Following the historic “closing of the gap” event on May 11, 2024, between the Midland and Tiny sections of the Ganaraska Hiking Trail, we now have a continuous loop of the Ganaraska Hiking Trail in Simcoe County.
The 18 km Gap trail, includes 2 kms along the beautiful Tiny Rail Trail and passes by a wetland, several creek crossings, etc. The trail then ascends to the Thompson Forest. In Penetanguishene there is about 2 km sidewalk/road walking, before the trail descends to the Midland waterfront via the forested Mid Pen Link trail. The final 6 km is along the shore of Georgian Bay and the Wye River. You can do the 18 km at your own pace, and even in sections. Updated maps are posted here.
I Hiked the Gap Badge
As a consequence, anyone wishing to obtain the Midland and Tiny end-to-end section badges, now have to complete the new distances: 28.2 km for the Midland badge and 30 km for the Tiny badge.
As well, the beautiful “I Hiked the Gap” badge is now available for sale ($7) to anyone who hikes the 18 km Gap trail. To obtain the badge, we do not need a log, but ask that you post a selfie or photo taken on your hike on the Gap trail, and post it in the Ganaraska Hiking Trail Group on Facebook, and order the badge using the Merchandise Order Form.
On Saturday May 11, 2024, a historic hiking event occurred along the Ganaraska Hiking Trail which has been over ten years in the making. It took that long to close the gap that existed between the Midland and Tiny sections of the Ganaraska Hiking Trail.
The day began at Sainte Marie Among the Hurons, where an official ceremony took place, which was attended by municipal officials from Tay Township, Tiny Township and the Town of Midland, who along with Midland’s past club president Larry Piitz, recognized the benefits associated with creating new trails and hiking in general. They also applauded the amazing contributions of countless volunteers who made both the trail and the event possible. Following the land acknowledgement read by Midland council member and club member Jaz Patel, a very touching blessing was delivered by Father O’Brien, a Jesuit priest from the Martyrs’ Shrine. Following this, Frieda Baldwin, president of the Ganaraska Hiking Trail Association, did the honours of cutting the ribbon, thereby signifying the realization of a continuous trail between the Midland and Tiny sections of the Ganaraska Hiking Trail.
Now that the 18 km “gap” in the route has been closed, the Midland section of the Ganaraska Hiking Trail now measures 28.2 km. An additional 3.3 kms were added to the Tiny section, making it 30 km long before it meets the Wasaga Beach section.
Starting at the 12th Concession in Tiny Township, the new trail winds its way along the Tiny Railtrail to the Thompson Forest. The trail then goes through the Bellisle subdivision in the Town of Penetanguishene and along the Midland waterfront, ending at the Wye River near Sainte Marie Among the Hurons. This represents a varied terrain including a beautiful section of the Tiny Railtrail, a mainly deciduous forest, a residential area, a waterfront trail along Georgian Bay and finally, a path along the Wye River on property owned by Parks Canada. Special thanks are given to Tiny Township for their creation of a set of stairs and a bridge which have made the trail more accessible.
On the day of the “I Closed the Gap” hike, 45 hikers undertook the 18 km hike challenge. They were bused to the start of the hike at Tiny Conc. 12 and walked back to their cars. Many volunteers were stationed along the route, ensuring the safety of hikers at critical junctures, along with providing a delightful rest station at Pete Petterson Park. Participants were treated to the music of guitar and steel pan as well as a myriad of healthy snacks and energy yielding treats, a water filling station and a first aid station. At the end of the journey, hikers were rewarded with a free commemorative badge signifying completion of the hike.
In conclusion, thank you to all who were instrumental in helping achieve the dream of a connected trail. And thanks to Mother Nature who presented us all with such a perfect day for hiking after being so very uncooperative on the originally scheduled date!
Happy hiking!
On May 11, 2024 (new date) lace up those hiking boots and join us for the historic “I Closed the Gap” Hike along the beautiful Ganaraska Hiking Trail through Midland, Penetanguishene and Tiny. This project has been over 10 years in the making. Get ready to explore the beautiful Georgian Bay shoreline and various forest trails, breathe in the fresh air, and challenge yourself on this scenic trail. For more details and to register click here.
Hike Ontario is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year and they are offering a special edition 50th Anniversary badge. Great for all you badge hounds to add to your collection.
Congratulations to Hiking Ontario for being the voice of all hikers and hiking groups in Ontario for so many years, and delivering essential programs like Certified Hike Leader and Safe Hiker training, affordable insurance for hiking and outdoor groups, and so much more.
Many hikers collect badges to show their achievements: where and how far they have hiked, etc. The Ganaraska Hiking Trail Association also offers a series of badges, ranging from section badges for the various club section End-to-Ends, as well as for the overall 500km Ganaraska Hiking Trail End-to-End. Our newest badges show that the hiker has done 50, 100 or 200 hikes of at least 1 hour in a calendar year. See Badges – Ganaraska Hiking Trail
The 100 hikes badge launched in 2021, we added the 50 and 200 hikes badges in 2022, and we are considering if we should add a 150 and 250 hikes badges, as this challenge of setting a personal goal, seems to have taken off in a big way.
If you follow the postings on the Ganaraska Hiking Trail Group in Facebook, you will see reports of hikers’ progress towards their personal goal. We congratulate all those who set goals for 2023 and achieved them and we would like to encourage other hikers to set a goal, whether it is an End-to-End Badge or a number of hikes badge, or any other badge. The benefits are enormous, not only for your own physical and mental health, your sense of accomplishment but you will also be visiting gorgeous trails, enjoy fantastic landscapes, see or hear nature at its best, and meet many like minded hikers along the way.
