Janice McClelland, CHBTC President, welcomed 90 hikers to the unveiling and noted that this property and section of trail has been secured by the BTC for future generations. Janice pointed out the young native trees (900 in all!) on the site, visible amongst the purple asters and goldenrod, that are forming the beginning of the Philip Gosling Volunteer Forest, and, the new hikers' rest bench, built by a volunteer, from which one will always be able to enjoy the view to the distant hills. Beth Kummling, CEO of the BTC, paid tribute to Dr Philip Gosling, who received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Guelph in 2008 for his conservation work over 50 years, specifically including his achievement laying out the Bruce Trail and organizing the first Clubs. After young Peter Moule deftly removed the tarp from the new sign, Dr Philip Gosling described how pleased he was to share this occasion with the Caledon Hills Bruce Trail Club – for which he was the first President – and that he always finds inspiration in the energy of volunteers and in the cause of preserving the Niagara Escarpment. The 90 hikers and volunteers took in the new sign, admired the autumn view and then boarded two school buses to partake in the second part of this September celebration - the official opening of new main trail that eliminates 3.7 km of road walking in the “south Hockley” and includes two new Sidetrails – the Hemlock Ridge Side Trail and the Glacier Valley Side Trail. It's a re-route that the Club had been hoping to accomplish for many years which only became possible within the last year due to the generosity of Sally Cohen and Dave Moule - the “white knights” who purchased a property that ultimately allowed us to complete this re-route. At the official trail opening, CHBTC Landowner Relations Director, Carol Sheppard, explained that she had obtained permissions from six willing landowners that the trail could cross their properties and that the land purchase by Dave & Sally formed the final link to enable us to remove the trail from the dusty 5 th Side Road and 5 th Line of Mono. Landowner, and CHBTC Land Stewardship Director, Dave Moule described how the BTC, due to prior commitments, unfortunately was not in a position to purchase the property on the east side of the 5 th Line of Mono when it came up for sale, however he and his wife Sally Cohen were able to step in and purchase the property. The Moule-Cohen family subsequently sold the portion of the property containing the new re-routed trail to the BTC, securing this part of the trail for future generations. “It was literally a dream come true for us to see this part of the main Bruce Trail moved off road in this area,” Dave told the gathered hikers. BTC President, Ed Hazel, reminded all that the Bruce Trail is really a conservation corridor that contains a trail. Mono Councillor, Laura Ryan, and Mono Director of Recreation, Kim Perryman, were also present at the official trail opening. Alison Moule, Lauren Moule, Tina Burton and Dave Moule cut the ribbons to open the new trails. A one hour hiking group, led by CHBTC VP Jean Kerins, then hiked the two new side trails. All other hikers, led by Charlie Atkinson, Peter Leeney and Dave Platt proceeded east and south on the new main trail, enjoying view points as they went, arriving in two hours at Hockleycrest, (Dave and Sally's farm), to partake in a welcoming corn roast/barbecue, where the Club presented a Landowner Appreciation certificate to Dave and Sally and family. All participants were able to take away a souvenir program that is a copy of the information and photos on the interpretative sign and included the program for the official trail opening. There were many volunteers who helped with different facets of this celebration. Space will not let us name them all however the record of the event would not be complete without special mention to Greg Huffman, attired in a white chef's jacket, who happily cooked the hotdogs and sausages and made our guests feel welcome, and to Social Convenor Irene Christie who organized the lunch and invited everyone to enjoy fresh corn on the cob. Our guest from farthest away was no doubt Barry Westhouse, an Honorary Bruce Trail Conservancy member, currently residing in Meaford, who hiked and also helped set up the tarps at Hockleycrest. Thank you to Barry, Dave Moule and Ken Sheppard who set up several tarps that no doubt kept the rain away! Special thanks to Carol Sheppard, who does a quality job as our Landowner Relations Director, helping to ensure that re-routes such as this become a reality, to Colleen Darrell, our Trail Building and Maintenance Co-ordinator, who successfully organized the May and Sept work parties that accomplished this re-route, to all the volunteers who participated in the work parties to build and blaze the new trails and to Ross McLean, a former CHBTC President, who reminded us of our history - that this re-route had long been a goal of the Club and that it was truly a significant accomplishment. |
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