By Richard Edwards
Recently, someone in our hiking group wondered, “When did our local Blue Mountains Club start?” Someone else suggested that I may know the answer. Having been involved with the Club since the 90s, I know bits of history but not the whole picture. The question was intriguing, and so did some sleuthing.
My first research stop was Google to review the basics of the genesis of the BTC. In 1959, Ray Lowes, concerned about the loss of the natural environment, proposed a footpath along the Niagara Escarpment. In 1960, the “founding four” of Ray Lowes, Philip Gosling, Norman Pearson, and Robert MacLaren met and began planning the Bruce Trail. In 1962 and 1963, Mr. Gosling left his job and, with the aid of an Atkinson grant, began planning the route and forming regional clubs, including ours, in the Blue Mountains.
In his book, “Bruce Trail Stories, 1962- 1967 Memoirs/Vignettes” published in 2022, Mr. Gosling relates the following: “The city hall in Collingwood was the only place I could find to host the potential members of the Blue Mountains Club. I met with George Willis, a friendly man who was interested and learned about local history. He helped me contact a dozen or so locals who were invited to a meeting to start a trail club.” This event occurred at exactly “8:00 pm on Thursday, July 5th, 1962”, as noted by George and June Willis* in a 1991 issue of the Blueprint, in an article entitled “25 years of the Bruce Trail”.
So, it seems to me the evidence is strong that each July 5th, we should be singing “Happy Birthday” to the Blue Mountains Bruce Trail Club. It’s a celebratory time of the year, just after the Solstice and close to Canada Day. It’s a good time for a birthday bash! Perhaps it could be combined with our “Cakewalk Hike,” which began as a memorial to former volunteers and thus would fit with the theme. Whatever we decide, 62 candles are needed for this year’s cake!
A week after Mr. Gosling’s meeting, a club executive was formed, and the nitty-gritty of trail building began. The Willis article names the initial members** and pays special tribute to Walter and Edna Blacklock, “who laid out much of the trail between 1963 and 1969” and were among the first to be recognized as “Honorable Members of the Bruce Trail Association.”
Mr. Gosling also mentions Mr. Blacklock in an interesting anecdote: “After my practiced and rousing talk, one man, Walter Blacklock, took me aside and in his Northern English accent told me he was not a joiner, but he would blaze a trail with his wife and others above the Blue Mountains ski hills and be gone. And that is exactly what happened. Then I heard he had left his job and retired to Scotland. I never met or spoke to him again, which I most regret, but his astonishing contribution lives on.”
The trail certainly “lives on”. George Willis, Walter Blacklock, and many others, most of whose names are now unknown, have made Ray Lowes’ dream possible. On July 5th, we should toast them.
* June and George Willis are no longer with us but are recognized by the name “June and George Willis Side Trail.”
** The article Willis names the 1962 inaugural executive as Les Vipond (chair), George Willis (secretary-treasurer), Len Wambold, John Prentice, Walter Blacklock, J. Allan Blair, Robert Knox, Alf Michener.
Want to learn more? You can buy a copy of Philip Gosling’s book of memoirs at the BTC online store.
