AGM April 23 7pm
St Thomas Library
We have also started trail maintanence. Thank you to the 8 members who came out today and accomplished so much!
Remaining dates all start at 10 am
April 25
May 9
May 23 with lunch provided (RSVP pls)
See you soon at AGM or on one of our trail cleanup dates.
Loretta
Wishing you a Happy New Year rich in Love, Friendship and Health.
Loretta
December Club Presidents thoughts:
I would really like to extend a very big Thank You to all our Landowners who’s generous use of their land is a gift to us all year long! The trail will officially be closed on Dec 25th for one day only. This is a legal requirement for our property owners to prevent the trail from being considered a right of way.
The Christmas Spirit Walk had a record number of people attend. We even ran out of cookies! This event is a wonderful partnership with Catfish Creek Conservation Authority.
Our Maintenance crew has been VERY busy for the past three months building and repairing bridges; clearing the trail and doing reroutes where necessary. We still need to address the trail closure on Sunset over the winter months.
The executive is busy exploring ways of increasing Funding and Grant Application idea’s.
Wishing you all a Happy Active Holiday.
Loretta
The weather was a little colder than we would like yet 5 hardy volunteers participated in a reroute around wash out area west of the horse farm. New blazes were added from the east end of horse farm marking the gates all the way to washout and reroute. The horse farm is one of those rare places where hikers are required to open and close gates to get across. It was a very scenic day out with all the fall colours on the ground. Thanks to Brian K our treasurer who blazed the trail and helped create a safe way across the water.
Two other volunteers, Tom and Mark removed fallen trees off a bridge near Fulton Bridge Line and assessed repair needs and possible ways to prevent it from happening again. That might be a tall order with the estimate of 90 percent of all ash trees in Ontario being killed by the emerald ash borer. Thanks to everyone who gave up their Saturday morning to improve the trail for all users. Kudos.
Here is Linda and Roseann after completing the October End-to-end. Both had a great time and Linda liked visiting Mackie’s one more time. Congratulations. Way to go!
The weather was great. A wonderful fall day. Unfortunately the rainy summer and great downpour days played havoc on the trail. Two bridges were uprooted. One by trees falling on it and another relocated on land. We managed to get to the fish hatchery and decided to finish the hike on Wednesday at 9 am meeting at parking lot east of Mackies for the final 4 km. Roseann and Linda are getting anxious for their badges.
Special thanks go out to Robert Johnston and Dan Wilson volunteers at Lake Erie Salmon and Trout Club for reinstalling parts of the boardwalk that got washed out by the downpour in September. I spotted two spotted salamander on the hike.
Well it had to happen, the weather was less than cooperative today. Not torrential downpour but a steady mist. The trail was quite muddy and slippery still 8 hardy hikers ventured out. They were rewarded with seeing wild turkeys and many deer including a buck. We all made it out safely after cutting the trip short due to more rain clouds showing to the west. We will make up the other 3 km on Wednesday morning meeting at Fulton Line at 9:15.
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The horses could smell everyone’s apples and came over for a chomp and visit. The sunflower field off Lyle road was a nice addition. Several hikers got to see deer in several locations. Great colours but not a lot of flaming reds. We had another great day for weather, started off cold but warmed up nicely. There were slippery spots but all in all a fine fall hike.
Thanks to Mark for looking after the sweep.
The weather was not promising when we went to bed last night.
In the morning the radar showed the rain north and south of St Thomas. The temperature had dropped quite a bit over night and everyone was dressed accordingly. Mr Sun was elusive and yesterdays rains made the first half of the hike a bit muddy.
We had ten people out including guests Mary and John from Meaford. Everyone enjoyed the wonderful fall colours and we look forward to next Saturday’s part 2.
Thanks to Jim for leading the hike.
