’t even know who they all are so listing them would be an assurance that I’d miss someone. I do know that we should be naming our trail after Marsha Sheppard as she is tireless in her trail efforts.