Kamloops Hiking Club was an informal group to start with, but as the club expanded, it needed to deal with insurance, risk management, safety, informed consent, and best practice in organizing trips into the backcountry.   The organizational structure led to a a number of decisions and measures:

• strong waivers were developed and the Club required everyone to complete one
• expectations and guidelines were established and made part of the membership process
• the overall club size was limited and groups sizes were limited to what hike leaders could easily handle
• events were posted so that the details of each outing were clearly spelled out
• registration (and cancellation) was set up as an online service for a number of reasons
• spaces were reserved for members before guests and the whole process of bringing guests requires some work

With this, hike leaders pick dates, times, places, routes, and groups sizes then they post the events and members register for them.   This is the main way that KHC offers events for its members.

There are challenges with this system though:

• the event times, dates, places, routes, etc. may not work for many of our members
• the difficulty of events may not match the ability and fitness levels of members
• events may fill up
• events to high-interest locations fill up quickly
• its a lot of work for hike leaders

Another way for members to have hiking opportunities is through networking.   Meeting other members (of similar interests, abilities, and schedules) and making their own arrangements not through the KHC website events posting-registration system is already happening byt should be used even more.   But how do we encourage and facilitate this?

We tried a Meet-Up posts system (just add a comment) on the website, but it didn’t seem to work very well.   Everyone agreed it was a good idea, but no one really wanted to be responsible for promoting it.   Hike Leaders are already doing a lot and are not looking for another ongoing task.   On the other hand, we are all getting out a lot on our own, with our partners, or with friends and others could join in, so how do we support that idea?

A good example is on the website right now:

Gerry Hoye is organizing an “off the grid” backpack in June.   We just added that as an announcement.   It is up to members to read the news item and contact Gerry if interested.

Another example is a member is hoping to organize a Summer Solstice Social hike.   She is just networking with members through email for the event.   Off the grid.

A third example is the Summer Summit Series.   These were listed as Draft events on the website but were removed to reduce down the extra work/burden of organizing groups (carpooling, capability concerns, date chosen, changing conditions, personal scheduling conflicts, etc.) over the summer.   The hike leader will network to find a small group to do each hike once a final date is chosen for each.   This will be done by email and not done through the website events system.

With 270 members, there are endless opportunities to invite other members to join in on a group hike.   Here are some examples:

1. I am going to hike at Sun Peaks on High Five Day.   Does anyone want to join me?
2. I would like to hike into Trophy Meadows when the alpine blooms are at their height.   I don’t know the route but if someone else does, I would be happy to drive.
3. I would like to do an exploratory hike around Lac le Jeune this weekend.   I am looking for other members to come along.   Lots of stops along the way and a good time on the trail is the plan.
4. The best day for me to hike is Thursday after work.   Is there anyone who would like to hike at that time each week?
5. Two of us are going down to hike the Enderby Bluffs this Sunday morning.   Does anyone want to join us?

Update:

We are trying a new Category called Rambles to facilitate this goal.   See https://kamloopshikingclub.netkhc-events/categories/

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Doug Smith

Retired now, I get into the outdoors most days to hike, paddle, camp, snowshoe, run, walk, or explore. More information can be found at: KamloopsTrails.net.

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