No matter how old you are, riding bikes with your friends is awesome

This past weekend a group of us (mostly from my paddling team) gathered ourselves together and headed west about 2 hours for a weekend of camping in Spruce Woods Provincial Park. Spruce Woods is home to the Spirit Sands, Manitoba’s only sand dune desert and home to the western hognose snake and prairie skink, Manitoba’s only lizard.

I headed out on Friday after work and we pulled in around 9pm. The crew had the smokies on the campfire, the beer on ice and the bugspray sprayed. All we had to do was set up our tent and move right in.  Oh and of course I was responsible for one thing: make bannock for everyone to wrap their roasted smokies in.

Secrets emerge in the security of a campfire

The sun went down and the glow of the campfire teased out our deepest secrets and best storytellers. A light drizzle sent us all to bed rather early, but you wouldn’t have known that by the sleepy faces that finally emerged at 8:30am the following day.

Bacon, eggs, coffee and more bannock, and then we were ready for our adventure. We came to this part of the province specifically for the awesome biking on the Epinette Creek Trail.

Always take a photo of the trail map

Apparently the trail has changed a bit in the past few years and I’d agree is tough and sandy in some places. Our group consisted of both experienced cyclists and new riders and we all (mostly) loved the 15 km loop to cabin 3, opting out of the longer 40km Newfoundland Trail in the +32C heat. 

Andrea and Kirsten pause for a photo

But of course this just wouldn't be a good story without a problem and a hero. Today's little misadventure included our friend Lori`s poor dog Barney who had his age catch up to him in the heat and terrain and laid down about 3km before the end. Conservation staff laughed and told us to ignore the “no car entry” signs to perform our own rescue mission. Thank goodness for a friend with a beautiful new truck, we got to experience a little backcountry off-roading and Rich got to save the day! 

Just a little distance from the campground is a small beach carved in to an eddy in the Assiniboine River. The current keeps the water cool and tons of kids can be found splashing away the afternoon in the water.

 Towels slung around our necks, we peddled back to camp after a must-needed ice cream pit stop. I couldn’t help but feel like I was a part of the coolest pre-teen bike gang ever founded.

Back to camp. Steak dinner. Wood ticks. Fire. Bug spray. We headed out to the lookout to watch the sunset and grabbed an awesome family photo. The night slid into laughs and was topped with a dramatic thunderstorm.

Before we left on Sunday we had to spend some time paying homage to the Spirit Sands. Only five of us were brave enough to head into the desert, armed with plenty of sunscreen and bottles of water. We saved the Devil’s Punchbowl for our next trip but enjoyed the breeze (and the view) from the top of the lookout tower.

A perfect sunny Sunday afternoon drove us home, back to the city, back to work. These weekends are making me long for the endless summer days of our childhood. So where to next?