On the trail
Hike Nova Scotia presents award to Young for trail development
Retired doctor from Pictou is recognized for leadership in development of hiking trails across northern Nova Scotia
Dr. Gordon Young says there’s never a bad day in the woods.
Young has hiked many longdistance trails throughout the world, including the 164-km Cotswold Way in England, small portions of the 3,500-mile Appalachian Trail in the United States, and most recently the El Camino de Santiago, an almost 800-kilometre trail in Spain that has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
But one of his favourite trails is right here in Pictou County – the Six Mile Brook Trail that he helped develop. He said he enjoys it because it’s near his country farmhouse, and therefore accessible. “But mainly because it is so isolated with no civilized intrusions and the only sound is the brook for three kilometres.”
He’s hiked in Mexico, Scotland, Italy, Austria, France and Israel, and he thought a longdistance trail was needed in Nova Scotia.
“It’s just as nice or nicer here,” he said, noting the beautiful vistas of trees and the ocean.
This led him to come up with the idea of the Cape to Cape Trail, with the Six Mile Brook Trail forming part of it. Currently under construction from Cape George to Cape Chignecto, the trail will eventually be about 600 km long, travelling through Cumberland, Colchester, Pictou and Antigonish counties. Portions were opened in 2008.
Young was recently recognized with a Summit Award from Hike Nova Scotia for his work in trail development and hiking.
“The Summit Award is presented to an organization or individual who has demonstrated outstanding leadership and commitment to the growth and development of hiking in Nova Scotia,” explains Deb Ryan, Hike NS’s past president.
“I was really honoured by it,”
said Young, who has been involved with promoting hiking and developing trails for the past 40 years or so.
“Gordon is a man of vision,” the citation from Hike Nova Scotia noted.
He said he’s always had a compulsion to find trails. “I have this drive to create trails. It’s just what I like to do.”
The retired physician has been involved with the Pictou County Trails Association for years, one of the first groups to advocate for rails to trails conversion in Nova Scotia. In the early 1990s, he began work on the Fitzpatrick Mountain Hiking Trail, thought to be the first hiking trail developed on private land with owner permission.
Young said he likes the exercise involved with hiking and it’s part of his lifestyle.
“My wife and I, our courtship was going out camping. When I was interning in medical school, we would go down to Keji camping. It’s always just been something we’ve done.”
He enjoys what he calls both the social and solitary aspects of the sport – going out with a group and having a prolonged conversation with them, or going out alone to unwind and “get away from your worries in life.”