West Hawk Lake is a Whiteshell River impact crater lake located in the Whiteshell Provincial Park in southeastern Manitoba, Canada. The circular shape of the lake’s main body is due to the submerged West Hawk crater, which was formed by a meteor impact into an ancient rock bed composed mostly of granite. It is Manitoba’s deepest lake, measuring 115 meters (377 feet).
Parts of the lake are surrounded by granite cliffs. This region is also known as a component of the Canadian Shield, which formed billions of years ago. Parts of the Whiteshell Park contain elaborate petroforms created by First Nations peoples over a thousand years ago. Petroform shapes of turtles, snakes, humans, and geometrical patterns can be found on pink granite ridges formed during the last ice age.
The Deepwater sculpin is a marine glacial relic found in West Hawk Lake.
The lake has private cottages, public beaches, campgrounds, and other tourism amenities, as well as a long undeveloped shoreline that is popular for boating, sailing, wakeboarding, and scuba diving. It is located on the border of Manitoba and Ontario, just north of the Trans-Canada Highway and on the Trans-Canada Trail.
