38.5°F  Website Login | Shelby TownshipJanuary 18, 2012Hiking Michigan group celebrates 14 years with trek at Stony Creek
By Brad D. Bates
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Robert Golda, left, and Pete Ogg talk during a break on Jan. 14 at Stony Creek. The Hiking Michigan group takes breaks during its hikes to discuss nature and their surroundings.
Robert Golda, left, and Pete Ogg talk during a break on Jan. 14 at Stony Creek. The Hiking Michigan group takes breaks during its hikes to discuss nature and their surroundings.
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SHELBY TOWNSHIP — After 14 years with the Hiking Michigan group, director Rob Golda has done more than just hike and show people a few of his favorite trails.
“It’s amazed me from all these years the group has created an atmosphere that draws a lot of people,” Golda said.
“Fourteen years ago — I’ve always had a love for the outdoors — I thought Hiking Michigan would be a good way to reach a few people, but we’re over 4,000 members now.”
While introducing people to Michigan’s hidden hiking gems was the initial goal, over the past decade, Golda’s group has taken on a life and mission of its own in creating friendships and bonds among its members.
Hiking Michigan, now with an expansion called Hiking North/ Central Michigan that covers 26 counties from Ingham to Manistee, celebrated its 14th anniversary Jan. 14 at the site of its first trek, Stony Creek Metro Park.
And Golda said it’s like going home every time he hits the trails at Stony Creek.
“It’s more personal at Stony Creek for me because I grew up at Stony Creek,” said the Rochester native of the site where the group started with four hikers.
“The reason we had the first hike there was for my own sanity because you could blindfold me, and I would know my way around that park.”
Since he first led four hikers around his childhood park, Golda said, the group has grown to a point where his leadership consists of little more than sending emails and mapping trails.
“I’m the computer guy now,” Golda said. “It’s very rare that I stay at the head of the pack and lead the hikes even. We have people that have just kind of taken on roles with the group, and it’s great.
“We have one guy who acts as the sweeper, and we never discussed it, it just happened. He stays in the back and makes sure no one gets behind him. That’s why we can have the slogan ‘No one gets left behind.’”
Golda said he believes that it’s the group’s focus on nature, and not logging mile after mile or maintaining a specific level of cardiovascular exertion, that has kept it so popular.
“When you take someone on a trail for the first time, and all the sudden, they’re leading hikes, it’s a great feeling,” Golda said of the way he’s seen people grow in their comfort level with the group, which is free and requires people only show up the day of the hike to participate.
“I’ve been with other hiking groups, and there is no place that has a vibe like this one. And that’s created by the people enjoying each other and the outdoors.”
Beyond just making their way along charted paths at parks from Stony Creek to as far as north Lenawee County, Golda takes his group off the beaten track and invites them to come back on their own to further their enjoyment of the hidden gems they uncover.
“We’re only going to do a quarter mile of the main trial,” Golda said of his Jan. 14 hike at Stony Creek. “After that, I know of a deer trail that takes you up to a 60-foot cliff overlooking the creek.
“It’s the kind of place that people don’t go to, and there is a lot more nature than the main trials. Yeah, you’re probably not going to see that nature with 60 people with you.
“But if you go back later with your wife or girlfriend, you’re going to see deer, wild turkeys and everything that lives there. When you go to a great spot, you know it’s a great spot.”
And a mutual love for and appreciation of nature has brought the group together and formed those relationships that are as much a part of the hikes as the wilderness.
“There will be people there from as far as Fenton or Down River,” Golda said of the hikes. “We get together, tell nature stories; we have campfires; people bring cookies; and it’s just a great time. And the people and camaraderie make it that way.”
While he’s not likely to admit it, though, another key part in the group’s success is Golda and his passion for hiking, the outdoors and sharing.
“This is his baby,” Pete Ogg, the group’s unofficial “sweeper” from Waterford, said of Golda.
“This is his goal in life, and this is what he does. His heart and passion is so into it; it’s an amazing thing. It wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him.”
While Golda may be quick to explain away his role with the group as little more than an administrator, what he doesn’t sell short is the effect his group has on hikers new and old, and their appreciation for the nature around them.
“Our biggest hike was 110 people,” Golda said. “We had 110 people at our hike at Holland Ponds to see the herons nesting last year.
“It’s really a win-win,” Golda added about his group’s hikes. “The parks win because they get great exposure, and (individuals) win because they get a great hike.”
For more information on Hiking Michigan, visit www.hikingmichigan.com or call (586) 446-7656.
