Chisholm Trail, the road between the community of Sadowa and Black River Road, is closed until December 11 for bridge work. The Chisholm Trail road section is the western end of the Wilderness Club trail. Hikers should avoid this area until we have notification that the work has been completed.
Category: Wilderness Club
Blog Posts for Wilderness Club News & Events
Ice Storm Restoration Update
As per our announcement of April 3, 2025, following the ice storm of March 29/30, the entire 500 km long Ganaraska Hiking Trail was officially closed. Meanwhile, our club volunteers have been busy assessing and restoring their sections of the Ganaraska Hiking Trail and as a result of their hard work, we hope to be able to “open” up some sections very soon. Stay tuned for further announcements, hopefully by this coming weekend.
Our volunteers have already cleared a lot of the fallen debris, put caution tape around some dangerous hazards and/or created a small reroute, all this in an effort to make the trail “passable”. Trail Closed signs are being installed on those sections of the Ganaraska Hiking Trail, which are still considered impassable, or where we have not been able to even start or complete any restoration. In the most affected areas, such as many of the Simcoe County Forests in Oro Medonte, salvage efforts are scheduled by the landowner. These logging operations may last well into the summer, but will open up the forest access roads, and make it easier for our volunteers to access the trail for restoration efforts.
As we cannot enforce physical closure of trail access, we ask that persons traversing the trail be guided by the following principles:
- As is always the case, even under normal circumstances, HIKE AT YOUR OWN RISK. It remains the individual’s own responsibility to decide what their own risk tolerance is.
- There are still a lot of overhead hazards such as tree branches hanging above the trail, or leaning trees near the trail, which we plan to deal with in due time. Several of our volunteers have taken chainsaw training to help tackle the situation.
- Consider the wind. Higher wind speeds and gusts can dislodge the overhead hazards or topple leaning trees.
- Leave a hike plan with someone (i.e. where you plan to hike, when expected back, etc.)
- Hike with a buddy
Enjoy the hiking season, but stay safe out there!
Frieda Baldwin
President, Ganaraska Hiking Trail Association Inc.
Safe Hiker Course April 26 at Tiffin Centre for Conservation
On Saturday April 26, 2025 Ganaraska Hiking Trail Association will be offering a Safe Hiker course for members and non-members. The course is built on the Hike Ontario Safe Hiker course, but will include other topics such as information about safe hiking after the ice storm, protecting from ticks, carpool etiquette, planning for a hike, navigation tools, What3Words, what if you get lost/injured, weather, etc.
Following the course, there will be a 1 to 1.5 hour hike on the beautiful Tiffin CA property. Both the course and parking are free on April 26.
Address: Tiffin Centre, 8195 8th Line of Essa, Utopia, Ontario on Saturday April 26 at 12:30.
Park in the large parking lot by the green Administration building and proceed past that building via the covered boardwalk to the Learning Centre.
To sign up for the free course, enter your name and email on the following link. Your email will only be visible to the instructors and will be used in case of a change or cancellation.
Safe Hiker Course Registration
QE2 and Our Partnership with Ontario Parks – An Appreciation
The end of one year and the beginning of another is traditionally a time for reflection. In that vein, it is noteworthy that the Wilderness Club of the GHTA enjoys a special and treasured relationship with the Ontario Parks staff that manage the Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Provincial Park (“QE2”) – the park that encompasses about 95% of the Wilderness section of the Ganaraska Trail. With an area of 33,505 hectares, QE2 is the second largest park south of Algonquin Park with 100 habitat types and is a vast biological engine renowned for its rock barrens, and beaver fens. Hikers and canoeists can enjoy a true wilderness experience in QE2 that is not typically available so far south in the province.
The flavour of a true wilderness experience is nicely captured by the lead article of the Winter 2023 GHTA newsletter (https://ganaraska-hiking-trail.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/GHTA-Newsletter-Winter-2023-online-compressed-version.pdf) in which Kate Kostandoff describes a 3-day/2-night “cross-over” hike through the interior of QE2 completed in October. Later in the newsletter is an amusing epic poem penned by Ruth Patterson in the style of Robert W. Service. These appreciative contributions illustrate the significance of QEII to the hiking community in general and to the Ganaraska Hiking Trail Association in particular, while underscoring the importance of the work undertaken by the Parks staff.
Looking back over the past 12 months, the following is a top-of-mind random sampling of highlights for 2022:
* The seasonal floating footbridge over Montgomery Creek installed by Ontario Parks in collaboration with the GHTA continues to be a great success, much appreciated by Ganaraska members as well as the general public.
* Park Biologist Phil Careless was a big hit with his enthusiastic participation as a panelist in the Wilderness Club’s overnight Zoom call hiking clinic in September.
* Trail maintenance, thunder boxes, visitor monitoring & management: we at the Ganaraska Hiking Trail Association appreciate the effort it takes to manage QEII, and we know there is a lot of work behind the scenes, much of which we are only vaguely aware.
Wilderness Club Award Presentation
This morning in Tudhope Park Orillia the stars aligned (Hike 2 of Wilderness Club in Orillia Section), and Carol Strickland presented the Trails Maintenance Award to the Wilderness Club. Neil couldn’t be with us today, but accepting for Wilderness was co-leader Dan Myall. That’s a well-deserved award – hats off to the Wilderness club, especially for that amazing seasonal bridge in QE Wildlands Park.
Trail Maintenance Award
This year’s Trail Maintenance Award is being presented to the Wilderness Club, under the capable leadership of President Rob Halupka, for their outstanding work to provide a floating bridge over Montgomery Creek. The process took at least a year, with many club members involved with the project, helping in the planning, design, partnering with Parks Ontario, pivoting when something didn’t work, and generally getting the job done! Installation was on Aug. 26 under the guidance of the Ontario Parks team, and the bridge was in place until late October when as planned, it was removed for the season. It served the purpose beautifully and was much enjoyed by many hikers.
