SUMMERSTOWN, Ontario – The Friends of the Summerstown Trails (FOTST) happily celebrated the 50th season of the trails on their 2020 opening day on Sunday, Jan. 5.
Sunday saw 150 people come out to enjoy the trails in mild weather, and to celebrate opening day and the anniversary, FOTST offered free equipment rentals.
“Martin Bowman, FOTST first president, recalled the work and community spirit of the many volunteers, mostly neighbours of the Summerstown Forest who kept the trails going for the better part of 35 years. With few resources and often using their own personal snowmobiles, these people groomed and maintained the trails, often facing much adversity,” said FOTST in a press release.
When FOTST formed 10 years ago, it did so not just with the goal of maintaining the trails, but also to ensure that the public had the chance to experience them for themselves.
“Current FOTST president Vic Leroux thanked the many partners and sponsors of the Summertown trails, noting recent initiatives including the adding of skate skiing and fat biking activities, the addition of new trails, new grooming equipment to better deal with the changing weather conditions, the construction of a new parking lot adjacent to C.R. 27, etc.,” the FOTST press release went on to say.
The Summerstown Traisl consist of 18 km of groomed XC ski trails for both classic and skate skiing, and a separate network of 11 km of snowshoe and groomed fat bike trails.
The trails are open seven days a week free of charge.
