A principal from Thompson is planning to spend part of his summer vacation walking the winter road route from Lynn Lake to Brochet to raise money for food security initiatives in the remote northwestern Manitoba community, which does not have year-round road access.
Daniel Couture, principal of the francophone La Voie du Nord school in Thompson, says he knows the 170-kilometre hike will be challenging but believes that it is possible to cover the distance on foot in under 10 days.
“I spent a couple days on the winter road last year just to see what it was all about,” says Couture. “I walked up the winter road 20 kilometres just to see what it was like. There’s some tough parts. There’s a big bog for about a kilometre and it’s deep, that was a challenge.”
Residents of Brochet have told him that the last 20 kilometres is a road that they drive down all the time to go to a bridge and go fishing, so Couture anticipates no problems once he makes it that far.
“It’s the inside 130 [kilometres] that’s still unknown but it should be OK.”
Rather than just take on the trek as a personal challenge, Couture wanted to make the adventure about more than himself, so he has created a GoFundMe page to raise money, all of which will go towards helping the Northern Association of Community Councils (NACC) to make Brochet more self-sufficient when it comes to food.
“The season shortening of the winter roads is affecting the people living in those communities [that are only connected to the rest of the province for a handful of weeks in the winter],” said Couture. “I decided to fundraise to help Brochet become more self-sufficient and help them get access to fruits and vegetables that they can grow instead of having everything flown in basically, because the winter road season is so short now.”
The son of a former Lynn Lake RCMP detachment commander, Couture spent summers in Lynn Lake while attending university and also worked for a full year as an educational assistant at West Lynn Heights School in Lynn Lake and often spends three weeks with his family at a remote cabin in the area during the summer.
“For me, nothing’s better than going up north to Lynn Lake, either fishing or going out and doing some camping in the woods or whatever and really be just disconnected, the best way to recharge,” Couture says.
And thanks to a SPOT X satellite messaging device, he’ll be able to communicate with family and friends while he’s out in the bush.
“It’s a good way to communicate and also update your location every 10 minutes so my wife and my family and those that are following this fundraiser, they can log into a website and find out exactly where I am,” Couture says.
He anticipates conditions may be a little bit different even over the first 20 kilometres that he hiked last year when he sets out in July.
“There’s going to be more water in July than there was last year in August so it’s going to be a little slower but last year I easily did 20 kilometres in the day,” says Couture.
And although he didn’t see any bears last year, he did spot their tracks.
“It’s not scary. I mean, maybe the bears are scary but Manitoba Conservation and Climate helped me with that a little bit and gave me some tips so I’ll be OK.”
To donate to Couture’s fundraiser, which is about halfway to its goal of $3,000, go to https://gofund.me/e8638749.
