For Manitoba small business owner Paul Hoeppner, snowmobiling is about “exercising everything but your mind.”
“I own a small industrial vegetation management business, and it seems like when you get on the snowmobile you stop worrying about the business and how things are going, about customers and jobs to do. You have total freedom and you just enjoy the scenery,” said Hoeppner.
But last winter, Hoeppner ironically found his favourite new riding spot—Swan River—through work.
“Our business has done quite a bit of work up in Swan River, and we met Tim and Leona of the local North Mountain Riders club through a business connection outside of snowmobiling,” he said. “They invited me up to go riding with them. That’s the kind of people that are in that area. Swan River is real welcoming to all sorts of sporting activities; they’ve got a big rodeo in the summer and they host a lot of winter games. It’s no different with the sledding. It seems to be a part of life up there. It’s enjoyable to be up there and be a part of it.”
Hoeppner said he had always thought the area looked like a great place to go riding, and that accepting the North Mountain Riders’ invitation is a decision he does not regret.
“I ended up going up not once but three times last year, and I plan to do it quite a bit more often now that I’ve been there,” he said. “It’s about a three-and-a-half-hour drive for me to get up there, but it’s well worth it with the trail system they’ve got and how it links into the systems of surrounding clubs. It’s well worth it to go up there, grab a hotel, stay overnight and do some riding.”
Hoeppner said the extensiveness of the trail system is what will be bringing him back to the area.
“We talked to some people who were staying at the same hotel as us last winter, and they said they’d been there five days without riding the same trail twice. There’s quite a bit of diversity,” he said. “There are open meadows for powder riding and a great system of bush and lake trails. The meadows are great for people to play and practice in, the bush trails are easy to maneuver, and the open lakes are great for people who like to get out and travel fast; it seems that there is something for any level of rider.”
For Hoeppner, the deep powder riding in Swan River is what he’s looking forward to most.
“I love playing in the deep snow and jumping snow drifts,” he said. “That kind of riding was definitely available in Swan River. I found a trail that goes straight west from Masenking to the Saskatchewan side. I’m not sure if the trail has a name, but I found some really good deep powder riding.”
