Pathfinder Newsletter

Below are current articles in our Pathfinder Newsletter as well as previous editions. Enjoy!

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GDTA Winter 2022 Webinars

This winter the Outreach Committee presented four GDT trip planning Webinars: Webinar 1: Planning and Preparing for Your GDT Hike Webinar 2: Gear Webinar 3: Resupplying and Food Preparation Webinar 4: Training and Injury Prevention These webinars were well attended. For those not able to attend, videos were posted on…

Musings on the GDT Past to Present to Future

by Bethany Hughes Six months ago we were turning past a forest fire burning just off highway 16 on our way up to Kakwa trailhead, where we hiked into a hailstorm to begin the Great Divide Trail. Making a bid on a south bound, autumn thru-hike, we were grateful for…

What Goes Around (But Didn’t Go Anywhere) Has Come Around Again

By Jenny Feick, PhD Read in The Globe and Mail: https://apple.news/ARKD6TecwThGWflUpiS9nHg Brianna Sharpe’s Globe & Mail article in April 2022 entitled “Hikers push for Alberta’s Great Divide Trail to be given official recognition” brought to mind one of the many opinion pieces expressed during the story telling sessions that formed the backbone of the book…

Resurrecting the GDTA Trail Users Code

By Jenny Feick, PhD I recalled the old GDTA Trail Users Code while listening to the Her Odyssey duo when Lani Smith, my husband Ian Hatter and I met them for lunch at Truffle Pigs in Field on a clear sunny September day in 2021. Bethany Hughes and Lauren Reed…

Our New GDTA Corporate Supporters

by Kate Hamilton The GDTA is pleased to announce several new corporate supporters that were engaged this year. These are industrious, small businesses whose products and services are all about hikers – gear, lodging, food, resupply, information sources, and memorabilia. Like us, they are outdoors enthusiasts and believe in taking care…

Shrubs Along the GDT: Not all Alders or Willows!

By Jenny L. Feick, PhD If you have ever attended one of the GDTA’s trail work trips you have likely helped to clear shrubby vegetation from the Great Divide Trail and its immediate vicinity. Shrubs are the woody perennial plants that are smaller than a tree with multiple permanent stems…

GDTA Membership Drive

The Great Divide Trail Association has set several ambitious goals for 2022. This year we will be holding 7 trail building trips on the High Rock Trail (HRT) as we prepare for the official opening ceremony of the HRT on July 22! We are excited to announce the return of…

2022 Trail Building & Maintenance – Call for Volunteers

Get ready to shake the dust off your hiking boots – the dates and locations for our 2022 trail building & maintenance trips have been set and we need you! This year we will be holding 7 trail building trips on the High Rock Trail (HRT) in June and July,…

Thank You to Our 2021 Trail Supporters

With much gratitude, the Great Divide Trail Association wishes to thank all those who donated to our 2021 Trail Supporter Campaign, and all our donors who have contributed in other ways. The 2021 Trail Supporter Campaign was the GDTA’s 2nd annual Trail Supporter Campaign. It was kicked off on Giving Tuesday,…

Get to Know the GDT

by Kelly McDonald The Great Divide Trail (GDT) is very much a “choose your own adventure” kind of trail. While there is only a single route to follow in many areas, there are also a multitude of alternatives to choose from along the way. Some take you to entry and…