~70 km from Winnipeg, an hour of quiet road, and a sandy beach facing west — exactly where you want to be when the sun goes down red. Here is the Friday that brought us back three times.
Everyone who loves travelling and the outdoors has their own “place of strength.” Some people have a few. But there is always one that stays — the one you’ll remember your whole life. We found ours.
If you want to skip ahead to the full guide — what this place is, its history, where the 325-year-old tree comes from, and how to pair it with nearby beaches — see our Big Tree Park place guide. This post is about the one Friday evening that started it all.
How It Happened
The way these things usually happen — mid-week. A Friday after work, Monday still far away but not as far as you would like. I was sitting there looking for somewhere to drive to. The sun was rolling toward sunset, and the colour was something else that day — red, almost crimson. The thought came naturally: why not chase a sunset.
It became obvious right away — if it is a sunset, it has to be over water. That narrowed it down to two options: Lake Winnipeg or Lake Manitoba. The shore needs to face west, which immediately ruled out Lake Winnipeg — its beaches face east. So Lake Manitoba it was.
Time was already pressing. About an hour and a bit until the sun went down. I scanned the map, picked the beaches on the western shore, and found one that fit every criterion: a sandy stretch over a kilometre long, free of charge, and reachable before the light was gone. That turned out to be Big Tree Park in the RM of St. Laurent, beside Sandpiper Beach — about an hour northwest of Winnipeg.
Tea in a thermos, two folding chairs in the trunk, and off we went.
The Drive and the Place
An hour of quiet road, almost no traffic, due northwest. And one more bonus along the way that I did not appreciate right away: cell signal out there is bad. For someone who wanted to switch off from work email for an hour, that is basically a gift.
We arrived — and the beach really is something. Long, with soft pale sand, a gentle slope into the water, no rocks, no crowds. A Friday in the middle of summer, and almost empty. No city noise, no buzzing phone, no list of twenty things in your head. Just me, Anna, a thermos of tea, and Lake Manitoba in front of us.
We set up the chairs, poured the tea, and watched the sun come down to the horizon. Red, large, calm. The hour disappeared so quietly that we did not notice it had gone fully dark. Time to drive home.
A Roadside Find on the Way Back
Driving in, I had missed something small on the highway — a gas station with a small kitchen attached: MTT Food and Gas Bar & Cannabis at 450 MB-6, St. Laurent. In daylight it kind of blends in. But in the dark, with the few scattered house lights around the field, this building stood out enough that you could not just drive past.
We stopped. Decided to try it. The fresh-air appetite plus new-place curiosity made everything taste better than the menu suggested. Roadside food, no pretensions. But exactly the kind you want after a quiet evening by the water. That became part of the ritual too — we almost always stop there on the way home now.
What It Turned Into
We drove back already planning the next trip. And we went back. In that one year we have been here three times already. On the surface, it is nothing unusual — a beach, water, a sunset. But the point is not the beach itself. It is the atmosphere. And the quiet, the kind that gives you back a piece of yourself. That is a separate currency in a time when your phone buzzes a hundred times a day.
I will say more — for my birthday in 2026, I deliberately traded every restaurant in the city for this beach and this sunset. And I have not regretted it for a second.
What you actually get: an hour on the highway with music and slow conversation with your “co-pilot” beside you. A view of a lake shore with the sun easing down to the horizon. Quiet water sounds. And the complete absence of city noise for the next few hours.
How to Do the Same Evening
If you want to do what we did, it is straightforward.
Leave Winnipeg about an hour and a bit before sunset. The drive is ~70 km northwest, on Highway 6, then a turn onto St. Laurent Veterans Memorial Rd, then Allard Road, and you are there. GPS — “Big Tree Park” or “Sandpiper Beach, St. Laurent, MB.”
What to bring:
- Folding chairs or a blanket — the infrastructure is minimal, and that is part of the point
- A thermos of something hot, or cold water — the lake gets chilly at sunset
- Bug spray — evening by the lake means mosquitoes, no way around it
- Some cash for coffee or food at MTT Food and Gas Bar (450 MB-6, St. Laurent) on the way back — it is part of the ritual now
- Camera or phone fully charged — the sunset here is worth photographing
A couple of things to know in advance:
The municipality introduced a paid-entry rule for non-residents ($10 per car + $5 per passenger) back in 2021. In practice it depends on the season and day — sometimes the entry booth is unmanned, especially on weekdays or outside peak hours. Worth checking the current rules on the RM of St. Laurent’s site before you go.
We saw some people lighting small fires on the beach. It adds to the atmosphere, but we are not sure how legal it is. Without a permit in a designated spot, probably better not to risk it.
The internet barely works — that is a feature, not a bug. Tell yourself that ahead of time, and the evening gets better.
Quick Reference
| What | Details |
|---|---|
| Start | Winnipeg |
| End | Big Tree Park, St. Laurent |
| Distance | ~70 km one way |
| Drive time | ~1 hour |
| Duration | evening (3-4 hours including drive) |
| Best time | June–August, an hour before sunset |
| Roadside stop home | MTT Food and Gas Bar, 450 MB-6 |
| Cell signal | barely works (and that’s a plus) |
| Dog-friendly | yes |
If you are curious how we started doing these short drives without a plan — I wrote about that in the 40-minute rule post. This time it was closer to 60, but the principle is the same.
And if you want the full guide to the place itself — the history of the tree, the Métis community of St. Laurent, and the legend of the lake creature Manipogo — that is in our Big Tree Park place article.
