Trio of U.S. snowmobilers explore Manitoba top to bottom in 4,800-km journey

What started as a shared dream turned into a 4,800-kilometre adventurefor a trio of U.S. snowmobilers who made their way from Minnesota to Churchill, on the northeast tip on Manitoba, and back again.

"We had a great time, saw some beautiful country and met very nice, helpful people," said Rob Hallstrom, one of the snowmobilerswho made the a 13-day journey.

Hallstrom, along with Paul Dick and Rex Hibbert, started in Grand Rapids, Minn., on March 1 andtrekked to Churchill, Man.about 1,000 kilometres north of Winnipegin six days. They rested for a day then turned around and headed south again.

Dick estimates they covered close to 3,000 miles, roughly4,830kilometres, in total, before arriving home on March 14.

Their adventureincluded stops in Falcon Lake, Gillam and Thompson (not planned), and covered terrain ranging from well-maintained trails to the frozen expanse of Lake Winnipeg, where they were met with whiteout conditions at times.

It started as an idea to snowmobile in the Churchill area, which Hallstrom and Dick had eachbeen individually tossing around for years. Then, last year, Dick gave him a call and the two got to talking about it, Hallstrom says.

"Before we knew it, we were planning an adventure."

'Off a full bubble'

Hallstrom, Dick and Hibbert are all experienced snowmobilerswith thousands of kilometres under their belts.

"I think we're kind of adventure junkies, I guess," Hallstrom said, laughing.

The trio first met while participatingin Cain's Quest, a3,200-kilometre race in Labrador. Hallstrom says they wanted to try a route of a similar length, but closer to home.

Dick says he's had close friends and family suggest he might be out to lunch for pursuing trip after challenging trip.

"You know, you gotta be off a half a bubble," he said."And they told me that I'm off a full bubble."

Every day along the route had its challenges, Hallstrom says, but the whiteout conditions they encountered heading north on Lake Winnipeg made that passage one of the tougher legs.

"You couldn't even tell if you were moving," he said. "It's just terrible, but you can't really stop you've got to get off the lake."

Overall,he saysm the journey was beautiful, with plenty of friendly Manitobansalong the way. In one case, a stranger stopped to help them get back to Thompson when the heat exchanger on one of their machines failed, then helped them connect with a local welder to fix it, even though it was a Saturday.

'Heck of a good system'

It was during that conversation Hallstrom says they learned the hotel and gas station they had planned to stay at that night in Ponton, Man., burned down last year.

"Even when we had bad luck, it was actually good luck," he said.

Dick estimatesthe group logged anywhere from 200 miles (roughly 322 kilometres) to 400 miles (roughly 644 kilometres) in a day.

Now, back safe and sounds, he's "letting the dust settle" but not ruling out another run in the coming years.

"They got a heck of a good [snowmobiling trail] system up in Manitoba, there," he said. "I would highly recommend it, you know, to anybody that would ever want to go up there to go do that."