Monthly Update for June 2026 |
|
|
|
|
GHTC Land Acknowledgement
Let us take time to reflect on our privilege as people who live, work, and hike in and around the city of Guelph.
This place we call Guelph has served as traditional lands and a place of refuge for many peoples over time, but more specifically the Attiwonderonk and the Haudenosaunee. This land is held as the treaty lands and territory with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. Guelph lies directly adjacent to the Haldimand Tract and is part of a long-established traditional hunting ground for the Six Nations of the Grand River. Today, many First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples who have come from across Turtle Island call this land home.
As people who love the land, may we walk forward with humility and a commitment to reconciliation through education, respect, and action. |
|
|
|
|
A Word from Our President |
|
|
Dear members,
A few days ago, my wife and I welcomed a baby boy into the world. Ben and mom are happy and well, and we're very excited. It was also a great reminder of why I volunteer with this club: I want to ensure that our access to these trails and this club survives the test of time. I'm motivated to help us get organized to sustain what has been built, for years to come.
This club is full of volunteers who contribute for a variety of reasons. Nobody is paid in this organization to do anything, and the charity of people's time is what makes this club possible. Many people have devoted decades of time and passion to get where we are today. The board, executive, and I are grateful for everyone's time and contribution. A big thanks to all of you, whether you're spending an hour a week hiking with us, spreading the word about hiking, representing us regularly to the city, advocating for our common goals at committees and with members of our larger community, leading hikes, doing administration to keep the club going, or maintaining trails.
Speaking of volunteers, I would like to welcome Tannis Sprott to the GHTC Board. Tannis is our new Communications Coordinator and will take over the monthly newsletter and other communication tasks from Jane Bibby who is working as the club Vice President.
And I would like to give a particular shout out to Susan Alderson who has served as our club Secretary for a number of years. She kept this club organized when it needed it the most by organizing our AGMs and taking minutes for our official business. Sue has resigned from her role and before thinking about where we go next, we want to acknowledge her efforts and contributions and thank her for her service.
It's June and the forests are beautiful. Enjoy the weather, get outside and go take a Hike!
Sincerely,
Justin |
|
|
Branded Club Clothing Teaser! |
|
|
Here's a sneak peek at our Club Branded Clothing, whoo-hoo! We're in the process of dotting our i's and crossing our t's as we work towards a launch mid-June. (If that doesn't work, we'll try crossing our eyes and dotting out tee's!) All the details around cost, ordering, and pick up will be coming out soon, so keep an eye on your inbox. In the meantime you might want to take a boo at the picture above and start making your wish list! |
|
|
A big thank you to our generous members who contributed a total of $400 at our last Trek & Tell in support of Stepping Stone. These funds will go directly toward helping homeless and unhoused individuals in our community, making a meaningful difference for those in need.
Our most recent Trek & Tell, held on May 19, featured an insightful talk by Danny Lui, who spoke about homelessness in our city. His presentation provided valuable perspective and deepened our understanding of the challenges faced by vulnerable members of our community.
Thank you again to everyone who participated, donated, and continues to support both our club and important local causes. |
|
|
Leave No Trace Members' Summer Picnic
WHEN: SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2026
10:30am - 3:00pm
WHERE: Riverside Park
Red Roof Picnic Shelter
WHY: Join us for a fun, social potluck picnic as we
celebrate our shared love of hiking and the outdoors with a Leave No Trace mindset.
Please bring your favourite appetizer, entrée, dessert, or snack to share (enough for approximately 10 people). Electrical hook-ups will be available if you’d like to bring a crockpot.
The Club will provide hotdogs, cold beverages, and napkins.
To support our zero-waste goal, we kindly ask that you:
-
Bring a refillable water bottle
-
Bring your own plate, cup, and cutlery
Backyard Games Welcome!
Do you have any outdoor games you could bring along? We’d love to add to the fun!
Ideas include:
-
Hula hoops
-
Beach balls
-
Cornhole
-
Badminton
-
Lawn or table games
Afternoon Hikes & Activity
After lunch, our hike leaders will guide a variety of hikes.
As well as a scavenger hunt.
More details to follow.
We hope you’ll join us for this relaxed and enjoyable members (and guests) event!
Note: There are picnic tables for limited seating, so you might want to bring a chair.
Register Here (link coming soon!)
If you are available to help with the event, please contact Rhonda McMahon |
|
|
Community Nature Walk Launch! |
|
|
GHTC, reaching out to the community in partnership with the Guelph Community Health Centre, Shelldale Family Gateway, and EarlyON, chose a beautiful day to launch the first of our Wednesday Community Nature Walks!
