Founding Members and Board Of Directors
Trevor Willson is an engineer based in Calgary and avid backpacker. He wishes others to have access to the breathtaking beauty of the backcountry of Canada’s Rocky Mountain national parks, on existing trails. He has designed and built 9 backcountry wood trail bridges, up to 45 ft long, leading teams of volunteers.
Trevor spearheaded the full restoration of the 16 km Athabasca Pass Heritage Trail on the west side of this pass, over 3 years and is the President of the Canadian Backcountry Trails Preservation Society, a non-profit society incorporated in Alberta.
Gavin Fitch is a lawyer in Calgary who practices in the areas of environmental and regulatory law. For several years Fitch was on the Board and served as President of the Environmental Law Centre in Edmonton. He also has expertise in the field of Indigenous law and has been a Chief Negotiator at several modern treaty negotiation tables in B.C. and Yukon.
When not practising law, Fitch is an avid backpacker and outdoorsman. He has backpacked thousands of kilometres in the Canadian Rockies, including extended trips in the remote Front Ranges of Banff National Park. He has spent a considerable amount of time in Canada’s north, including being (with his family) on the second commercial raft trip down the Nahanni River after it was designated as a national park, in 1973. More recently, Fitch has traveled along the west coast of Greenland, through the eastern portion of the Northwest Passage and north along the Labrador coast to Torngat Mountains National Park. In 2024 he returned to the Nahanni with his daughter.
In 2009 he was nominated a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. He joined the Society’s Board of Governors in 2011 and became President in 2016. He completed his second term as President in November 2022 and remains on the Board as immediate Past President.
Stuart Howe, is a passionate advocate for wilderness exploration, backpacking and the natural landscapes that make it possible.
In 2016, Stuart began sharing this passion with a wider audience by launching the YouTube channel Howe’s The Hike?, where he documented the adventures he shared with his teenage daughters, Evelyn and Olivia. The channel quickly became a platform for inspiring others to embrace the joys of backpacking, wilderness exploration, and the thrill of discovering new and remote landscapes.
Stuart has backpacked in most Canadian Provinces on iconic trails like the West Coast Trail, the Fundy Footpath, Nepisiguit Mi’gmaq Trail and many more in between. In the mountain National Parks, Stuart has backpacked almost every named trail in both Banff and Jasper National Parks.
Stuart’s contributions were recognized in November 2023 when he was inducted into the Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s College of Fellows. This prestigious honour acknowledges his dedication to showcasing Canada’s remote backcountry trails and inspiring others to experience the beauty and challenge of the wilderness.
Marco Baldasaro is a Calgary based lawyer practicing in the areas of commercial litigation, professional discipline, and professional liability. Prior to law school (University of Calgary), Marco obtained both a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and a Master of Arts in English Rhetoric from the University of Waterloo. During that time, he held editorial positions at Imprint, the student newspaper.
Marco spends his (limited) free time exploring western Canada, primarily on foot, bike, and ski. He is intimately familiar with many of the trails in Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks.
Marco is also a director of the Alberta Hiking Association.
Ken Groat was raised in the mountains of Brule and followed his passion of working with horses by spending a number of years guiding hunters in Alberta, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.
He is a member of the fifth generation of a long line of Mountain people who have traveled, hunted and trapped through the Athabasca Valley and the east slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
Ken has traveled many of the trails from the Smokey River to the Red Deer River. One of his pet peeves is traveling with pack outfits through back country trails that are in dire need of good maintenance.
A well maintained trail makes for safer, more enjoyable trips for all users whether it be on horses, mountain bikes or hiking.