We enjoyed an interesting speaker at our meeting last tuesday. Wayne Wisnewski and 2 colleagues talked to us about local trapping and the meeting went later than usual due to the high level of interest and questions following the presentation.
Several subjects made up the business portion of the meeting and they need to be passed on to the general membership.
The Winterfest Family Snowshoe stroll was an outstanding success. 50 people turned up for the 2 walks to Horne Lake Island and, from their post evaluations, it was an enjoyable experience.
The next part of this program, funded by the People Powered Use of Trails Initiative, is to run 2 geocaching hikes in June. The City has purchased GPS units on our behalf and we will soon be offering a short course on how to use them and planning the geocaching hikes. Stay tuned.
Special hikes and events
May 5th. Victoria Falls and Victoria Mountain. Enjoy spectacular falls and a great intermediate hike. Warning- steep slopes.
May 7th. 9am. Hike Leaders course at the Snowbirds Clubhouse.
May 12th. Intermediate Hike to Mt. McBean on the Sagamok FN Reserve near Massey. Follwed by lunch at the Dragonfly Rest. in Massey. If you did not sign up at the meeting, we need to know if you will be having lunch at the Dragonfly so we can make a reservation.
June 15th. Canoe & Kayak outing with Jean-Guy. Phone 705 848- 2544 for more details.
June 17th. Potluck at Westview Park. We have the shelter booked from 4 - 7pm. and usually eat about 5pm. Shelley is coordinator at 705 848-0831
June 21st. Next General Meeting
Our calendar has been set to the end of August and each month will be on the blog just before the month starts. We will discuss the July/August special events at the next General Meeting.
Fuel has now risen to all-time highs. If car pooling to the more distant hikes, remember to pay your share of the gas to and from the destination.
The club will pay for entry to Mississagi Park hikes for full cars when car pooling. Remember, take the Senior rate whenever possible.
The club will book the Group Camp spot for Weekend in the Park, if we have enough interest - date to be set in July or August - and will pay the day use entry fee as above. The cost of camping will be paid by the individuals, but is exceptionally low due to our using the group camping area.
The boats for the hike in Sept. to Old Baldy Mountain on Flack Lake will be rented from Laurentian Lodge and each passenger will be billed for their share of the rent. We will have a sign-up sheet later to see how much interest there is.
Highway clean-up. We need a coordinator for this event, done twice per year, usually May and October, as Scott is now working full-time and can not carry on the job anymore. For job description call Phill at 705 848-8767.
Slow-Poke Hikes.
Many of of our members are aging and we have been approached with a request to have a category of slower hikers that would still come out on the easy hikes, but have their own leader and perhaps vary from the route being taken by the scheduled hike leader. In some cases, perhaps even deviate from that hike altogether. There seemed to be some interest at the meeting and we need your input. Call or e mail Phill on this.
Hike Ontario has chosen Elliot Lake for it's Summit Meeting at the end of Sept. We expect over 100 delegates and this will give critical exposure for Elliot Lake and it's wonderful surroundings. We anticipate we will need volunteers for many tasks, as yet to be identified, to make this meeting a success. We have already blocked rooms at the Hampton Inn and approached the Fireside Restaurant for a "pub "night. We will be putting together a welcome package and no doubt conducting tours and hikes in the vicinity. More later on this.
We have also been asked by Hike Ontario to find people willing to billet some of the delegates. Not all can afford the Hampton and some may want to stay for a couple of days after the meeting to hike the area.
So....we need to know if you are interested in, or can help with, the following:
1- Slow-Pole hikes... call or e mail Phill
2- Coordinator for the highway Clean-up...call or e mail Phill
3- Mt McBean hike lunch at the Dragonfly...call or e mail Phill
4- Volunteers in advance of the Hike Ontario Summit Meeting in late September...call or e mail Phill
5- Billets for delegates to the Summit Meeting...call or e mail Phill
Please express your interest and help if you can.
