The Chilliwack Outdoor Club celebrated B.C. Trails Day with a hike along the Trans Canada trail. Forty members met June 3 and split into two teams. Half started from Riverside Campground along Chilliwack Lake Road. The other half began at Thurston Meadows. Eventually they met in the middle, but along the way they discovered clues for how to find hidden caches full of hiking prizes sponsored by the Chilliwack Outdoor Club, Mt. Waddington Outdoors and BrightSource.
At key stops like Angel Wing Pond and Leon LeBrun Bridge, hikers were given a history of the area and found out more about the continuing need for stewardship of this precious resource. Many participants were new members of the club with several new to Chilliwack.
Everyone came together for a refreshment break, complete with ice cream, at the Pierce Lake trailhead before carrying on for more hiking.
The volunteer-driven Chilliwack Outdoor Club was established in 1976 and supports non-motorized activities in the great outdoors like hiking, backpacking, cycling, kayaking and snowshoeing. The club boasts a membership exceeding 300, with some coming from as far away as North Vancouver, Kelowna and Washington State. Twenty are heading overseas this summer for a bucket-list tour of Tour Du Mont Blanc, covering 169 kilometres of alpine terrain over 10 days in France, Italy and Switzerland.
Annual membership in the Chilliwack Outdoor Club is $37 and more info can be found at www.chilliwackoutdoorclub.com.
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