In my previous post, I'd travelled the (legendary...🙂...) coast-to-coast route, symbolizing Canada's first ever Atlantic-to-Pacific (overland) flight, from Halifax to Vancouver. I had overflown (in a B748) high above, the vast (so-called) Central Plains of Canada, nearly 1,000 miles across the region west of Winnipeg, aiming myself (I mean requesting my FMS) directly to the apex of the highest of the Canadian Rockies, Mount Robson. You might also recall that one of the significant segments of that coast-to-coast (original) flight was between the cities of Winnipeg and Calgary. So, once you get to Calgary, only then you would have to face the high Rockies to further west. In this (central) plains region, however, the elevation is not high (~4,000 ft or less). For example, to get an idea of the gently rising ground westward, Winnipeg (CYWG), my ORIG, is at 800 ft, Saskatoon (CYXE) in the middle is at 1,600 ft, and Calgary (CYYC), my DEST, is at 3,600 ft.

For this post, I have flown here from Winnipeg to Calgary, over these plains and prairies, at ~3,000 ft. This flight reminded me strikingly of a long (virtual) flight I'd posted about, mimicking a RW drive of mine, across the Texas Plains, from Austin (elevation 500 ft) to El Paso (elevation 3,700 ft), across similarly sloping ground to the west. Now both these regions are basically flatlands, and to some extent featureless and repetitive. Nonetheless, from the Texas Plains experiment, it was clear to me that there are certainly (interesting) things you can do and places you can visit along the route (which I had done during my a RW trip), only if you're on the ground driving (vs. in the air). I am quite sure the same applies to the route I've flown here today between Winnipeg to Calgary.

Now, one of the most fascinating facts about Manitoba (Winnipeg being its capital city) is that there are more than 100,000 lakes around there, including Lake Winnipeg, the largest one. As bodies of water, lakes are always great fun IRL to visit, with their simmering calm surface, a source of peaceful feelings...🙂...less boisterous than rivers and oceans, and less complex to visit on a daily basis e.g., maybe small lakes, nearabout where you live. There is one in a local park that I often visit. During these summer months, my day does not seem to be complete without catching sight of the Mama and Papa goose leading their baby geese either out of (or into) this lake...🙂...or the many colorful species of (Illinois) birds that appear, seemingly from nowhere, around these lakes (today I caught sight of a bird, red around the neck, and also red under the black wings which I noticed only when it flew away...it made my day...). Imagine having thousands of lakes around your city, so, you can visit one new one every day of your life. Anyway, having also visited all the 5 Greak Lakes up north near the Canada-U.S. border (amazing vast bodies of water that look and act like oceans), naturally I wished to fly over the lakes on my route, here, by diverting slightly northward after lifting off from Winnipeg airport. Lake Winnipeg is to the northeast of the city, and two others nearby, Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipegosis, are to the northwest of the city (see my flightdeck closeup (MAPs) shot #7 and the shot #s 8-12, including one shot of my PC-12 and its shadow directly on top of Lake Winnipeg). BTW, I wonder why Winnipeg is not one of the Great Lakes (apparently, one reason being "Eutrophication"...a new word I learned today...🙂...).

On my route, I also crossed many rivers (both Winnipeg and Calgary are situated near the confluence of rivers, and I have special affinity for such cities) e.g., here, notably the (serpentine) Assiniboine River (see shot #4) near Winnipeg, and Bow River (See shot #s 15-18) that passes by Calgary. In between, there was not much to see (shot #s 5-6) ...no mountains...🙂...except that as I was flying merrily along this monotonous terrain, the avionics of my PC-12 abruptly (rather unceremoniously) went dark on me, without a warning, and I could not recover it. That's why you see an eerily identical looking...🙂...TBM-930 (except for the PC-12's T-tail) in my later set of images, arriving in Calgary.

[I wish I could say that the (stock) landmass textures, here, are well-rendered in the SIM, but it did not appear so, seemingly, inferior (in my Xbox case) e.g., to the beautiful experience I'd in the southwest England regions (also flatlands), from my many recent virtual visits there. Nonetheless, these regions around the Manitoba Lakes, would be wonderful to visit in RW. They are densely forested, which fact and other general topography, you can hopefully infer from my set of pictures below.

Thanks for viewing. Hope you enjoy...!

6 minutes ago, P_7878 said:

Now, one of the most fascinating facts about Manitoba (Winnipeg being its capital city) is that there are more than 100,000 lakes around there

I can believe it...climbing towards the WNW out of Regina last week with an Air Canada A320 I was surprised by the hundreds of (very small) lakes pock-marking the landscape.

25 minutes ago, John F said:

I can believe it...climbing towards the WNW out of Regina last week with an Air Canada A320 I was surprised by the hundreds of (very small) lakes pock-marking the landscape.

Glad, John, you'd a RW view (albeit from up in the sky) of this very interesting natural terrain saturated with myriad lakes in a localized region. My trip in eastern Canada was only a road trip (Toronto to Québec City) plus also an AC 767 flight from Toronto to Montreal, I believe.

I saw the Great Lakes but not these lakes I've visited (virtually) in my post here...

Thanks for the comment...!

Fine set again !

cheers 😉

Edited May 16, 20242 yr by pmplayer

Nice shots! 😉 

Interesting cross country trip, P_7878.

pmplayer, Will, Bernd: Thanks for the additional comments...!!

Yes, it was a fun cross-country trip, punctuated over the (featureless) flatlands with some excitement induced by the loss of avionics in my PC-12...🙂...