Hike Committee Meeting (ZOOM Web Meeting)

Hike leaders and any members who are interested in hike schedule or trail maintenance planning are getting together for a ZOOM meeting to develop the 2023 Spring-Summer (early May to early November) weekly hike schedule and associated train maintenance schedule.

Hike Planning

For April 2023 to March 2024 there will be 39 hikes, as of March 9th (21:00 MT) we’ve have 31 on the schedule, so 8 still needed … with all from late October on:

• April to September – all hikes are filled
• October – 1 hike remaining to fill (October 22nd) but still time & in the past few years several were a redo of earlier hikes
• November 2023 to March 2024 – 7 hikes remaining to fill, but we typically put together the winter schedule later in the season & we hike every other week from November to April –
• November to December – 2 hikes remaining to fill (November 5th & December 3rd)
• January to March 2024 – 5 remaining to fill (January 7th & 21st, February 4th, March 3rd & 31st)
• Note:
  • no hike on Thanksgiving (October 8th)
  • we typically put together the winter schedule later in the season & we hike every other week from November to April
  • an extra week off at Christmas (both Christmas Eve & New Years Eve are on Sunday)
  • we’ll work on the 2024 summer schedule in February/March 2024

To help with our planning we will use a file of past hikes. Choose one of these versions depending on which spreadsheet software you use:

• Hike_Planning_2023.xlsx (Microsoft Excel)
• Apple Numbers (Macintosh, iPhone, iPad)
• OpenDocument Spreadsheet (Apache OpenOffice, LibreOffice)

Alternatively, you can download the PDFs of the spreadsheet’s 2 tabs:

The file has two tabs of the hike information:

By Week

This is the list of hikes, by Guide Book page number. The columns on the right of “2023” show what the hike was in previous years.

By Hike

This is the list of hikes, a by Guide Book page number. The columns on the right show when the hike was previously held and the name of the hike leader.

Some hikes have been done with variations and these are noted. For instance, there have been several variations of the Ministik Berg hike:

• For many years we would start at A88 & go to the Triple B Ponds (past A89B). Due to the limited parking at A88 (road was resurfaced) & some recent flooding (near the Triple B Ponds) we’ve altered the route for the hike.
• In 2022 we started from A89A (better parking) & included the new NCC Trails (near Berg Stopover), so not quite getting to A88. This will be the route for 2023.
• In 2020 & 2021 we also started from A89A & went to Williams Lake (just past A88).

Hike Meeting Notes

In the meeting we we will concentrate on filling in the hike schedule from April 2nd to November 5th, but we can also look at dates to the end of the year.

If you known about any hikes that you want to lead, let Lee know (hikes@waskahegantrail.ca) and he will fill it in before the meeting.

Must-do Hikes

For the next few years, we will definitely include these two sections along the southend of Coal Lake:

• A46 – Water Plant to the Dam
• A45 – Kjorlein Corner to the Water Plant

The landowner’s charitable foundation made a sizeable donation to the WTA in the fall of 2022.

Hikes we won’t do

There are some popular hikes we won’t plan for this year because of rescinded access (e.g., Trappers Lake, Mix Stopover), parking concerns (e.g., A43 to Point Cooperation along Coal Lake) or flooding issues (e.g., the Ministik Berg hike that includes Triple B Ponds).

Special times of the year

Mid-September to late October: We can leave some spaces open in case we want to repeat or reschedule a hike from earlier in the year. We would use this for a cancelled due to weather, a nice hike that had lower than expected turnout, or a beautiful hike that we liked in the summer and want to see it again in the fall colours.

November and December (plus January to April 2024): We usually stay closer to Edmonton on public trails. It’s not urgent to fill in these gaps during this meeting, but if you have a suggestion let Lee know at any time.

Trail Maintenance Considerations

In 2023 we are trying to keep Trail Maintenance costs down due to funding issues (as discussed in the 2022 AGM).  Here are some of the ways we are reducing the need for trail maintenance:

Doubling Up

Many trails cleaned up and hiked in early summer can be hiked again at the end of the season without additional maintenance. Examples – in 2022, Middle Battle River (Duhamel Campground to Fidler’s Monument) and South Coal Lake (Kjorlein Corner to the Water Plant) were both hiked in June then again in September (South Coal Lake) & October (Middle Battle River).

A trail cleaned up and hiked in the fall can be hiked again the next spring without additional maintenance. Examples – in 2022, East Battle River (Duhamel Campground to RB Hill), Ministik Bird Sanctuary (A87/Spilstead Access to Horseshoe Lake) and the Southend of Saunders Lake we all hiked in April or May based upon the fall 2021 trail maintenance.

Overlap

Some hikes have overlapping sections where trail maintenance only needs to go once. Examples: the north and south ends hikes along Saunders Lake overlap for 1-2km around A30, the North Coal Lake (A40 to ‘B’) and Cloverlawn/Stan’s Bench (A39 to Mud Lake) for 1km between A39 and “B”.

Include Public Trails

We maintain two short connector trails into Cooking Lake/Blackfoot Recreation Area. The connector trails are <5km apart and each required only about 1-2km of maintenance (A98 at the end of Range Road 203 and A99 at the end of Range Road 204). With one trail maintenance trip we could have two hikes going into the park, each starting on the connector trail with the bulk of the hike inside the park.

Scheduling a public trail hike in mid-season also provides a buffer for Trail Maintenance. They can use the extra week to catch up (in case of previous rain-outs or a problem area that needs extra work) or just to take a break in the season.

Contact

If you have any questions or comments about the hike schedule, let Lee know at hikes@waskahegantrail.ca