Alan & Diana Day moved to Elliot
Lake from southern Ontario in 1999.
Their love of the outdoors brought them
here and they became involved with those activities almost right
away. They both had a passion for canoeing and hiking.
After joining the Coureurs de Bois
Outdoors Club, the local hiking club, they quickly became active
members. Alan became the club's Trail Master and in this position the
maintenance of the local trails became a passion for him, in
particular the Trans Canada Trail that had been rerouted to travel
through Elliot Lake. He worked closely with the Voyageur Trail
Association of which the Coureurs de Bois are a membership club. Alan was responsible for new signage on
all the local trails and many of those signs are still used by hikers
today.
It was his incentive that produced a
new map book of the local trails that is still available at the
Visitor Centre today. He was able to enlist the aid of the now
defunct Katimavic group to help with the GPSing and directions that
made up this useful hikers guide.
In addition, he and Di helped maintain
the many canoe routes in the local area. This involved ensuring the
portages were kept cleared and the wilderness camp sites clean.
As part of the 50th anniversary of the
City of Elliot Lake, Alan was instrumental in having the old rangers
cabin moved from Mississauga Park to the Fire Tower Lookout as a
tourist attraction.
Alan worked with Carmaine McCullem,
Director of Parks and Recreation at the time, to form the Shared Use
Trails Association and Chaired the group. This group consisted of all
the various clubs utilizing the trails in the Elliot Lake area and
ensured a spirit of cooperation between them that still exists to
this day. In addition, the cooperative group approach is the envy of
many other municipalities along the North Shore.
He was also part of the committee that
formed the Elliot Lake Trails Alliance and became Chair of that
group. This is a non-profit group consisting of the local trail user
clubs designed to obtain financial support from various government
sources for trail improvement and projects.
His charitable use of his time also
resulted in his becoming the Vice President for the Eastern section
of the Voyageur Trail Association.
Alan' s activities were sadly limited
when he was diagnosed with kidney failure resulting in his receiving
a transplant in 2007. Despite this, he kept busy and was still active
in the Coureurs de Bois as President of the club.
In 2011 he was awarded the honour of
Volunteer of the Year by the City of Elliot Lake.
Alan's health was now failing, but he
kept up his dedicated work ethic and helped design the Porridge Lake
Trail and also worked with the volunteers on the boardwalks in the
Sherrif Creek Sanctuary.
Alan passed away in 2013.
