Witnessing a renewed desire of folks to get outdoors, whether in solitude or with friends and family, Cataraqui Conservation is bringing back its Hike Challenge to take advantage of the cooler autumnal weather and beautiful, colourful landscapes of the Cataraqui Region.
In its sixth year, the Hike Challenge provides an opportunity for individuals, small groups, and families to spend some quality time together in nature, exploring the various trails at Cataraqui Conservation owned Conservation Areas.
The Hike Challenge runs until Nov. 27 and participants can choose to do the full challenge of eight trails or a half challenge of four trails.
To keep the Challenge as fresh, fun, and interactive as possible Cataraqui Conservation has tweaked the format so that the process and outcome is more user friendly and user driven. This year, they invite participants to register on their website then head out and hike their favourite trails at each of their Conservation Areas, as well as any section of the Cataraqui Trail and take a photo during each of these individual hikes. Photos should demonstrate why they love that trail so much and can include plants, animals, your family, friends, pets, or anything else that exemplifies the trail experience.
Cataraqui Conservation encourages new visitors to their trails to go out exploring and to document their experience with their photos, as well as encouraging long-time trail users to perhaps try out a different route.
After completing a sojourn on each trail, upload photos to Cataraqui Conservation’s Hike Challenge Photo Contest page to complete the entry. Winners will be chosen by all who visit the page, meaning potentially thousands of area folks will be inspired by someone’s trail experience. Once the photos are uploaded, voting can commence and run until Dec. 4 with the winners announced during the first week of December.
Prizes will be awarded for the most popular photo from the full challenge and one from the half challenge. Four annual passes to Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area will also be awarded to the second and third photos from each category.
Visit the Hike Challenge website at https://cataraquiconservation.ca/pages/hike-challenge for further details.