This initiative brings people together who would not necessarily identify as "hikers" to enjoy the outdoors, stay active, and most importantly build connections within our community. These guided group hikes provide a welcoming and inclusive space for individuals and families of all ages and abilities to explore local trails, improve well-being, and have fun together. Hike leader Vanessa Hyland was joined by 3 mothers, 4 children (note the doubledecker 6-month old twins), and a Ward Metalworks resident in exploring local trails. It was a win all around, as they enjoyed the beautiful day together and began the forging of a community. With more families expressing interest, we hope to see this outreach initiative grow by the week! |
|
|
Saving McQuillan's Bridge
|
|
|
If you've been a regular hiker on "The O.R. Trail" (named after the Ontario Reformatory) between Stone Road and York Road, you might want to catch up on your summer reading with this article on saving McQuillan's Bridge published in guelphtoday.com on June 3rd.
The existing workaround the city implemented on Stone Road serves the purpose of keeping cyclists and hikers safe, but the GHTC has long been in favour of repairing the existing bridge, and we appear to be one step closer to that end with city council giving initial approval to strengthen and repair this designated heritage feature.
As you might expect, there are still several hoops to jump through, but we'll be following this one closely. |
|
|
A few spots on Section 3 of the Speed River Trail are bedevilled with groundwater seeps or discharges onto the ground surface, emerging from valley slopes. Where this occurs, we have to build boardwalks over them. One such riverside location, about 1.5 km east of the Blackbridge trailhead at Townline Road, was further scourged by several floods of the Speed this spring, displacing some lengths of boardwalk that we had installed in years past.
So on Friday May 22 a hardy group of 9 work party volunteers trekked in to conquer some 55 feet of muddy morass on May 22 by building a new boardwalk. This involved some heavy work, carrying in some fourteen 10 inch wide planks, many 4x4 inch “sleepers”, and several experimental plastic square “mud pads” over some 550 metres that passed over numerous other boardwalk projects built by many previous GHTC work parties and several trail captains.
Puslinch farmer Glen McKittrick, allowed us to enter his farmyard so the work party could access the trail by a shortcut. This shortened up our trek carrying in the lumber by a kilometre.
The late spring let us do our nail-hammering work without any annoyance of bugs, and with a nice breeze. Tom Reilly, assisted by Joey Gallo, dug a 30 foot trench through some really deep, black, heavy muck to channel the groundwater under the boardwalk (apologies to Tom for only bringing a short handled shovel!) This landmark will be ever after known as “Tom’s Creek.” Bravo, Tom !
The results: hikers coming in from Blackbridge will no longer have to turn back when they encounter the morass. Through hikers will now have an easy time of it. And our 3 trail captains, Trevor Reid and Jenn and Kent Beattie, now have far easier means of mowing the adjacent dryer parts of the trail to the east and the west. |
|
|
Work Party - Sat. June 20
On Section 2 of the Speed River Trail, GHTC has stashed lumber along the riverbank waiting to be quickly nailed together into a number of 8 foot long sections of boardwalk. We will also clear off several fallen trees from the trail. We will walk about 10 minutes down to the riverbank to start work.
Bring a hammer, bug dope, water and work gloves.
Rendezvous at JL's Home Hardware parking lot on Wellington Rd. West at 1:00 pm, or meet us on the lawn in front of the Enbridge gas compressor station, south side of Rd.124 at foot of Rd. 32.
Rain day: Sun. June 21, same time and place.
PS the boardwalk work is right beside THE most beautiful section of the river!
Register on the calendar. Maximum of 12 participants. Organizer Bill Mungall mungallbill@gmail.com |
|
|
As we all know from hiking, one inevitably gets to the end of the trail using the "one step at a time" approach. In G2G's next step, members of all three levels of government attended the G2G Rail Trail community meeting in Guelph on Saturday, May 30th, delivering a clear message that they fully support the construction of an off-road trail to safely connect Guelph to the 132-km G2G Rail Trail to Goderich.
This project was championed by our previous club President, the late John Fisher, who would have been delighted and gratified to see the momentum building, and to see this idea take one more step torwards reality.
In a quote from G2G's recent media release, ED Willow Hall summarizes the current state of the project.
"The progress made in the past year has been significant, explained G2G Executive Director Hall. He noted that key consultation has been completed with city staff, with the city-owned Guelph Junction Railway, including a rail trail safety audit, and with landowners, all of whom are on board with the location and general plan for the new trail.
