Voyageur Trail Association

 The Voyageur Trail Association (VTA) is turning 40 this year, and we're planning a year-long celebration, with special trail activities, a photo contest, hiking challenges, and more.

VTA is a 250-member, non-profit organization, run by volunteers and dedicated to developing and maintaining a continuous of system of trails across northern Ontario for public use by hikers, skiers, and snowshoe enthusiasts. The organization maintains over 700 km of trail between Spanish and Nipigon and plans to add more over the coming years. With the exception of some sections in Provincial parks, the trail has been built and maintained by volunteers in partnership with public and private landowners. Local clubs coordinate activities under the umbrella of the VTA, which is happy to welcome the new club in Thunder Bay.

Help us celebrate our 40th anniversary with these special events and challenges.

All-Trail End-to-End Challenge: We are challenging hikers to collectively traverse the entire 700+ kilometres of trail over the 12-month period from August 24, 2013 to August 24, 2014. To get you started this spring, Carole Blacquiere will resume a series of day-hikes to cover the trail between Sault Ste. Marie and Elliot Lake! Her outings, as well as all the other club activities, can be found on our website under the calendar of events tab. To keep track of their progress, trail users can submit their hikes, snowshoe outings, etc. to the online trail registry, which will be updated regularly on our website.

Do 40 in 40: Hikers who cover at least 40 kilometres of Voyageur Trail over the 12-month period will receive a prize; the person who hikes, snowshoes, or skiis the most kilometres during that period will receive an additional prize. Visit our website for a form you can print to help you track of your hikes. The deadline for submission of forms is Sept. 15, 2014.

Photo contest: Attention all photographers! Share your favourite pictures with fellow trail users and help us promote the Voyageur Trail. Besides entering your photo in the contest, we'll add it to one of our new online photo albums, so you'll be providing potential users with a chance to see parts of the trail online. Go to http://voyageurtrail.ca/photosubmission.html for instructions on submitting your favourites. Winners will be chosen for the best photo from each administrative section (West, Central and East) by our special judges--Garry and Joannie McGuffin!

Geocaches: A number of special VTA-only geocaches containing commemorative VTA memorabilia were placed along the Voyageur Trail during the year—finders, keepers! Monitor the website for information on GPS location coordinates.

A Special Blaze: We're installing a special blaze with an anniversary logo on it along the trail.

Please visit our web site at: www.voyageurtrail.ca for all the details of anniversary events throughout the upcoming year.

VTA on Facebook at www.facebook.com/voyageurtrailassociation

The 115-member Saulteaux Voyageur Trail Club is the Sault Ste. Marie arm of the VTA. The club holds over 30 public outings a year including hiking, paddling, snowshoeing and bushwhack skiing.

Visit the Saulteaux web page at www.voyageurtrail.ca/trailsssm.html Saulteaux Voyageur Trail Club on Facebook: www.facebook.com/Saulteaux.Voyageur.Trail.Club

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