Dorsal's Diary: The Trompers

Back in 1984 I was invited by a group of coworkers to join them on a Bruce Trail hike. We spent a July weekend hiking a northern section and ended at the Tobermory terminus of the trail. That first trip was called the Tobermory Tromp and we became the Trompers.

Dave "Doc" Jewett (he got his nickname because he played the trumpet like Doc Severinson) was the organizer, alliterative name author, statistician, historian and lame joke teller of the group. Gary "Andy" Parker (he wore short sleeved sweaters in high school and looked like Andy Hardy) was the other prime mover of the Trompers.

The next year the group did a canoe trip called the Seguin Safari. I was fortunate to have broken my back earlier, so I didn't have to make the waterfall plunge like the others. I just made a cameo appearance.

The following year we did a bicycle trip, the Seneca Cycle, and we alternated between biking and canoeing until 1991 when we got back to the Bruce Trail. We took more bites out of it in following years when we weren't biking, canoeing, kayaking, or cross country skiing. We also had many quoits matches, golf games and tennis matches. And of course slide nights and planning nights, which were extra events held when we were thirsty.

Doc and Andy have subsequently completed the trail. I'm at about 96% and I'm satisfied with that. In the end, it didn't matter to me whether we completed the hikes or not. The important things for me were climbing up the ski hill at Devil's Glen beside Peter Burton, three months after he had bypass surgery, and hiking with George Campbell after he had his spleen removed, and spending a day on the trail with the guys despite my back issues. What made the Trompers so important to us was participating with a group of guys you love and sharing the laughs that go along with it.

My grandson Yancy joined us for the Serendipity Cycle in 1988, Brother Roger has participated in several events, grandson Sean joined us for a Bruce Trail hike, and David has been on some of our bike trips.

We lost George Campbell to ALS, and Roy Mandy to a stroke. The rest of us are nursing old age, knee or other physical ailments, but hopefully when the pandemic is behind us we will once again gather to at least reminisce about our adventures.

Hiking with the Trompers gave me the confidence to take on some hikes of my own.

When Sean turned twelve, he and I hiked 70 miles through the high Andes of Peru. Our highest elevation was an oxygen scarce 16,000 feet on Salcantay Mountain. Machu Picchu was our destination.