Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/144909
If These Trees Could Talk A family bike tour in Riding Mountain National Park pedals through a forgotten chapter of Second World War history story and photography by CHRISTALEE FROESE I PRAY FOR BUZZ CROWSTON TO STOP. Sweat is running out from under my bike helmet, the dryness in my mouth threatens to close my windpipe and my thighs have become the consistency of a jelly salad. But I simply will not stop until he stops. After all, pulling over and taking a breather on this 22-kilometre circuit around a remarkable portion of Riding Mountain National Park would be admitting that our white-bearded tour leader (aged 68 but claiming to actually be 2.12 billion seconds in age) is in better shape than I. So I soldier on, pumping the pedals as the rest of the pack lengthens the distance between me and them. My trail-biking husband and rosy-cheeked 12-year-old son are managing to keep pace with our tireless sexagenarian. Yet it's not entirely for selfish reasons that I want us all to linger awhile and appreciate the dappled sunlight slanting through the forest. Because when we stop, Buzz Crowston starts to talk. And when he talks, his every sentence speaks to me of things I did not know about this UNESCO-designated biosphere reserve perched atop the Manitoba Escarpment an hour north of Brandon. "Look at that dome of aspens," exclaims Buzz, pointing to what appears to be a large clump of trees when we do happily pull over for a water break. "Did you know that's just one tree? People think those are all individual trees, but the aspen sends suckers out so that one tree creates that whole dome." That's news to me. Nor did I know that butterflies (or, more precisely, pearl crescents) like to dine on wolf scat because of its high nutritional content. Or that during this fourhour biking adventure we might potentially see any of 236 species of birds or one or more This cleared meadow was once home to a prisoner of war camp from 1943-45. of the park's 900 black bears (the highest density of Ursus americanus on the continent). Buzz also informs us that, had we been making this trip in 1995, we might have encountered a black bear affectionately known as Duke who weighed in at a massive 392 kilos (865 pounds). "There's not much sense knowing something if you don't transfer it," says the lanky guide, whose treks in Nepal and along British Columbia's West Coast Trail have contributed to his toned physique. Buzz's naturalist know-how is certainly put to good use throughout the trip as he transfers one tidbit after the next to his receptive audience. He slows down to direct our attention to a WESTWORLD p34-39_Prison_InPark.indd 35 >> S U M M E R 2 0 1 2 35 4/13/12 12:35:47 PM