Without the bridge it was sometimes impossible to get across Montgomery Creek due to fluctuating water levels, making this section of the trail occasionally unusable.
Well done, Wilderness club. That will be a tough one to top!
2021.11.05 Wilderness Club – Montgomery Bridge Seasonal Removal
Effective November 5, 2021, the bridge segments will be disconnected and heaved up onto the bank to keep them high & dry over the winter season. After the bridge is out, we can still cross safely on the fallen tree (aka the “Four Brothers”) that spans Montgomery Creek about 250 metres upstream from the private bridge. The bridge will be replaced in the spring.
2021.10.06 – Significant Reroute in Wilderness Area
West of North Smudge Lake near campsite 12, a number of beaver dams including one that is part of the Ganaraska Trail have blown out recently. Please follow the temporary reroute (not flagged) to a beaver dam that is still standing. The reroute is 1.2 km, adding .5 km to the total distance of the trail.
Wilderness Club: First Spring Hike of 2019
Today was the first GHTA Wilderness Club hike of spring 2019 – Devil’s Lake to Moore Falls via the “Queen’s Corridor”; and the first BBQ steak of the year – thanks Joshua! Oh, and thanks to the snowmobilers who packed down a number of sections of the now defunct, overgrown hydro cut – “Queen’s Corridor”. We didn’t really need our snowshoes despite at least a foot and a half of snow.
The morning chilled us with its -16C temperatures and wind chill (28k/h with gusts to 35k/h). The combination of the forest and valleys protecting us from the wind, a clear, bright sunny day and my “manopause” had me in an unzippered jacket, baseball cap and no gloves in no time.
The hard water was still safe-at least where we were, even though we saw lots of open water on the drive in this morning. Today will probably be our last outing on it until next year. I’ll miss the refreshing reverse perspective of looking up the cliffs and slopes into the forest vs. the view downward towards the water. As well as the bonus of zero elevation change which is always a pleasure. I’m sure everyone would agree: Robert, Ted, Kathy, Lorry, Simone Joshua.
Vanessa’s GHTA E2E
Wow, another GHTA Wilderness Club member representing! Congratulations Miranda on completing the entire trail. Here is her account of her fantastic journey:
Hello there, I am happy in sending my logs for my E2E badge. I wasn’t sure where to start but I will do it telling the best thing that happened to me in the trail.
Every time I think on that day I want to cry of excitement as a little girl in the wilderness section. We were only four hikers and I was the ahead when I saw the big, puffy gorgeous bear. I’m pretty sure he was more scared than me but that moment is imprinted in my head forever since I stayed still and couldn’t take a picture of it.
One of my first hikes ever was in Ganaraska Wilderness in 2017; it was an 8 hours hike with high humidity and thousands of mosquitoes but worth to try and since then I haven’t stop hiking. First I finished the Bruce trail then the Oak Ridges Moraine because I was anxious about the stories about the wilderness so I prepared and organized the hikes meticulously for safety of everyone.
The backpacking in the wilderness section was the hardest one since it was one of the hottest humid days in September. I became dehydrated with symptoms like vomiting, migraine and dizziness I thought I wasn’t going to make it but the next day I was the strongest one while the others were struggling with the heat. In the other hikes on the Ragged and Montgomery trail we loved the autumn colours and I had a moment of silence in front of the rock remembering Doris, the hiker who died years before. I know in my heart she was doing what she loved, hiking.
There are other memorable hikes along the trail like the last one in the Mad river section with deep snow and strong cold winds. We loved Creemore town and feared its smallest jail, better not misbehave in that place 😉
The Wasaga section had a couple of beautiful spots like in the Nordic area where we saw loons and we observed the sand dunes but our phones and camera were dead due to the cold temperatures and we couldn’t take pictures but one, we did 31km on that day.
Barrie section was funny since we started our day with positivism and enthusiasm but a muddy pothole swallowed my leg together with my snowshoe, hehehe we went back home for the first time after an incident like this one.
Hiking along the lake in the Orillia section was wonderful, I’m thinking in coming back at some point in spring or summer time.
I want to confess that my reason to start hiking was to overcome my illnesses and find peace in my soul and mind.
When I started my journey I was a ‘victim of domestic violence’. I wanted to run away but instead I asked for professional help. During my hospitalizations my therapists noticed I loved walking and wondering in the city for hours and capable of doing 30km every day. I was advised to find a group in the MeetUp so I could meet people and I found the hiking group there.
Now, I’m not longer a victim, I’m a survivor. After more than a decade I left the abusive environment, a decision that I took while hiking. Sauntering in the trail cleared my mind and I drastically change the turn of my life.
I am free to do what I like at the same time helping those who join me in my group for whatever reason they are hiking. Mental illness is invisible and as a survivor I can tell you I learned to fake my happiness very well but hiking brought me peace.
For now, our next trail is the Grand Valley and Avon trails and then I’m hoping there will be another trail to put my feet on the ground while I’m trying to live my present.
Thanks to all the volunteers and members from the Ganaraska trail association that made it possible for us to hike safely. Especial thanks to Glynn, John, Carol, Tom, Frieda and Louis for responding back to my emails and phone calls.
A special thanks to Troy who was my partner-in-crime in every single hike; without him this wouldn’t be possible.
Thanks to my closest members in the Hiking Team GTA: Jean & Frank, Jeremy, Selena, Natalie, Paul, Tanya, Neha, Garima, Alex, Tony, Jonathan, Gerry, Sandi, Naira, and many more.
Happy Trails to all.
Vanessa Miranda, Hike Leader Ontario