Leaving the agriculture-rich plains of Saskatchewan and Manitoba we climb the Manitoba Escarpment to Canada’s Riding Mountain National Park. The park encompasses a variety of terrain and ecosystems – boreal (northern) forest, large grasslands meadows, lakes, eastern deciduous forest and wetlands.

Although our time is limited we appreciate having the afternoon to discover some of the park features. First stop gives us a chance to stretch our legs on the Boreal Nature Trail. Since many of the trees and plants are different from what we’re use to in the Colorado Rockies the interpretive signs prove useful.

We take one of the dirt side roads to check out a lake. A couple is unloading kayaks; when the young woman sees our Colorado license plates she yells, “Go CSU!” As we chat we discover her parents live in the same town that we do. After further discussion it turns out we both know a teacher at the high school from which she graduated. It is truly a small world with not too many degrees of separation.

Riding Mountain National Park is located 166 miles northwest of Winnipeg, Manitoba via Yellowhead Highway.