CADDY LAKE, Man. –
Every summer, outdoor enthusiasts flock to a set of cavelike tunnels just west of the Ontario-Manitoba boundary.
The Caddy Lake tunnels were created more than a century ago as part of railway construction. Workers blasted through solid Canadian Shield rock to let water flow and reduce the chance of flooded tracks.
In the ensuing decades, people have been able to travel by canoe, kayak or small motorboat under and through the jagged rock. For a moment, the light at either end of the tunnels can almost disappear, creating a spooky atmosphere made eerier by small birds swooping just above your head.
“I still think it’s pretty special how there are these doorways to wilderness there,” Tony Lavilla, who owns property in the area, said this week.
“People we take up there are just blown away.”
There is a campground, a public launch area and two resorts with rental watercraft on Caddy Lake, where most people start the tunnel tour.
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