To all Ganaraska Hiking Trail users – our trail inspection and maintenance activity for many sections of the overall trail is still focused on recovery from the ice storm earlier this year. This means hikers may find parts of trail where normal trail maintenance activities such as weed control or trimming or minor debris clearing are not yet done. We ask for your patience for getting the entire trail back to our normal standards, and also ask you to be extra careful on the trail – especially be sure to check for ticks if you find yourself hiking through tall grass.
Category: News
2025.06.27 – GHTA Kawartha Club Trail Status Update
Due to the hard work of many volunteers, and multiple trail inspection and maintenance events, the GHTA Kawartha Club trail is now open from Crosswinds Road (KM 0.0 on Trail Guide map #5) through to Monck Road (KM 63.6 on Trail Guide map #12).
The remaining section from Monck Road to Moore’s Falls (KM 79.3 on Trail Guide map #12) will be worked on next. Approximately 5 km of the remaining trail section is on roads. However, the other 10 km is more difficult to access and navigate bush trails with many swamps, beaver dams, etc.
2025.06.14 – GHTA Tiny Side Trail to Mole Mountain Open
Confirmation has been received that the side trail in Tiny Marsh to Mole Mountain is open and ready for hikers to use. To add to the good news, there are currently great displays of blue flag iris and yellow water lilies (with white lilies coming in the near future). With this news the entire GHTA Tiny trail is open end-to-end. Enjoy!
2025.06.08 – Ice Storm Damage Update for GHTA Midland / Tiny Club Trails
After a lot of hard work by a lot of volunteers, the Midland Club trail is open except for the 4.1 km stretch between Vasey Road and Hogg Valley Road (Trail Guide Map #32) and the Tiny trail is open except for the side trail in Tiny Marsh that goes to Mole Mountain (Trail Guide Map #29 & #30). Further updates will be posted as these trail sections are inspected and cleared.
A caution reminder – All trail users should remember that even though the trails themselves are clear there may still be risks in forested areas due to overhead broken branches or leaning or weakened trees due to the ice storm. Hike with caution and watch for overhead and nearby hazards. All trail users must accept personal responsibility for their own safety.
2025.06.05 – GHTA Barrie Club Trail in Springwater Provincial Park Now Open
On 2024.12.07 the Barrie Club trail through Springwater Provincial Park was closed due to “Significant Conifer Plantation Management” activity in the park. This work in the park has been completed, and they have cleared the trails after the recent ice storm, so this section of the Barrie Club trail is now open. Enjoy!
2025.06.04 – Ice Storm Damage Update for GHTA Orillia Club Trail
The GHTA Orillia Club trail had significant and extensive damage from the recent ice storm. Even with the hard work of many volunteers since the ice storm there is still a lot to do before the entire trail can be considered open and ready to use The trail is closed between Line 8N and 12N in Oro-Medonte with more trail clearing to be done and hazardous conditions to be addressed. SCF Strachan and Oro tracts are closed for logging salvage operations affecting the trail west of Line 8N. The state of the trail east of Orillia in SCF Rathburn tract is unknown and may not be inspected until next winter due to wet conditions in this trail section. Please avoid using the GHTA Orillia Club trail until the trails are cleared and announced as ready to use (reference Trail Guide maps #16 to #21).
2025.06.02 – Logging Operations Affect Orillia Club Trail
Notification was received today from Simcoe County Forest that logging operations would be starting immediately in SCF Strachan Tract and part of Oro Tract. This affects the Orillia Club trail running through the Strachan Tract (see Trail Guide maps #20 and #21). The notification from SCF is copied here for reference. Note that salvage operations in the Drury Tract does not affect the Ganaraska Hiking Trail. Also, the announcement said that logging operations in North Barr Tract are now complete.
Salvage operations will be starting up in the Drury Tract tomorrow morning and the Strachan Tract this afternoon.
Signs for Strachan will go up today, with additional tomorrow, as the entire Tract will be closed for these operations. Due to the amount of trails coming into Strachan from the Oro Tract, parts of the Oro Tract will be closed as well. The following map shows the areas that are closed and the placement locations for signage.
2025.05.31 – Copeland Forest Friends Association (CFFA) Announcement
The Barrie and Oro-Medonte Ganaraska hiking trails run through Copeland Forest. The following announcement, just received from CFFA, asks trails users to stay off the trails where clean-up activity will happen over the next few days.
“Great News! A Benefactor recently contacted the CFFA to offer assistance in the cleanup of the trails in the Copeland Forest. Our trail fairies and volunteers have done a HUGE amount of work clearing all of the single track trails. We are left with some signifanct trees still down along the double tracks areas in the Uplands.
This Monday, June 2nd an arborist and their team will be heading into the forest to clear the remaining damage in the Uplands area. We received approval from the MNR for a single rubber tracked vehicle to assist in this work. They will enter from the Nordic Centre and proceed along the double track in the following manner:
Post 32 – 33 – 34 – 36 (they will go up Fox Run and clear trees and double back from there) – 37 – 38 – 40 – 17 – 16 (most of the clearing will occur here) – 15 – 14 -13 -19 – 18 -17 -18 – 39 -38 – 37 and then back out the way they came.
We expect this work to take 2-3 days and ask that you keep clear of these areas as much as possible. They will be attending to the deadfall and widow makers they find along the route. Most of the lowland double track survived quite well. We have funds left over to clear one off widow makers over the next few months. Announcements will be made when those are being done.
We would like to thank our incredible community of volunteers and trail fairies, the MNR, Horseshoe Resort and finally a generous donation from a member of the community who recognized that our Forest and the ability for the community to enjoy is paramount to our mental health and physical conditioning.”
2025.05.29 – Simcoe County Forest Salvage Operations Affecting Ganaraska Hiking Trail
The extensive damage to many of the Simcoe County Forest tracts means that the Simcoe County Forestry team is proceeding as quickly as they can with logging operations to salvage downed trees and harvest what they can while they are in the forest. Today we received the following message from SCF.
“Just wanted to send a note regarding the ongoing salvage operations within the County Forest. Our storm impact map has been updated to reflect tracts that are currently, or soon to be, conducting salvage operations.
As a reminder these tracts are not safe in current state even if some trails have been cleared, our forest access roads remain inaccessible for EMS if they were ever needed.
Up to date mapping can be found here: Impacted County Forest Tracts
As usual once an operation starts we will post “No Entry” signs at the entrances and send communications as well as update our public mapping to show “Active Operations”.
The map accessed through the link above shows all forest tracts that are affected. The listed tracts that affect the Ganaraska hiking trail specifically are as follows:
Arbour Tract – Orillia Club trail (Trail Guide Map #21)
Oro Tract – Orillia Club trail (Trail Guide Map #21
Strachan Tract – Orillia Club trail (Trail Guide Map #20)
Rathburn Tract – Orillia Club trail (Trail Guide Map #17)
North Barr – Barrie Club trail (Trail Guide Map #21)
2025.05.29 – Wasaga Beach Club Trail Ice Storm Status Update
Wasaga Beach Club leadership has informed that ice storm damage on the Wasaga Beach Club trail was minimal and the trails remain open.
A caution reminder – All trail users should remember that even though the trails themselves are clear there may still be risks in forested areas due to overhead broken branches or leaning or weakened trees due to the ice storm. Hike with caution and watch for overhead and nearby hazards, especially if there is a strong wind or wind gusts. All trail users must accept personal responsibility for their own safety.