This winter, Morden's Dave Penner decided to create a skating trail on Lake Minnewasta.

Seeing how much use the trail received was heartwarming explains Penner.

"Extremely happy, and uplifting feeling seeing people enjoy the great outdoors, and enjoying it for what it is."

Penner, a firefighter in Morden, notes many in the department had talked about the possibility of creating a skating trail for the community.

"It just never really came to surface, no one really did anything about it or get any further from the talking stage."

Owning a snow plow for their cottage in Ontario, and knowing they weren't going to be heading there too often this winter, Penner and his wife decided to take on the challenge of creating a trail.

Using his truck and plow to clear the snow off of the Lake, he created a roughly 3.5 km trail.

According to Penner, it's about a day's worth of work to clear the snow off of the trail. Penner didn't just clear the snow but has also helped smoothen areas for skaters. He did this by drilling a hole into the ice and pumping water out onto the ice and allowing it to freeze in a more level fashion.

With his time off he wanted to give it a shot says Penner and with the help of friend Hank Wiebe they promoted the trail over social media.

Penner says he’s working on some plans for a trail for next year if they work out he is more than willing to make another trail a reality for residents to enjoy.

To smooth the ice Penner drilled a hole into the ice and pumping water out onto the ice and allowing it to freeze in a more level fashion.