Walking in a wooded wonderland

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This article was published 05/06/2024 (387 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A walk down the Crow Wing Trail was also a walk down memory lane.

The first ever Wellness Walk Plus hosted by the Woodmore Women’s Institute saw 28 walkers ready to cross the Senkiw Bridge over the Roseau River May 25. The Plus came courtesy of local Metis storyteller Georges Beaudry, who many may recognize from French and Metis festivals where he appears as his alternate persona Bonhomme Beaudry.

Dressed in traditional Metis garb while holding a modern umbrella on a soggy Saturday, Beaudry told the story of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye, Jesuit missionaries, and other explorers who met their unfortunate fate on the aptly named Massacre Island in Lake of the Woods.

The walk was sponsored by Southern Health through Healthy Together Now, a program meant to combat chronic disease. Southern Health has been partnering with the Woodmore Women’s Institute for about 10 years, according to member Janet Kroeker.

“Previously, they were granting things around food security,” said Kroeker.

As part of the Manitoba Women’s Institute, which was founded in 1910 and 13 years after the world’s first women’s institute in Ontario, Woodmore has a history of workshops and training around what Kroeker described as the domestic arts. That includes everything from butchering, gardening, cheese making, baking, and more.

“We’ve hosted a number of workshops like that over the last 10 years, and this year Southern Health said ‘try to present something around neighbours and nature.’

“There were four of us in the WI who like hiking and getting out on trails… We thought we’re rich with trails because of the Crow Wing, and also the Nature Conservancy of Canada has over the years got trails that feature the tall grass prairie,” said Kroeker.

The Crow Wing Trail runs north-south for 200 kilometres all the way from Winnipeg to the United States. It follow a 19th century Red River ox-cart trail.

“It is a showstopper,” said Kroeker of the section of the Crow Wing Trail with the swinging suspension bridge.

The bridge was originally built as a way to get across the river for schoolchildren, and reconstructed for hikers walking five minutes from the road down the well-groomed path and stairs to the river.

“I would say it’s fairly easily the nicest part of the Crow Wing,” said Kroeker.

The weather worried Kroeker the night before, but it would not hold back those who wanted to get into nature. She said visitors who had never been there before came all the way from Anola and Niverville for the wellness walk.

The kids who came along were plenty excited when Beaudry led the pizza deliverer to them with a few notes from his pipe.

Woodmore Women’s plan now is to have a wellness walk for every season.

The next one is June 27 on the Prairie Shore Trail east of Tolstoi, part of a tall grass prairie reserve. Botanist, author and Prairie Shore Botanicals business owner Laura Reeves will be guiding people and finding some nature they can eat.

The third walk in the fall will be on a southern portion of the Crow Wing from Fort Dufferin to Emerson. The winter walk will be at the Roseau River Park for some snowshoeing in February.

Woodmore also gives out a scholarship each year, alternating between Shevchenko School in Vita and Roseau Valley School in Dominion City. Local 4H benefits too, getting funding and help for things like trophies, according to Kroeker.

Anyone who wishes to register for a Wellness Walk Plus or get more info on other events and activities by the Woodmore Women’s Institute can email wellnesswalkplus@gmail.com, or join their Facebook group.