Whiteshell River, Manitoba

Located in eastern Manitoba, in Whiteshell Provincial Park, this river was a special place to me as a boy and teenager.  It was here that our father often took us fishing in the late spring and early summer, especially to Lone Island Lake.  When I revisited the Whiteshell River a few months ago, I'd forgotten how pretty the place is.

The river connects a series of lakes which become difficult to navigate in the late summer because wild rice grows in abundance.  It's been decades since I saw natives harvest the rice, bending the stems over their canoes and then using a club to knock the rice grains loose onto a tarp.

(ripe stalks of wild rice, Lone Island Lake)