Special Report – April 5, 2017
Thanks to Michelle Dressler for this news article:
Just recently, a farewell hike for one of our members and KHC leader, Anton Stefanac was held. Anton will be moving to Vancouver to pursue employment as one the engineers in planning the new Massey Tunnel. We had a wonderful outing that day with a few other hiking members whom he has come to know quite well over the past 2 years with the club and a memento photo of him hiking on a KHC event to Needle Peak was given as a gesture of thanks . Afterwards, I was lucky to have a sit down chat with Anton to find out, first hand, his story of joining the club, becoming leader and making a positive impact on the KHC.
How did you first hear about the KHC?
In the fall of 2014 I moved from Victoria to Kamloops for work. A friend of mine named Steven Castle, who lives in Victoria, informed me to look into the KHC and highly recommend me to check out the Stake Lake area. I never would of found out about the club if it wasn’t for him.
What was your first event with the club?
The first introduction to the club was attending the Fall AGM in 2014. I thought this was a great way to get to know what the club was about and meet the members.
The first hiking event was with Paul Battjes on a Tramps R Us in the Lac du Bois area in winter of 2015. At that time I wasn’t fully understanding the 10 essentials rule. I showed up in jeans, a t-shirt and my jacket attached to my backpack. I got this look of “is this guy for real?” from Paul. But it all turned out fine. This was my first ‘smokie’ trip too (via backpacking cookpot made by Paul), and I thought, THIS is great!
When did you become a KHC leader and why?
I became a leader in 2015. I wanted to get outdoors and meet people and see the area. I will hike anything and enjoy everything. I started signing up for backpacking trips and noticed I was ahead of everybody on the trail, so thought I might as well become a leader. I wanted to pursue leading hikes after work, but working full-time 8-5 pm Monday to Friday was priority. Weekends were free and doing the night-owls in the evening were great to do. Becoming a leader wasn’t anything different then when I was hiking as a member. The only difference was I had to be actively paying attention to other member’s needs. Katherine Roberts and Wendy Kineshanko were my mentors during training. I turned my leadership interests into doing peak style hikes soon after.
Would you recommend our club to other people?
Ya, for sure. The club has been great for getting outside, meeting people of different walks of life who have knowledge of the local areas and areas outside of Kamloops. However, it would be great if there was more exposure to knowing that the KHC exists , because if that guy never told me about it, then I would have never found out about it.
What are your future plans with the club?
I still plan to try to lead hikes down in the coastal area, but I will remain a member with the KHC. If it works out, I will try to come back to Kamloops too and hike. But first, I need to finish getting my designation as a Professional Engineer.
Thanks again Anton for being such a wonderful leader and also one of the youngest leaders to have joined the Kamloops Hiking Club. We wish you all the best on your future employment out West.
M. Dressler, Past President
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