Pathfinder Newsletter
Below are current articles in our Pathfinder Newsletter as well as previous editions. Enjoy!
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by Tasha Shakotko and Kate Hamilton The trail building and maintenance committee, chaired by Dave Hockey, had a very busy and productive summer. Several trail crews answered the needs, both planned and unplanned, of Sections B, D, E, F and G. All told, it amounted to: 117 total individual trail…
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By Jenny L. Feick, PhD All pictures taken by the author unless otherwise noted. Anyone hiking on Canada’s Great Divide Trail in the summer of 2022 could not help but notice the prolific cone crop on the spruce and fir trees along the GDT. In fact, anyone hiking in the…
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By Jenny Feick, PhD The original Great Divide Trail Association (from the mid-1970s to late 1980s) developed a trail user’s code that first appeared in 1975 and 1976 in the two editions of their policy paper. On pages 9-10 of the Great Divide Trail: Banff to Waterton, Its Concept and Future,…
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by Jeff Gruttz The Quiz: For all our Southwest Alberta hikers / geography keeners….. which number is closest to the number of glaciers, or visible remnants thereof, contained in the most southerly drainage basin traversed by the GDT, the Oldman River drainage basin? Clue: this is a semi-trick question. 0…
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by Joey Gompels During lockdown in the UK, everyone became obsessed with something. From hoarding toilet paper to home fitness, anything to stay sane. My obsession of choice was the Great Divide Trail. A wild thru-hike over 1100 km from Waterton at the US border to Kakwa Lake, tracing the…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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