The Great Divide Trail is 50 Years Young!
Light the candles and cue the music, the Great Divide Trail is 50 years young! If you haven't already read Dustin Lynx's article on the birth and evolution of the GDT, check it out here!
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2016 Summer Trail Maintenance Roster
With 50 years under its belt, the GDT needs a bit of love and care. This summer, the GDTA has a growing roster of trail maintenance trips!
Signature Trail Maintenance Trip in Dutch Creek, Alberta - July 20 - 24, 2016:
25 eager volunteers will be spending five days in the Dutch Creek area clearing, blazing and building trail. Our volunteer signup list for this trip is full with a waitlist. For those of you signed up, don't forget to pay your trail maintenance trip fee to confirm your spot and your complimentary Resolve rain jacket courtesy of our sponsor, The North Face.
Moose River Colonel Creek Helicopter Trip, British Columbia - August 15-20, 2016
The GDTA is partnering with the Backcountry Horsemen of BC to tackle maintenance on a section of the trail north of Mt. Robson. A crew of 12, including 3 GDTA members, will travel up Moose River by horse and helicopter to clear windfall and restore the trail in the remote wilderness.
Stay tuned for future trail maintenance trip announcements and calls for volunteers. Become a member to receive priority on our future trips!
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Map Updates
The GDTA's President, Bradley Vaillancourt, has been toiling away for the last few months trying to compile and improve the quality of the Great Divide Trail GPS track before the 2016 hiking season. We are happy to announce that the map has been updated online!
Note that trail mapping information changes frequently and may not be 100% accurate. We wish all the hikers the best of route finding luck this year and welcome any additional GPS tracks hikers are willing to share!
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Sponsor Highlight
By Geoff Ellwand
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Spray Lake Sawmills (SLS) started out in 1943 as a family-owned sawmilling company. Operating mostly in the winter, it employed farmers as seasonal loggers, who dragged the timber out of the forest with horses, then trucked it to a mill.
Today, Spray Lake Sawmills is still family-owned, but is headquartered in Cochrane where it has its own modern mill. The once tiny operation now employs some 300 people full-time. Howard Pruden, SLS’ Safety and Human Resources Co-ordinator says the company hasn’t forgotten its roots or the fact it’s well-being depends on careful management of forest resources. “The forest is our future,” he says, “so it’s important that we manage that forest very carefully.” That may be one reason Spray Lake’s Woodlands activities have been third party certified under two international forest management standards.
It is also a reason the Great Divide Trail Association is proud to have a partnership sponsor such as SLS. It is the only forestry company with which the GDTA has developed a formal relationship. SLS loggers operate by licence, within a narrow strip of land in Alberta running along the eastern side of the Rockies from just north of Red Deer to the Crowsnest Pass area. It’s an area that closely parallels parts of the southern portion of the Great Divide Trail.
"We appreciate having them as a partner," says Dave Hockey, GDTA Chair, "and we hope it’s a relationship that will continue for a long time.”
The Great Divide Trail Association would like to thank Spray Lake Sawmills for providing the GDTA with safety helmets, goggles, chainsaw pants and funding to buy a new chainsaw. Your contributions over the years have helped to keep our trail maintenance efforts on a safe and steady track!
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