7 hours ago
East Coast Trail Association raises over $100K with annual community hike
The East Coast Trail Association stayed on track with its annual fundraiser Saturday, raising more than $102,000.
The 336-kilometre trail, which stretches along the coast of much of the Avalon Peninsula, has 25 different paths that people can take.
Maintaining such a large trail takes a lot of work, says association president Randy Murphy.
"Our objective basically is to raise $100,000, and that money will go in basically to help maintain the trail and trail operations," he told CBC Radio's Weekend AM.
That's where the annual Trail Raiser Community Hike comes in, which was held on Saturday.
Six hikes of varying difficulties were scheduled throughout Saturday, all starting with a check-in at the Torbay Common community centre. Participants were required to raise or donate at least $50 to join.
Murphy calls the fundraiser "the lifeblood of the association."
He's also pleased to say the fundraiser was a success, and beat the original goal by over $20,000 and he expects the amount to increase.
"This is money we have to raise ourselves," he said.
The money helps the association's eligibility for government funding, which he says is needed for operations.
Murphy says the association's last survey on trail usage, which was done in 2013, recorded 15,000 hikers who had completed 65,000 hikes.
"It's increased significantly since," said Murphy. "The number of local hikers on the trail these days is significantly greater than it was prior to 2020."
He predicts more than 20,000 people hike the trail system each year now and the association is set to conduct surveys starting next summer to pinpoint that figure.
He encourages people to volunteer and hike safely on their own time if they want to support the trails.