“Now we are moving from the idea and the dream,” said Hall. “From 2025 until now we have done the work, we have done consultation … Not only is this project feasible, it’s supported by those key stakeholders. It’s an important process that did take a lot of engagement.”
The project is now in the detailed design phase with local engineering company Crozier Consulting Engineers. The hope, he said, is to have a 90% design agreed upon this summer, a requirement before going to tender and construction.
Other steps underway include consultation with the county of Wellington for the trail’s north end access point and parking lot, and the undertaking of an environmental impact study with Aboud and Associates." You can read the guelphtoday.com article here, published June 7th, for a fuller picture around the growing support for this project.
With a goal of completing the entire project in time for the Guelph and Goderich bicentennials in 2027, we'll be sure to report on their progress with each passing step. |
|
|
Trail Milestones: Celebrating Our End-to-End Hikes |
|
|
It’s been an exciting season so far for the Guelph Hiking Trail Club, with two of our most anticipated end-to-end hikes now successfully completed.
On June 7, hikers took on the full length of the Kissing Bridge Trail, enjoying a fantastic day on this scenic and historic route. With strong participation and great weather on our side, the event had a wonderful sense of camaraderie. From quiet rural stretches to vibrant connections along the trail, participants experienced the full character of this much-loved corridor. Feedback from hikers highlighted not only the beauty of the trail, but also the excellent organization and support that kept everyone moving comfortably along the route. |
|
|
|
|
In May, we completed the Speed River Trail end-to-end, which proved equally successful. This hike showcased the natural beauty of the Speed River landscape—lush greenery, river views, and a variety of terrain that kept things interesting from start to finish. Once again, turnout was strong, and the shared accomplishment at the finish made for a particularly rewarding day. Hikers commented on the sense of achievement that comes from completing a full trail, along with the friendships strengthened along the way.
A big thank you goes out to the organizers, volunteers, and participants who made both events such a success. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the photos and highlights shared on our Facebook group—they capture the spirit of these memorable days beautifully.
Looking ahead, we’re excited for our final end-to-end hike of the season: the Radial Line Trail in September. Whether you’re aiming to complete your personal end-to-end trilogy or joining for the first time, we hope you’ll come out and be part of another great club achievement. |
|
|
Give the Gift of Great Hiking |
|
|
Looking for a meaningful gift that encourages fresh air, fitness, and connection to our local trails? Gift memberships to the Guelph Hiking Trail Club are now available!
An annual membership is $25, or you can bundle it with our Trail Handbook for $45 to make a perfect introduction to fantastic local hiking. Gift memberships make a wonderful choice for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, teachers, or anyone who loves spending time outdoors.
We’re currently working on adding online ordering to our website. In the meantime, if you’d like to purchase a gift membership, please email Jane Bibby to get started.
Share the joy of hiking and help someone discover the trails around Guelph! |
|
|
Check out the GHTC calendar regularly for updates on all hikes!
Wednesdays - Arboretum afternoon hikes are offered every Wednesday afternoon. For more information contact Christa at arb.naturalist@uoguelph.ca or ext. 53615. Level: easy. Speed: slow.
Upcoming Hikes June 11 - HAFTA Fast Hike! 4th Line & 10 SR June 13 - Radial Line and Side Trails Series #4 June 14 - Wandering the Grand June 15 - The O.R. Trail June 15 - Monday Mutts Urban Hike June 18 - YogaHikes with Rhonda, Session 4/4 June 21 - Summer Solstice Sojourn June 22 - Preservation Park Part 2 June 27 - BT Iroquoia E2E Series: Repeat of first hike Grimsby to Macdui Drive July 18 - BT Iroquoia E2E - Day 9: Rattlesnake Point to Hilton Falls July 19 - Blue Jays Bus Hike 2026 September 19 - RLT E2E
Thanks to our VOLUNTEER hike leaders
for building these hikes.
We appreciate your time and efforts! |
|
|
GHTC Trail Users' Code
As a member you agree to follow the GHTC Trail Users' Code when on the trails:
|
|
|
June 27 - Guelph Farmers' Market, drop by and see us! July 19 - Annual Blue Jays Hike August 23 - First annual Members' Summer Picnic
|
|
|
Other Hiking and Outdoor News
|
|
|
This message was sent to you by Guelph Hiking Trail Club
If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please update your Member Profile.
PO Box 1, Guelph, ON, N1H 6J6
www.guelphhiking.com |
|
|
|
