Dear Member,

Get out there and bring a friend on a hike! I hope you have been enjoying the colors of fall on one of the many hiking trails in Pennsylvania. Each of you makes a difference on Pennsylvania hiking trails and for hikers.  

We are seeking nominations for individuals and clubs for the Certificates of Achievement, Volunteer of the Year, Club of the Year, and the Citation Award for lifetime achievement. Nominations for these awards are due by November 1. Surely great things are happening through our volunteers and clubs that we wish to recognize.

Make sure you plan to submit for your hiking award or encourage others who have completed hiking trails to submit for their award, especially youth and teenagers, for the new Teen Hiker Award.
The hiking awards are also listed on our website.  

Your gift to our Keystone Trails Endowment fund this year will make a positive impact in furthering our mission. In particular, toward member Club mini-grants that have been making an impact in local clubs on various trails. Plan to make a gift now. Recognition of the gifts will be made at the Award Celebration in December, along with the other hiking awards.

Be sure to register now for our KTA Keystone Hiking & Outdoor Weekend in the PA Wilds on October 17-19th. This will be a great family event. Plan to sign up at the KTA website and bring a friend.    Register by 8:00 AM Wednesday, October 15!

On behalf of the Board and the membership, I want to thank our Executive Director, Brook, and all our staff for the excellent job they are doing to further our mission. 

For the trails and those who wander on them! See you on the Trail!


Thanks
Wayne E. Gross
President, Board of Directors 
Keystone Trails Association
The Statewide voice of Pennsylvania Hikers

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Trish Turo is an experienced, empathetic and supportive National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach, Brain Health Educator and Researcher, and Registered Yoga Teacher. She received her Master’s in Health Psychology, has presented at various national health conferences, and was selected as a committee member for the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching. As a behavioral health leader, she has utilized her skills to support individuals working towards their healthiest selves for over 15 years and has coached individuals and groups across a variety of digital health organizations. Trish is passionate about making health, wellness, and well-being accessible to all.

As a Central PA native, Trish has long viewed hiking and the outdoors as integral to both her personal and professional growth and continues to advocate for nature as medicine. Growing up spending weekends at Laurel and Fuller lakes in Pine Grove State Furnace Park and enjoying the Appalachian Trail, Pole Steeple, CV overlook, Hawk Rock and more, she’s experienced the healing and beauty that Central PA has to offer. Even after trips to Asheville, Yosemite (Half Dome!) and the international trip to St John’s with the KTA, Trish knows PA as home, and has a focus towards conservation and environmental protection. With two kids under 7, Trish is a dedicated “nature mom” and frequently uses the outdoors as a learning playground for her boys. She’s dedicated to educating others, has presented “Nature Yoga” and “Hiking and the Brain” at the KTA Hiking and Outdoors Weekend in October 2024, and  regularly volunteers as a KTA rep at various community events.

George is a lifelong resident of Huntingdon County and active in the local trail community as a trail user, maintainer, and advocate.  
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George’s passion is long-distance trail running and his adventures have taken him across the country and throughout the commonwealth to explore different trails, meet new people, and experience the best of our natural world.  He has completed a number of 100-mile races and lesser distances and spends most weekends preparing for the next event.  George also enjoys leading community hikes while sharing his knowledge of local history and has partnered with various organizations to do so.

​George is the lead maintainer of the Thousand Steps section of the Standing Stone Trail and President of the Standing Stone Trail Club.  He is also a member of the Mid State Trail Association and regularly volunteers throughout Rothrock State Forest.  George works closely with the land management agencies on outdoor recreation projects and volunteers for trail races to oversee course preparations. 

As an advocate, George created the Coalition to Protect Hawn’s Peninsula that focused on land development proposals for Raystown Lake, worked to establish the Friends of the Huntingdon Borough Trails, and assisted the Coalition to Save Old Crow Wetland.  George believes that all trail users should be champions of outdoor recreation by providing sustainable trails and promoting our public lands. 

George works in the insurance industry as a test developer of state licensing examinations.  He is married to Claudia, and they have two grown children.  Simon lives in the Phoenix, AZ area and Victoria who lives in McEwensville, PA.  

​My firsthand experience with a tick-borne microscopic parasite called Babesia, which causes the disease Babesiosis, is not meant to deter people from enjoying the great outdoors and hiking our favorite trails and areas, but to educate them. I was familiar with Lyme disease, but I had never heard of this specific condition. It's rare, with fewer than 3,000 cases throughout the United States each year.

Having returned from a Scouting trip, I had unbeknownst to me been bitten by a deer tick a couple of weeks prior to the trip. Upon my return on August 8, I came down with severe flu-like symptoms of severe headaches, fever, shaking chills, nausea, constipation, and dehydration. Over the following weekend, I experienced intermittent flu-like symptoms and thought I was improving. By Monday, August 11, I knew this was no ordinary flu, so I visited my family doctor, who referred me to the hospital. After a release from the hospital ER and a day later, fainting and collapsing, I had a trip back to the hospital by ambulance. This time, many more tests.

After numerous tests, the infectious disease doctor diagnosed it as babesiosis, a tick-borne microscopic parasite that consumes red blood cell platelets from the inside out. The normal range of platelets is 149,000 to 390,000 platelets per microliter. When I came into the hospital, I had 22,000. Hiking was the furthest thing from my mind. I needed a walker to "hike" the ten feet from my bed to the bathroom and back. I was hospitalized for eight days with application of three different antibiotics and a roller coaster of many fevers, followed by a long period of my body building up the platelet count to restore energy.

Thankfully, my health is being restored, and I have done some short hikes on the AT and around the house.

I encourage you to check yourself for ticks and tick bites after every hike or outdoor adventure. Apply tick repellent as needed. I do all these things, but still contracted the parasite. Be aware of the symptoms and speak to your doctor if you believe you contracted babesia, so your medical care team can immediately start treatment with antibiotics.

Safe hiking out there. And thanks to all the well-wishes and prayers from all who knew.

Wayne 
President, Board of Directors 
Keystone Trails Association