Trail walker highlights AGM

A Crow Wing Trail initiative that established a passport to divide the 200 km trail into 11 sections inspired a Steinbach man to take on the task, walking the whole trail beginning in November and ending on Dec. 26, 2025.

Mohammad Sajid Ali made the trek, and his story was the highlight of the annual general meeting hosted in Niverville on April 25.

Ali is the sixth person to receive a Crow Wing Trail certificate of completion and was the first to walk most of the trail in the winter.

A seasoned walker who has received recognition for walking the most kilometres of the Trans Canada Trail as part of the Great Canadian Hike last year, he said the Crow Wing Trail continued to inspire him from the time he began at the Winnipeg floodway.

“By the time I finished up a section I wanted to do another section,” he said.

He said his walk taught him about the many cultures in Manitoba including Mennonite, Metis, French and Indigenous people.

It also brought him to communities he never knew existed.

Because he chose winter, Ali said planning was important.

Snow cover varied and became more of an issue as he neared the end of his trek.

But it’s not the hiking itself that he recalls most fondly.

Instead, it’s stories of enjoying nature and meeting people.

He spoke fondly of many communities along the way, highlighting Ridgeville for one important reason.

“The coffee in that town is the best coffee,” he said, adding he had never before discovered a place where you could get a large coffee for a loonie.

The animals he spotted along the way included a long list of wild and domestic creatures ranging from coyotes, deer and birds to horses, donkeys and cattle.

Not all those experiences started off calmly.

Ali said he wasn’t sure what to make of the 40 to 50 head of cattle that approached the thin fence separating them from the trail. After they stopped to watch him, he resumed walking only to see over his shoulder that the herd had decided to join him, albeit on their side of the fence.

He also learned to take instructions from the animals of the forest, while observing tracks in the deepening snow.

“I realized where the animal tracks are, they are not deeper parts,” he said.

The friendliness of rural Manitobans was also noticed by Ali, who said while walking in the winter he got many offers of rides and interest in his mission.

He added the walk also managed to inspire his father, who due to health reasons was not walking at all anymore. After seeing Ali’s journey, he also became motivated, using canes to get up and walk.

Ali added that that there’s lots to learn on the trail, comparing it to a school course.

“We should encourage more younger people into this,” he said.

While he’s walked trails in many parks, going as far as Flin Flon and Thompson for hikes, he said the Crow Wing Trail is something special.

“The Crow Wing has everything,” he said. “You will get everything about what Manitoba is.”

Updates from the Crow Wing Trail board included the reporting of a $15,500 surplus on income of nearly $36,000, which came through a grant that will be spent along the trail to improve interpretive signs.

The Crow Wing Trail will also celebrate Manitoba Trails Day as part of a ceremony by the Eastmenn Historical Committee in Hespeler Park on June 6. There they will celebrate the placement of a new pergola with interpretive panels depicting the history of Mennonite settlement on the East Reserve, a map of Niverville identifying historical landmarks and a panel about the connection to the historic Crow Wing Trail.