Days 6 to 8: Riding Mountain National Park

Sunday morning we go to church with our hosts where we make some more connections. After sharing a delicious lunch with our hosts which is of course accompanied by good conversation, we say goodbye to the Klassen family and Winnipeg.

We drive through Manitoba to reach Riding Mountain National Park. The towns are spaced out and so are the gas stations, which we learn the hard way. Our tank is on “E”, so we check our GPS and see there isn't another gas station for 22 miles. We're counting down the miles and watch the needle drop without compassion. We finally arrive to the gas station with a tank that is emptier than empty. The rest of the trip is pretty low key. We pass through Arden – the “Crocus capital of MB”, Neepawa – the “World Lily capital”, and Erickson where there are surely some Swedish folk who couldn't find Rockford. We get to Riding Mountain early enough to set up camp and see the “after” sunset at the very touristy Wasagaming Beach. This is where all the Winnipegies must have been. 

In Manitoba, a mountain is a large plateau that is just a little bit higher than the surrounding plains. That is exactly what Riding Mountain National Park is.
 

On Monday we prepare ourselves to do a little bit of exercise. After driving 15 miles on a dirt road and scaring some Bison with our loud RV, we arrive to the beginning of our chosen bike trail. It's a beautiful ride on a bumpy trail. We mostly encountered boreal forests alternating with birch trees, opening sometimes into marshy grassland areas with a little creek chilling out here and there. The yellow fear of bears was so large that he didn't stop whistling, singing, or honking his bike horn the whole time. The only survivors of those noises were a couple of running deer, a skunk – that quieted Yellow down a little bit, some lovely butterflies, and a bird that looked like a chicken. After 10 kilometers, we arrive to White Water Lake. We spend some looking for this lake without success, but instead we find the former location of a WWII German prisoner camp. On the way back, right after noticing that we didn't bring any of our bike tools, the yellow rear tire starts to make a dull sound. The tire is flat, and we still have 10 kilometers to go. He rides on the grassy area, but it's tough. The last kilometers are finished by walking. When we finally arrive back to our camper, we are exhausted. We treat ourselves to some German style pâté from Wisconsin, some garlic dill pickles, and some cold New Glarus Beer. We go back to the campsite and relax. 

The next day we leave the campsite quickly after waking up. We dump our gray and black water for the first time, and then we have breakfast on Aspen Beach on the very still Clear Lake. Going to the north exit of the park, we stop at several short hiking trails. That is where we encounter the terrifying vampires of the Lands-that-are-humid-and-shady: The Mosquitoes. We manage to do these trails by walking briskly and agitating them with our hands.

Out of the Riding Mountains we go.