Longue Pointe de Winnipeg to Traverse Bay — Lake Winnipeg East Shore Gravel Road

The east shore of Lake Winnipeg is one of those places that doesn’t show up on most overlanding lists, and that’s exactly the point. This route traces Provincial Road 304 and its unsigned spurs from Longue Pointe south through Traverse Bay, crossing the Brokenhead River flats and threading past fisher camps that have been here longer than the province itself. The sand blowouts near Traverse Bay can catch unprepared rigs off guard — what looks like a gravel shoulder drops fast into beach sand that’ll swallow a tire to the axle if you’re not running the right pressure.

It’s not a technical trail in the rock-crawling sense, but the combination of soft sand approaches, seasonal mud after spring melt, and genuinely remote stretches with no cell service earns it a Moderate tag. A high-clearance 4WD with aired-down all-terrain tires handles it fine. Best run June through September before fall storms turn the lake approaches into mush. No permit required. Fuel up in Winnipeg Beach — there’s nothing reliable past that. You get big lake views, no crowds, and a real feel for boreal Manitoba at water level.