Super Ski Trails

These days I’m working the early morning shift at CBC Radio. That means being in the office around 4:30 AM. It’s really the middle of the night but the upside is I’m finished work around 12:30. That makes it possible to indulge in some midweek skiing, something I haven’t been able to do very often. And it’s great.

I’ve skied for eight days straight. One day was spent at Poley Mountain doing some telemark and downhill turns but most of the time I did some cross country sliding on the local trails around Grand Bay-Westfield. With the recent snow they are all in great shape.

My favorite is the Backland Road behind the Westfield golf course. I’ve followed that twice in the last few days all the way to Loch Alva. ATV’s use the trail all the time as well as snowmobiles and they flatten the middle of it nicely and chop up the snow. It’s like skiing on a groomed trail and it’s the place you want to be especially with the heavy crust on the snow. That trail is always fast. It’s being well used too this winter by walkers and the occasional horseback rider. I never saw the horse but it left behind some road apples.

The trails across the highway on Highland Road to Round Lake and beyond are also in great shape. Snowmobile traffic has groomed them up nicely. The day I skied the Caribou Lake trail toward Welsford the snow was hard packed and icy but by the time I reached the lake the snowmobile groomer had gone through and loosened everything up. Heading back to the highway is mostly downhill and was very fast. Almost too fast.

The temperatures are getting warmer but snow is in the long range forecast so conditions should remain good for x-c skiers. The local backcountry trails are in better shape now than they were at any time last winter so get out the boards or snowshoes out and enjoy them while you can.

River Valley Rambler - Becoming Grandparents

My wife and I are now grandparents. Our daughter Christine and her husband Greg had their baby on August 21st. Her name is Ava Mary Mason. She is the most beautiful baby in the world. Well she is to us of course.

I’m still not quite sure what to make of being a grandparent because I’ve never been one before. It signals another change in life for sure. Grandparents are usually perceived to be older members of society but that’s not always the case anymore. I know people who have become a grandparent in their early 40’s or younger. So age doesn’t really have a lot to do with it although there is something very senior-like being referred to as ‘Grandpa’ by your friends.

And that brings us to what our granddaughter will actually call us. Our kids called their grandparents Gramma and Poppa. When I was a kid I called one grandmother Nanny and the other Grandma. I suppose in the end it doesn’t really matter what you’re called. The relationship you develop with your grandchild will be based on a lot more than a name. So what does it really mean to a grandparent?

I think of that when I hold little Ava. She’s so tiny and life for her at a few weeks old consists of mainly eating and sleeping. She looks at you sometimes but I don’t think she’s really focusing on who you are yet. I look down at her and wonder about what kind of person she will be and where life will take her. She’s at the beginning of an incredible journey and she doesn’t realize it yet. She’s content just to be and I’m content just to hold her.

Maybe being a grandparent is just about being there for your grandchild. You’re not the parent this time. You don’t have the ultimate responsibility for raising the child. You have a role to play of course to help and support your children and theirs but you’re no longer the primary caregiver. You take a step back from that. It means you get to enjoy the grandchild without assuming all the responsibility. That’s the fun part.

Grandparents can play with their grandchildren, take them on outings, spoil them and at the end of the day hand them back to their parents for the harder stuff like disciplining. It’s a perfect situation. You get to hold the baby but pass her back to her mother when her diapers need a change. At least that’s the way it’s worked out so far. I expect I’ll soon have my turn at changing diapers. Having four kids of my own, I know how to do that.

Probably the secret of being a grandparent is really no secret at all. It’s very simple. All you have to do is love your grandchildren. The rest of it will come naturally after that. And when I look at my new granddaughter that part of it is really easy to do.

River Valley Rambler - Local Trails

The town of Grand Bay-Westfield has a fabulous waterfront development and trail building plan in the works. We can see the progress every time we pass by the Westfield Ferry Landing. Work on the Brundage Point trailhead is well underway. I wrote about the entire development plan in an earlier column and it includes the extension of the trail system along Route 177 and the development of a backcountry trail network. The plan is a good one and when completed will certainly be a welcome addition to the community.

We don’t have to go far to see how a well planned out and maintained trail system can contribute to the quality of life in a community. The city of Fredericton has over 70 km of trails to explore within the city limits. The non-profit and voluntary Trails Coalition looks after these trails year round. The Coalition members include the local Outdoor Enthusiasts club, area bicycle clubs, a running club and the x-c ski club. There are 17 trails in the city and about 9 recreation areas. I’ve walked on some of the trails in the summer and recently I had the chance to ski on a few of them this winter. This superb trail system is one of the best things about Fredericton.

There was about 10 cm of fresh snow on the ground the day I took my skis to Odell Park. A network of ski and hiking trails winds throughout and around the park. In the winter the trails are groomed for x-c skiing but the groomer hadn’t been out that day yet. Plenty of other skiers had though. If you have the trails people will use them. I skied almost ever trail in the park that day. The snow conditions were perfect. The park is located on the side of a hill so some of the trails are challenging, especially on the way down but what a ride! It’s a fabulous place to ski and it’s right in the city.

