04/15/2026
🌲Mantario Trail Update🔥
As Per Bartley Kives - CBC News April 14.
Manitoba still unsure when or whether Mantario Trail will reopen in 2026.
Sections of 63-kilometre hiking trail burned in 2025 remain unsafe: Manitoba Parks
Almost a year after a forest fire scorched the Mantario Trail, provincial parks officials remain unsure whether Manitoba’s most popular distance-hiking trail will reopen in 2026.
Roughly half of the 63-kilometre trail was burned by the fire known as EA063, which began near Ingolf, Ont., in May 2025 before spreading into Manitoba’s Whiteshell Provincial Park.
The trail has now been closed for 11 months. Manitoba Parks has conducted what it calls “an initial assessment” of the fire damage.
“That work found that roughly half of the trail was affected to varying degrees, with some sections experiencing more significant impacts that have made the trail difficult to follow in places,” the province said in a statement it did not attribute to any official.
The damage “presents safety concerns” because of fire‑damaged and burned trees, the statement continued.
Dead trees are far more prone to falling than live trees and they render campsites unsafe.
The province did not say which campsites were damaged by fire and what sections of the trail suffered the most damage.
Initial work to make the trail safe for trail runners and hikers is expected to begin this summer, with tree removal and the placement of wayfinding signs, the province stated.
“Decisions on whether the trail will be open in part or in full for the 2026 season have not yet been made and will depend on safety considerations and the progress of this work,” the statement concluded.