One such hiker is Lilla Fodor. She is a Ganaraska Hiking Trail member, but her home club is the Beaver Valley Bruce Trail Club. She is an avid badge collector, which is sometimes referred to as a badge hound as is evidenced in the pictures below. Here is Lilla’s story about her badge collection.
The first badge I earned was the Beaver Valley BT Beaver Bites (side trails) badge in 2018 when I retired. It started when we moved to the Beaver Valley, I wanted to familiarize myself with the Bruce Trail in the area and I think I became a bit addicted. My goal became to hike an end to end and then the side trails earning the badges along the way.
The next trail I hiked end to end was the Ganaraska during Covid when we were able to move around. It gave me new focus during a difficult time and as a result the Ganaraska holds a special place for me so I’ve kept up my membership.
Next, I started to hike some of the Bruce Trail challenge hikes and the BT sections over and over, just to challenge myself and earn more pretty badges. Badges eventually became a great incentive to explore other trails and areas I’d never think to hike, such as Oxford and Woolwich Counties.
I don’t officially belong to any other hiking club besides the Bruce and Ganaraska, although when I hike a Club’s trails, I always make a donation beyond the cost of the badge or join the Club for that year so I can contribute by paying my way that year.
The most difficult badge to get, was the BT Peninsula Club’s 100 Birder Badge. I know little about birds, I like them well enough and learned a lot, but that one took more patience than I have and a lot of sitting and listening, I prefer just hoofing along a trail.
Physically the toughest and longest was the Dufferin Hi-Land Bruce Trail Club’s One Day Badge where I hiked approximately 56kms in one go. My favourite one was probably the Caledon Hills BT Club’s Loppet Badge because I got to cross country ski the trail to earn that one, combining the trail with another favourite activity, and I got to help two other hikers earn that one. On others I learned about ferns, wineries, Canadian history, and even the history of the Welland Canal system.
In the past I regularly hiked close to home in Caledon Hills for over 20 years before discovering badges, but the fun thing about badge collecting for me has become the incentive to hike in different areas, on different trails, discover something new, or to challenge myself to different terrains and longer distances, and to just keep getting out there, moving and discovering.
Oh, and I’ve also met some great people along the way, forming some wonderful friendships in the hiking community.
By Lilla Fodor
We encourage all hikers to set personal goals for 2024, and beyond. Beside the Ganaraska Hiking Trail badges, note that Hike Ontario also offers some long-distance hiking badges Hike Ontario Long Distance Hiker Awards/, and the National Hiking Trail just launched the National Hiker Award National Hiker Award
For those of you who are setting a 50/100/200 goal, here is a simple spreadsheet to keep track of your progress.
membership grew from an average of 500-600 in previous years to over 700
donations are coming in stronger then ever… some as small as $25, or more
after some difficult Covid years, volunteers have been working hard to keep our beloved Ganaraska Hiking Trail open for all to enjoy, in a safe manner
volunteers came forward to fill in the vacancies of Mapping Coordinator, Newsletter Editor and Web Content Manager. Thank you Victor Tolgyessy, Lana Johnson and Campbell Britton for stepping up to these roles.
the Indigenous Engagement Committee has developed 2 Land Acknowledgements, and designed a sign for posting on the trail
the Risk Management Committee has developed new trail standards and inspections procedures
and lastly, the GHTA has implemented Microsoft 365 to store all our important documents on an on-line platform and we are now employing Outlook for GHTA communications. All volunteer roles in the GHTA have been or will be provided with generic email addresses such as president@ghta.ca, at the same time simplifying the earlier email addresses which were more complicated.
The Trail:
the Midland club has made huge progress on closing the gap between the Midland and Tiny sections of the Ganaraska Hiking Trail, and is planning to officially open this new 17 km section on Saturday April 13, 2024. Mark your calendars!
new maps of all sections were developed and a beautiful wall map of the Ganaraska Hiking Trail will be launched shortly (Thank you Victor!)
Larry, Frieda, Linda P, Evelyn, Roxanne, Eveline, Penny, Shirley, Barb, Mary, Linda G – Gap between Midland and Tiny
The Achievements:
we celebrated the first ‘gold badge” receiver: Bob Wilson for being a GHTA member for 50 years, and having filled volunteer roles of club president, association president, hike leader extraordinaire and trail maintenance steward and coordinator.
our 50/100/200 hikes in 1 year challenge and badges have been extremely successful and have promoted the Ganaraska Hiking Trail Association even outside the GHTA membership, with many enjoying the challenge of setting themselves a goal of completing 50, or 100, or 200 and even 250 hikes in a year, and enjoying the physical and mental benefits of hiking
In closing, I would like to:
thank all volunteers who have stepped forward to help the GHTA, whether it is with our admin, our finances, our mapping, our trail conditions, etc.
congratulate all those who have completed section hikes, and End to End hikes of the Ganaraska Hiking Trail
congratulate all who achieved their 50/100/200 badges… and completed even more hikes than 200
And finally, I wish you all a happy, healthy, peaceful 2024, with lots of great hiking adventures throughout the year, on the Ganaraska Hiking Trail and beyond!
Happy hiking Frieda Baldwin President Ganaraska Hiking Trail Association Inc. Getting outside is good for your inside!
Frieda Baldwin, President of the Ganaraska Hiking Trail Association received the Award of Excellence during the Hike Ontario Annual Summit in London, Ontario, on September 23, 2023. For the complete article visit Hike Ontario Award of Excellence 2023.
