Explorer treks through Manitoba forests to find an undocumented waterfall

Shayne Thiessen was on the hunt for Muhigan Falls, an undocumented waterfall and had a successful journey.  

His adventure began on Highway 6 heading to Northern Manitoba where he got to experience the beauty of nature and wildlife.  

Luckily, Thiessen didn’t meet face-to-face with any animals throughout his journey. He managed to see a timber wolf and black bear from the safety of his vehicle. 

“There was no interaction with wildlife, no interaction with mosquitoes, which is really good,” says Thiessen. “We saw a black bear while we were driving and moose and bear prints.” 

He drove as far as possible down an old logging road, having to move trees and branches out of the way. Eventually, the path was no longer accessible, and he left his truck behind to begin the hike.  

“We drove in and then there’s an area dammed off by beavers and the road there is wet and swampy,” he explained. “But we could stay dry by walking along the top of the beaver dam, which was nice.” 

Thiessen found the beaver dam bridges to be a highlight of the trip. He is consistently amazed by the creature's talents.   

“My favourite is always crossing the water by hiking on top of beaver dams, I always find that fun. You got these natural bridges, and it’s cool to see how well these dams are built.” 

Thiessen maps out each trip prior to the hike to know where he plans to go, however, it may change depending on what the forest throws his way. 

“The only part we changed was the route we took. We ended up detouring because what you actually see when you’re hiking is a little different than satellite.” 

With the help of a GPS, he made his way through the forest with ease. 

“Hiking straight through the woods with no trail, it’s quite the experience,” says Thiessen. “Using GPS, which is a tremendous tool. You look at your GPS device and know right away when you are off route.” 

He trampled through the woods but found himself pleasantly surprised.  

“I thought that when we were going through the forest, it was going to be very slow and time-consuming, but there was a lot less brush underneath the trees than I expected, which made the hiking a lot easier.”  

Thiessen filmed a documentary of his journey and explains some of the work that goes into it.  

“The filming added a bit of time, but it’s not as hard as it used to be,” he says. “I use my drone for most of that now. I could just stop, set it up, fly 100 meters ahead of me and just walk towards it. It made it much easier, plus you get all these nice angles. So that was really helpful.” 

After a long journey, he finally made it to Muhigan Falls.  

Thiessen used his GPS and a laser measuring tool to determine the height of the waterfall. 

“According to my measurements, it was 13 meters. That’s very impressive and ties for second in the province of Manitoba.” 

He describes his experience as neat and a great adventure that he is excited to share with Manitoba and anyone who loves a great journey.  

“This is one adventure I will never forget,” Thiessen expresses.  

Bigger things are coming from Thiessen as he is already planning his next adventure. 

“I’m hoping to do it in September, we’ll go from there and film it all. It’s another big waterfall and I’m excited about it.” 

Check out Shayne Thiessen’s “The Hunt for Muhigan Falls” documentary and follow his website to stay up to date on all his latest adventures!  

-With files from Carly Koop