I still had some legs left so next I went to the UNB Woodlot and Game Refuge beyond Regent Mall and toward New Maryland. Skiers just call this place “The Woodlot”. I don’t know how many kilometers of trails there are but it’s a lot. I wanted to ski for about half an hour but got lost and ended up experiencing a lot of what the Woodlot has to offer. I eventually found the trail out to my car about an hour and a half later. The trails were all freshly groomed, packed and tracked by machine. The local Wostawea Ski Club looks after the trails in the winter and they were wonderful that day.

It was an absolute treat to ski on well maintained groomed trails. I don’t have an opportunity to do that very often. Most of the skiing we do in this area around Saint John is of the backcountry variety. We either break our own trails or share them with ATV’s and snowmobiles. This is the kind of skiing I like but I have to admit how nice it sometimes is to have that groomed track and not to be concerned about motorized traffic on the trail. I have no problem sharing our vast trail system here. There’s plenty of room for everyone who wants to get out in the backcountry and explore.

But if we are to become known for our trail system and waterfront here in Grand Bay-Westfield I think we’ll have to make sure that some trails are reserved just for hiking, walking, skiing and perhaps mountain biking. Hikers will not come to explore our trails if they’re overrun with ATV’s. It would be ideal to have a section of forest somewhere nearby with a few kilometers of linked trails on it just for non-motorized use. If the trail is there people will use it just like they do in Fredericton. And if we ever get a winter with reliable snowfall again, I bet skiers would use the trails all the time. I know I would. And if enough of us do, maybe just maybe we could have groomed trails and form a club. It’s a big attraction in Fredericton and it could be here too.

River Valley Rambler - Grand Manan Trial

One of the more interesting court cases in New Brunswick over the past year was that of the so-called ‘Grand Manan Five’. The ‘boys’ as they were called on the island, faced various weapons and arson charges after a riot broke out and the home of an alleged crack dealer was burned to the ground. The crown said the five took the law into their own hands. The defence said they did what they did to protect themselves and their families. In the end the crown did get some convictions, although not for the shooting spree that occurred. We know that during the riot a lot of gunfire was exchanged between the two groups and police say it was a miracle that no one was killed. Of the five, one was acquitted; two were convicted of arson, one for unsafe use of a flare gun and one for unsafe storage of a weapon. They were sentenced to house arrest.

I attended the trial in the old Charlotte County Court House in St. Andrews for the entire two weeks. It quickly became clear there were two other groups on trial in that courtroom in addition to the five accused. Even though they weren’t facing any charges everyone in the court formed an opinion about the group on the other side of the street the night of the riot. Some of those guys who took the stand for the crown were scary individuals. They were not the kind of people you’d want living next door to you. It’s unfortunate but the police and their actions were also in a sense on trial. Relations between the RCMP and people on Grand Manan are still bad a result. In fact the mayor of the island has just asked the province to conduct an inquiry into how the police responded to the riot and the aftermath. In the days following the incident about 70 extra RCMP officers arrived on the island to keep the peace. Islanders are saying it was overkill and the police should have paid more attention to the drug problem on the island before everything got out of hand.

I do respect and value the police. Listening to the testimony throughout the trial it became clear how difficult a job it is especially in a situation like what happened that night on Grand Manan. But at the same time, things came out during the trial that left me and I think others in the court, somewhat troubled by the actions of the RCMP. We heard testimony from islanders who said the police on Grand Manan knew something was going to happen. Some even said on the stand that some officers told them they wouldn’t be quick to respond if a fire broke out at the alleged drug dealer’s house.

We also watched the video interrogation of the five accused. An RCMP officer took the stand and explained in detail the tactics police use to conduct an interrogation. We were told how they bend the truth and out and out lie to the accused to get them to admit to something. We heard all about the good cop-bad cop technique. We were told how during an interrogation the police are more like actors, putting on a well-rehearsed show to play on the emotions of the accused. After the explanations we watched the various interrogation techniques being employed in the questioning of these five islanders. Even though almost all of them said they wanted to wait for their lawyer before saying anything to the police, the officers continued the questioning, sometimes for up to two hours. Eventually the accused all gave in and told the police exactly what they wanted to hear.

I know this is normal police procedure and they’re trained to do this. At no time during the interrogations were the police heavy handed or out of line. They were doing their job and doing it well. But watching it was a real eye-opener for me and for others in the court. The mayor of Grand Manan said publicly that he didn’t care much for those police tactics. After watching this I know if I ever find myself in a situation where I’m being interrogated by police, I’m going to keep my mouth shut, or at least try to, until my lawyer gets there whether I’m guilty of anything or not. We got a real behind the scenes look at how the police operate and I know it made a lot of people in that courtroom uneasy.

It’s clear after this incident that a lot of work is still needed to improve relations between the RCMP and people on Grand Manan. It also became clear that like elsewhere in New Brunswick, there is a serious drug problem on the island. The community and the police have to mend those fences in order to deal with it properly.