In retirement, Jim Kropf is more active than ever.
His gym is vast - including Georgian Bay’s water where he paddles his kayak, the trails and roads of Collingwood where he pedals his hybrid bike, and the hills of Blue Mountain where he pushes powder with his skis.
It’s the lifestyle he came to Collingwood for, and one he’s helping maintain for himself and others.
Kropf is one of many volunteers who take care of Collingwood’s prized trail network. It's partly because of Kropf that - as JRR Tolkien wrote - not all who wander are lost.
As he sits at a picnic table wearing a neon green shirt with “Collingwood Trails” embroidered over his heart, he unzips his backpack to reveal a heap of trail maps, compacted by some elastics.
“I always carry these with me,” he said.
He uses his stockpile to refill map boxes or help a trail user who seems to be wandering or looking confused.
Officially, Kropf is the volunteer coordinator for trail map distribution. He oversees about 10 regular volunteers who stock 110 map boxes in Collingwood and about 20 others in the surrounding area (Wasaga Beach, Stayner, Barrie).
Kropf said local businesses have been instrumental in promoting Collingwood’s trail network and helping people get their own trail maps.
“A lot of it depends on businesses. When they are eager, it makes a difference,” said Kropf.
The boxes are outdoors along the trail and at local businesses. From 2015 to 2018, they distributed 75,000 trail maps. This year, the trails committee ordered 30,000 and Kropf expects they’ll need to order more soon.
Kropf moved to The Blue Mountains in 1996, and then to Georgian Meadows during the first phase of development. His house is now beside a trail, which is how he met George Christie - the man who first cast a vision for trails in Collingwood, the one with all the cool tools, and the most active trails volunteer recruiter this side Lake Huron.
“George was putting up signs by my house, and he said ‘what are you doing?’” said Kropf. Christie asked Kropf to help out, and he’s been a volunteer ever since.
Kropf was a former member of the Trails Advisory Committee, a trail captain, and still helps with some trail repair and maintenance work.
“It’s a great team,” said Kropf of the trail volunteers. “They just come out and help with trail work. It’s a bunch of retired people who ride or use the trails every day and we like to see them well-used and enjoyed … because they’re so beautiful … It’s good for the mind, body, everything, and the camaraderie is great.”
In addition to his volunteer work for the trails, he rides his bike nearly every day, using the trails and local roads for a 45-km loop. He takes his break at the end of his ride on a bench at Sunset Point looking west toward the harbour.
He’s also fond of Millennium Park, and its views of Collingwood’s shoreline.
“I love the wilderness trails too, it’s all good. There’s so much to explore,” he said.
He’s a member of the Blue Mountain Probus club - as are several of Collingwood’s trail volunteers - where he will often participate in group cycle rides around the area.
His vision for the future of the Collingwood trail network is more connecting links to create a larger and more fluid network of trails in town.
More urgently, he’d like to see one significant connector trail built.
“I would like to see, as soon as possible, a link between Collingwood and Blue Mountain Village along Mountain Road,” he said. “Ideally on two sides of the road, one side would be fine, but two sides would be wonderful.”
He would also like to see more trails usable in the winter through grooming, and more bike lanes on town roads.
Finally, and importantly, he said it’s important for the town to scrape and groom existing trails where grass and weeds have encroached on the trail surface to narrow it from the standard three-metres to as little as one-metre in places.
“We have beautiful trails, they could be lost if they aren’t maintained,” said Kropf.
The annual operating budget for Collingwood’s trails is $129,000, but it’s not quite enough, said Kropf, to keep up with the required maintenance.
He’d also like to see more in the capital budget - at $100,0000 a year - so more trails and links can be built.
“If we have all of these trails linked as Collingwood grows, and developers continue to provide access to the trails, they will increase the actual trail network,” he said. “Our trails encompass the beauty of Collingwood. We have everything here.”
