Category: Association News

The Executive of the Ganaraska Hiking Trail Association Inc. is pleased to announce that they have awarded a special award to David Francis, in recognition and appreciation of his past contributions to the GHTA, at the club level, the association level, as well as at provincial and national levels. His leadership, commitment and overall enthusiasm for hiking has been recognized, as over the years, he contributed his time and skills as: 

– founding member of the Alliston-Angus GHTA club, later more appropriately renamed Mad River club (he actually suggested the name!)

– first Mad River club president- dedicated and wonderful hike leader, especially as it relates to hiking with children and young adults

– GHTA Wilderness club president

– GHTA association president

– Hike Ontario president

– Director with Hike Canada

We also appreciate and currently hugely benefit from David’s past involvement and management of the Hike Ontario Certified Hike Leader program.

 As the Executive realized that David is not a lifetime member, we agreed to offer him a lifetime membership. It seems that the recognition was well received by David, who wrote us back as follows:

Frieda, It was with great surprise that I received your letter on behalf of the GHTA Executive Committee bestowing on me a lifetime membership of the association. My relationship and service to the hiking community have brought me great joy and satisfaction as well as a great sense of achievement. It has been my privilege of meeting many wonderful and remarkable people who have worked together to build and maintain a remarkable network of trails. These have been put in place by some visionary founders. They have brought immense pleasure to millions of people over the years and it is with great delight when I use these trails to see how many other people are also using them. When I see a white blaze, I think of the many hundreds of volunteers who have painted these iconic trail markers, enabling many to hike from end to end, or just a short casual stroll in nature. It is heartening to see that so many new younger people are taking over and carrying on the noble tradition of trail management. Long live the Ganaraska Hiking Trail and our many other trail systems. David

Well deserved, David!

Frieda Baldwin, President

We would like our hikers to be aware that some municipalities have parking restrictions in winter, some even till noon, to allow snowplows to clear the roads.
This may affect morning hikers, such as when parking at the entrances to the Ganaraska Hiking Trail or a local forest.  Below is a summary of the parking restrictions in some of the Simcoe County municipalities:
Tay Twp: from Nov 15 – April 1 restricted parking  3:00 am to 12:00 noon
Midland from Nov 15 – April 1 restricted parking 12:00 midnight to 7:00 am
Penetanguishene from Nov 1 – April 1 restricted parking from 1:00 am to 7:00 am
Tiny & Oro Medonte Twps: from October 15 – April 30.  If there is a heavy snowfall in either of these townships the expectation is that the roads will be clear for snow removal.  If not, you could be subject to a fine.
We also learned that in some municipalities snowplow operators can actually ticket cars that are parked illegally.
Stay safe out there!

Frieda Baldwin Ganaraska Hiking Trail Association Inc.  705-245-1005

The Publicity Officer position has now been filled. We are thankful to Alana Boulay, a member of the Barrie Club, who currently runs the Facebook Group as well as the Barrie Facebook Page, for stepping up and offering to take care of the Association Facebook Page as well. 

I also wanted to thank Karen Bernardo for all her efforts with respect to creating a  social media presence for the Ganaraska Hiking Trail Association and its clubs. This  has – no doubt – paid off in additional memberships and followers, which is what we were hoping to achieve. 

Also, as of January 1 the role of president for the Barrie Ganaraska Hiking Club will transfer to Liz Erwin. John Sloan’s role within the club will change to Director / Past President of the Barrie Ganaraska Hiking Club. He will also continue in his role as Director – Trails and Landowner Relations for the Association.  Thanks to Liz for taking on this responsibility.  Liz Irwin (705) 792-6181 or lizerwin@rogers.com

Frieda Baldwin
705-245-1005

The Ganaraska Hiking Trail Association Inc. is looking for a volunteer to take on the role of Publicity Officer. Our current volunteer did a great job on establishing a following on social media and promoting the organization. Unfortunately, she has had to resign for personal reasons.  So we are looking for a volunteer who will be responsible for our social media efforts: – regular postings on the Association Facebook page – respond to Association Facebook enquiries – support, if needed, for the other volunteers who administer the club Facebook pages and the Ganaraska Hiking Trail Facebook Group  – provide a short bi-annual social media update for the board of directors If interested in volunteering for this position, please contact Frieda Baldwin at president@ganaraska-hiking-trail.org. Thanks for considering this position.

Frieda Baldwin
705-245-1005

The Ganaraska Hiking Trail Association Inc. is embarking on a new “guidebook/map” project, to compliment the Ondago smartphone app, that we launched earlier this year. 
You are invited to provide some input, as to what format this new guidebook or map should take, and we hope to have all input by Sunday, December 6.
Click on the link below to add your input. Thank you.

Ganaraska Hiking Trail map survey

Frieda Baldwin
705-245-1005