Encouraging a walk in the woods
Health foundation hopes Newfoundland trail challenge will be big hit with hikers
The hiking trails in Conception Bay North, Trinity Bay South and Placentia Bay are something to behold.
This summer, the Trinityconception-placentia Health Foundation is offering an extra incentive to get out on those trails.
In conjunction with Eastern Health, the foundation has developed an online app for a trail challenge fundraiser.
The challenge is simple. Hikers need to register with the app and then hit the trails. As a fundraiser, there is a fee attached to registering.
The foundation has put together a list of more than two-dozen trails in the region. Each time a trail is completed, that participant will get an entry into the $10,000 prize draw. That money will help improve the trail of their choice.
As well, completing all of them will give app users a shot at a $1,000 prize. The challenge runs from June 1 until the Labour Day weekend.
“It promotes healthy living. I’m really happy with it,” said Trinity-conception-placentia Health Foundation chief development officer Don Coombs.
The foundation pulled the idea for the challenge from a similar event taking place on the Burin Peninsula. That one asks participants to hit the trails there as the local health foundation attempts to raise money for a transport monitor.
Coombs saw how that effort was rolled out and wanted to adapt the idea locally.
“I think it is really going to fly,” he said.
LOTS TO OFFER
Hitting the trails in the Trinity-conception-placentia region is something Barb Parsons-sooley does routinely.
As the owner and operator of Wind At Your Back Guided Adventures, based in Heart’s Delight-islington, she regularly leads guided hikes around the region.
Parsons-sooley has seen the beauty of the area through those trails and she is completely behind the idea of the trail challenge.
“I think it is a great idea,” she said. “Hiking is becoming very popular.”
For the last several years, Parsons-sooley has hit many of the trails listed as a part of the challenge, either through her work as a guide or just as an adventurer.
She said there are physical and mental-health benefits to hiking.
“Just getting outside and getting that fresh air makes you feel better,” said Parsonssooley.
Hiking has always been a great way to combine getting outdoors with exercise, but the activity also has economic potential.
A good trail is a tourist attraction and towns are starting to recognize that. In the last couple of years, Parsonssooley has worked with towns in the Heart’s Delight area to breathe new life into their trails.
They can be snapshots of discovery, and she is glad they’re going to be utilized even more this summer through the app.
“It is just realizing what we have here in Newfoundland,” said Parsons-sooley. “Our hiking trails, once they get out there and are discovered, are world-class.”