First Dawson Trek cycles through history

The preservation of history will be the benefactor of the inaugural Dawson Trek this July.

Cyclists will be riding the Dawson Trail from St Boniface to the ATV staging area east of Richer July 19. Donations will go to the Dawson Trail Museum to help its volunteers maintain the 15 wayfinding markers from Winnipeg to the Northwest Angle at Lake of the Woods.

Those markers along with a series of permanent art exhibits were part of the Dawson Trail Commemorative Project, which includes traditional place names and holds the history of the first Canadian road linking the east to the prairies.

Each marker and exhibit along the route have information on them, and more that can be accessed and saved in French, English, and Michif by scanning a QR code.

Organizer Kyle Waczko said the plan is to have the cycling group stop at a few of them and have lunch at the Centre of Canada.

“All the work that went into the markers and actually marking out the trail, it was always in my mind that it should be a ride or hike. Do the Dawson now that there’s signs that people can read along the way,” said Waczko.

Waczko, who is from Giroux, wanted to find a good cause after participating in cycling fundraisers like the Ducks Unlimited Ride to the Lake and biking from Steinbach to Clear Lake and back for SickKids Foundation.

He is going to take a practice run of the whole route soon. It is his first time cycling the whole connected section of the Dawson Trail to the dead-end bridge east of Richer.

“I’ve ridden sections of it but nothing as intense as this,” said Waczko.

Anyone daunted by such a trek can use his example.

In 2020, Waczko volunteered to drive behind the Ducks Unlimited group cycling from Winnipeg to Kenora in one day. He runs the local chapter.

“It just amazed me, the different ages of people,” said Waczko.

“I just wanted to change my lifestyle so I figured, you know what, next year I’m going to do this.”

He trained and succeeded.

Then he did the Great Cycle Challenge for the SickKids Foundation.

“Almost 900 kilometres in four days,” said Waczko.

“From no cycling – maybe me and my daughter going to the end of the road to the culvert to check out the frogs.”

So he turned to Yvonne Fontaine Godard at the museum to see how he can help them preserve knowledge.

“Tons of history. Like it’s amazing what potentially you could lose if people aren’t telling that story,” said Waczko.

“The more people we can get out to see it, get it out there that this is in our backyard.”

Fontaine Godard saw an opportunity to tell that story.

“You started with horse, now car, bike. Ways of travelling, I think it’s just phenomenal,” said Fontaine Godard.

She told the history of just how much work it took to not sink into the soggy land, with travellers cutting trees to make the path passable using corduroy roads as they went.

Fontaine Godard said the museum took on the job of maintaining all the markers. Some are harder to get to than others.

“Number one, you have to go through the States and to the Northwest Angle. That one you can only go in the winter time by snowmobile,” she explained.

Fontaine Godard is now helping organize the museum’s Spring Tea fundraiser on May 10. Tickets are now on sale for the two seatings.

There will be dessert with the tea and coffee served by Richer’s Grade 8 students, along with the charcuterie board filled with cheeses, meats, and more. Fontaine Godard said the fashion show and photo booth are popular.

The Dawson Trek comes with a custom jersey with Metis influenced design. The cost to join is $200.

Waczko asks cyclists to sign up by May 5 if they want to guarantee getting a jersey.