Tuesday 5 April 2022

Wanderung turns 20!

By my best (educated) guess, Wanderung's first hike was 20 years ago this month (April). 20 years!!!

The first hike was around Buntzen lake mostly comprised of a collection of friends and their random
acquaintances. The second hike was Lynn Peak.. we didn't make it to the first lookout even,.. our uninitiated hiking legs couldn't hack it.

As a founding member that was either fully immersed in the organization from the start, or later just a peripheral player as a low touch board member - 20 years is a major milestone for me personally.

Early Wanderung photo
Early Wanderung photo

Yes, the pandemic slashed almost 2 years off of those 2 decades, but for that time, Wanderung has a been a central and consistent thread for what is now 40% of my life.

I've had the opportunity and privilege to hike with thousands of different people using the callout system and estimate my own callouts to number well over 250 (mostly pre-incorporation of the
non-profit). I'm pretty sure, I'm not even the record holder. Since 2002 Wanderung has had at least 5 or 6 "generations" of key organizers keeping the list trips active. These people span from around the globe, across many cultures and ages, and do all sorts of things that I didn't even know were jobs in some cases.

Long ago we gave up counting callouts (likely 3500+). We've stopped trying to track the direct and indirect romances, marriages, Wanderung babies... as they are also now countless. Noone really knows how many long lasting friendships have formed or "off-list" adventure teams have branched outside of
Wandie Awards 2012

the callout system for their outdoor fixes. We do know, however, that these things become all the more likely when people put their devices aside and take a chance to go explore nature and just "sweat" with a bunch of strangers and actually engage.

For me personally, Wanderung can be credited as the reason half the people in my life and various communities,.. are there. Whether by referral or directly meeting them through callouts, my friend and acquaintance network (including my wife!), mostly sprung out of the adventures I've shared with strangers (until they weren't). Vancouver seems like a smaller place as a result as the streets and even my workplace is peppered with people that I know share my hobbies through Wanderung. For this, I am grateful.


20 years is a long time for a low-tech, self-funded organization to stay operating, especially when one of the board mandates is "keep the effort low". I've worked for 4 employers and lived in 5 neighbourhoods in that time - but only belonged to one hiking club.

I don't know how relevant Wanderung will be after the pandemic allows us all to meet again. It is a bit manual and low tech and had been slowing down even before 2020. What it does have, I think will always have appeal: accessibility. It is free and you don't need any particular O/S or app. It is sort of simple (so long as you read and follow the instructions).

More than that, it has attracted people that despite our "work less" mandates, DO work to make it happen. I'd like to personally thank every past, present, and future :

  • newsletter publisher and contributor
  • board member
  • web developer and sys admin
  • trip organizer
  • driver
  • donator
  • founder
  • party volunteer
Wanderung was not as prolific generating trips as it was because of lurkers, passive observers, passengers or Facebook commenters - it is because of those people above.

If you want as much out of it as some of us have managed to get, like me, become one of them.

Here is to many more years of hiking with strangers (...until they are not).