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Blog Posts for Pine Ridge Club News & Events
Starting July 24, the Sylvan Glen Road Bridge at k7 on the Ganaraska Trail will be closed to vehicles and foot traffic until next spring while it undergoes removal and reconstruction. Please see the detour plan below for hikers.
At the Annual General Meeting on May 9, the Volunteer and Trail Maintenance Awards were announced for 2023.
Volunteer of the Year – IRENE BELL
This year we recognize Irene Bell for her contributions to the Ganaraska Hiking Trail
Association Inc.
Back in 2014, she and Shirl McArthur formed a 2 women’s team to take over the Club Presidency
of the Wasaga Beach Ganaraska Hiking Trail club, but in the last few years, Irene continued on
her own until 2022.
She not only made sure the Wasaga Beach section of the Ganaraska Hiking Trail was in good
shape, but with her volunteers they created a new route along the Collingwood to Barrie
rail trail. She made sure there was a hiking schedule for members and organized many local
social activities for club members.
As the president of the local Wasaga Beach club, she attended the board meetings of the GHTA
Inc. for the last 9 years and contributed valued input to our discussions. She also acted as the
GHTA rep to Ontario Nature, and as such was GHTA’s sounding board on all things nature
related.
Well done Irene! We herewith would like to show our appreciation by presenting you with the
Volunteer of the Year Award for 2023. Thank you for your past contributions. Irene, we all enjoyed working with you, you are an excellent ambassador for hiking, and we wish
you all the best for the future.
Trail Maintenance Club Award – PINE RIDGE
Following a Ganaraska Hiking Trail Association Inc board decision in the fall of 2022
that the building of bridges is now allowed, the Pine Ridge Club of the Ganaraska Hiking
Trail Association Inc is among the first to implement the new policy and is therefore
being nominated for building new bridges over tributaries of the Ganaraska River:
On December 2, 2022, 5 Pine Ridge Hiking Club members (Jimmy Edwards, Stan
Muldoon, Jay Sherwin, John Ambler and bridge designer Ted Van Netten) installed a
new 20′ bridge between 4th and 5th lines of Hope Township, at km 12, on the property
of Gord and Judy Austin.
A further 2 bridges are currently being built at km 8. This project is being spearheaded
by property owners Bill and Penny Harris with several PRHC members contributing
numerous hours of volunteer labour. We are also appreciative of a $1730 donation from
an anonymous donor to fund the bridge.
Great work, Pine Ridge!
Further to the previous notice, all trails in the Ganaraska Forest have now been reopened by the Ganaraska Forest Regional Conservation Authority.
In the Pine Ridge section of the Ganaraska Hiking Trail, between km 31 and km 39 in the Ganaraska Forest, there still are a number of fallen trees due to storm damage. Ganaraska Regional Forest staff will be clearing this area in the near future. Until that happens, Ganaraska Hiking Trail volunteers are not allowed to do regular trail maintenance and refresh the blazes, which may cause some confusion with navigating the Ganaraska Hiking Trail in that part of the Ganaraska Forest.
The section of the GHTA trail from km 31.1 to 39.7 will not be open to hikers until April 1st. Until then hikers must use the bypass trail west along the 10th line of Hope Township from km 31.1 to the Cold Springs Camp Road and then north on the Cold Springs Camp Road to the point where it joins the GHTA trial at km 39.7. The bypass is marked with blue blazes. Only hikers on a GHTA club-sanctioned hike or GF members are permitted to use the GF trails without paying a day-use fee. The only place to purchase a day pass is at the GF Centre. It is planned to have day-use permits available online by April 1st.
The Ganaraska Trail follows a former railway between the 4th and 5th lines of Hope Township. Most of the trail is pretty well level, but there is one spot where the railway crossed a creek. The old trestle bridge had been taken out years ago and hikers needed to navigate two sagging, slippery cedar logs to get across that creek. There was a 25’ horizontal cedar tree next to the logs for holding on to. To make matters worse, the trail down to the bridge and up the other side was steep and treacherous.
On December 2, 2022, life got easier for trail hikers and dog walkers. 5 Pine Ridge Hiking Club members installed a new 20’ bridge a short distance downstream from the old crossing. Both access trails were moved and hand-shovelled to be easier to traverse. Congratulations to Jimmy Edwards, Stan Muldoon, Jay Sherwin, John Ambler and bridge designer, Ted Van Netten.
Some people just keep on giving – and this year we are recognizing Stan Muldoon for being one of those people in the Ganaraska Hiking Trail Association, Inc.
Stan has been a member of the Pine Ridge Club for years and has served as its President and representative to the Board. As well, he chaired the 50th Anniversary Celebration Committee – and during that time he prepared and delivered a history of the organization from its inception, bringing recognition to the founding members. At the 50th Anniversary celebration, Stan also delivered a workshop on stretching, much appreciated by the attendees!
Stan joined the Executive as Vice President for a few years as well and more recently has stepped up to Chair the new Mapping Committee, as well as the Indigenous Engagement Committee.
Well done Stan – you are a great example to us all – and we want to show our appreciation by presenting you with the Volunteer of the Year Award for 2022.
The Ganaraska Forest Centre has announced that hiking will not be allowed on their cross country ski trails between January 1 and March 31. This announcement affects the Pine Ridge Club trail through the forest. The attached diagram shows an alternative road walking route to avoid the ski trails. The affected area can be found on the Ondaga app for the Pine Ridge Club between the 31.1 KM marker and 39.7 KM markers on the map. We ask that all users of the Ganaraska hiking trail watch for, and comply with, trail usage instructions as posted by the Ganaraska Forest organization.
Thank-you to Rita Zeran for sending us this link from hikebiketravel.com
Unveiling of new plaque at the Ganaraska Trailhead in Port Hope on October 1, 2015. Attended by Jack Goering and Patricia Lawson (founding members of the association), President Bob Bowles of the GHTA and President of the Pine Ridge Hiking Club, Rita Zeran as well as several members of the Pine Ridge Hiking Club.