YOUNG cyclists with an interest in nature and an affinity for tennis and curling might consider spending their spring vacation at the Break the Shore camp.
"I like them to experience things they might not experience," says Emily Wissell of Escape Adventures, who's been running the camps for the last four years.
The campers used to spend the whole day on their bicycles until Wissell realized the spring weather was frequently wet.
"I don't like having miserable, cold children," Wissell says.
The Break the Shore camp includes three days split between cycling and either tennis or curling, and two days at Grouse Mountain.
"You might find something that you're passionate about that you've never done before," Wissell says.
Wissell, who once planned on becoming a teacher, says she worked on Grouse Mountain as an educator before taking over the cycling camp.
"I loved their program so they let me bring my groups up," she says.
The campers will have a chance to snowshoe around Grouse and see if they can catch a glimpse of Grinder and Coola, the mountain's slumbering grizzlies.
"They'll go around the bear habitat, of course they're hibernating right now," Wissell says.
The snowshoeing leads nicely to learning about the bears of North America. Campers have a chance to see pelts from a black bear and a grizzly, to learn about a bear's diet, and to stomp the snow off their boots, head into a cabin, and watch a video of Grinder and Coola as cubs.
Besides learning about bears and skating outdoors at Grouse, Wissell says campers will have a chance to study animal artifacts.
The idea of the activity is to help kids relate to animals by having them match replicas of skulls with paw prints from eagles, cougars, coyotes and other animals.
"They have all of these copies of skulls of different animals. . . They've got about 20 of them, and then they have matching paw prints that are made out of rubber."
The activity was unexpectedly popular last year, according to Wissell.
"It was one of their favourite times," she says. "I knew that we needed some indoor activities to break up the day."
Wissell speaks with great enthusiasm about planning the camps, although her career is not exactly what she planned.
"I was going to be a teacher," she said, "and Willie Cromack, who owns John Henry bikes, came to me. . . and was like, 'Hey, wanna buy a business?'"
She's been running the camps for the past four years, and while the activities have diversified, Wissell still loves to see kids on two wheels.
"I think the bike is really a kid's first sense of independence," she says. "Some people seem to be really critical of teaching kids to be up the mountain, and really that's such a small portion of what a bike can do for you. You could get a cruiser bike, you can go along the Seymour Demonstration Forest Road, you can do the Seawall, you can do little trails. It's just about having fun and being out there."
While the kids wear a fair amount of padding, Wissell says face-covering helmets are not necessary.
"Every kid's going to fall of their bike. It happens. We've all done it," she says.
The best way to avoid injuries is to make sure each camper is riding according to his skill level, according to Wissell.
"As long as you can ride and you're having fun, everyone's going to learn," she says.
The Break the Shore camps run from March 12 to 16, and from March 19 to 23, and are intended for children between five and 13.
For more information, go to escapeadventures.ca.
