Butler Outdoor Club organizes regular outings for group activity
MUDDY CREEK TWP — Venus Hubbard dragged Teresa Freyer out of bed Saturday morning, Jan. 18, to visit the cold and snowy Moraine State Park.
Freyer said she normally wouldn’t leave the house that early, especially in snowy weather, but she was obliged to tag along with her friend and the Butler Outdoor Club, which had planned the 3.5-mile hike of the Sunken Garden Trail that morning.
“It helps my cabin fever,” Freyer, of Connoquenessing, said. “Otherwise I would be inside all day.”
The Butler Outdoor Club plans a few hikes and outdoor activities every month, even over the winter. The group has been around since the mid-1990s, and Tom Vayansky, president of club, said it has stayed active because people continue to be motivated to get outside by the allure of group outings.
“For some people, this is their personal fitness club,” Vayansky said. “It makes them get out and ride a bike or go hiking. If it’s you by yourself, you might not be as likely to go out in 19 degrees hiking. But if the Butler Outdoors Club says they have a hike, you'll probably come.”
Joe Hardisky has been with the Butler Outdoor Club almost since its inception and now coordinates backpacking trips for the group. He said Bob Tait founded the club around 1995 and that the club is as active today as it was in the 1990s.
Hardisky also attributes the group’s longevity to the shared enjoyment of participating in hikes and walks in groups.
“We all enjoy a little solitude in a hike, but at times you want camaraderie in a group,” Hardisky said. “It’s just very enjoyable. And I think that’s a draw really for a huge number of participants.”
The Butler Outdoor Club organizes hikes, biking outings, camping and backpacking trips, kayaking excursions and sometimes cross-country skiing trips. They can take place in the parks around Butler County and Western Pennsylvania, but the group sometimes travels to other parts of the state and other states for certain activities.
Hardisky said the overnight camping trips are more of a summer activity.
“What we have in the Butler Outdoor Club is different committees,” Hardisky said. “What I do is schedule backpacking trips throughout the year. The last one we did was in Laurel Highlands and spent two days on the trail.”
Vayansky said members of the group who participate in the monthly planning meetings pay dues to be in the club, but anyone can join a hike or trip by just showing up. Nearly 20 people met at the start of the Sunken Garden Trail on Saturday, some of them official members of the group and others people who just attended after hearing about the hike online.
“It’s not real formal. Everything is done through email,” Vayansky said. “We send out a group email before each activity. We probably have close to 400 people on our email list.”
The size of the group means that even when conditions are not optimal for outdoor activity, each event will likely get a few attendees one way or another. Vayansky recalled a particularly rainy hike, which the group planned in the winter of 2024.
“We did one last winter where Muddy Creek comes into the lake, and we showed up, it was raining pretty hard before we even started,” Vayansky said. “Sure enough, six or eight people came, and we hiked 4 or 5 miles — everyone was completely soaked when we were done and frozen. But I couldn’t believe anyone showed up.”
Seasoned hiker Steve Smith led the group through the Sunken Garden Trail on Saturday, sporting his trademark outfit featuring shorts and snowshoes. Vayansky commented that he has never seen Smith wearing anything but shorts, even though it was about 20-degrees during the hike.
Smith kept up a brisk pace for the hike, allowing for experienced hikers to traverse the path quickly, while Hardisky and the group’s communications coordinator, Tammy Veloski, brought up the rear so no one got left behind. Veloski said the day’s hike was a little short for the outdoor club, which frequently plans hikes that average up to 10 miles.
Laurie Eytel, of Renfrew, said she regularly attends hikes organized by the Butler Outdoor Club, because it is better to get out on a woods trail with a group than alone.
“I walk about 5 miles every day,” Eytel said. “But hiking 5 to 7 miles is different.”
Eytel and several other people taking on the hike Saturday brought along hiking poles to help them maintain traction on the snow-covered trail. While Hubbard and Freyer walked a slightly slower pace compared to others in the hiking group, they each said they were glad to be flanked by people in the club.
Veloski said going hiking with a group is probably safer than hiking alone.
“It’s nice when you don’t have anyone to go with,” Veloski said. “You could always go with the club.”
Vayansky said the Butler Outdoor Club frequently collaborates with agencies like Moraine State Park and the North Country Trails Association. The club helps out with the First Day Hike Moraine hosts each Jan. 1, and even had its own hike later in the day this year.
While seasoned members of the club are able to take on some difficult hikes and trips on a regular basis, Vayansky said most people don’t start out that way. Even during the “short” hike Saturday, Smith would stop periodically to let people catch up, so they could all be together on the trail.
Vayansky encouraged hiking enthusiasts to attend a group outing with the Butler Outdoor Club to get a sense of what level of difficulty they are able to take on physically. He added that he surprises himself with the length of hikes he goes on with the Butler Outdoor Club.
“Before the Butler Outdoor Club, I never thought I could walk eight or nine miles at a time,” Vayansky said. “Then you start doing it every week and you get in pretty good shape.”
The Butler Outdoor Club provides most of its communications on its Facebook page.
