History
The Chicago Area's Premier Hiking Club
"Youthful old age depends upon what one has done with his years of youth."
As a pioneering osteopathic physician in the gymnastic, dietary, and nutrition fields, Dr. Andrew A. Gour founded the “Outdoor Physical Fitness Club” in 1942. No doubt he had aspirations for this fledgling enterprise, but it is probably fair to say he never imagined how it would go on enriching the lives and health of its members, decades beyond his time.
Fitness and fraternity: The genesis of Forest Trails Hiking Club
Andrew Gour began his quest for perfect health at age 12, exercising in secret after being sickly and handicapped in infancy and childhood. The results were so successful, he made the art of healing his life’s work. You can read his book here. Always a lover of the outdoors, Gour conceived the Outdoor Physical Fitness Club as a way to address widespread concerns about the poor physical condition of young Americans, millions of whom were being drafted for military service.
"World War II brought widespread attention to health, physical fitness, and disability across the United States. As part of the military’s mobilization, all drafted and enlisted men and enlisted women had to undergo physical and psychiatric examinations to assess their readiness and fitness for war. Over the course of World War II, about 19 million American men were drafted, but nearly half of them didn’t make the cut."
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Dr. Gour’s fitness club combined hiking to build leg strength and endurance with calisthenics and games to build upper body strength. Lunches included discussions, group singing, games, and – in cold weather – a bonfire. Members were asked to bring out their “Treasure Chest Community Songster” on every outing and encouraged to wear the official club emblem, a maple leaf with white lettering. Both the hike leader and a “guide” who stayed at the rear of the group carried whistles to signal each other.
Transitions
In its early years, the club had elected officers and club bulletins that were full of news, useful information, editorial comments, and seasonal drawings. After the war, members stopped doing calisthenics at lunchtime. And in January, 1950 the club adopted a new name: “Forest Trails Hiking Club.”
While it’s hard to imagine now, the original club hikes could all be reached by public transportation. As forest preserves proliferated outside of the city and club membership extended into the suburbs, hike locations became more diverse. Their distance from the urban center meant that people needed to travel to most of the trailheads by car. Lunches in the middle of a hike have given way to picnics or “tailgates” after the hike.
Over the years the club added some longer hikes to the roster, including a 21.6-mile hike around Geneva Lake (in Lake Geneva, WI) and our annual 25-mile North Kettle Moraine hike, also in Wisconsin. Seasonal picnics, holiday hikes, and long weekends farther afield in Illinois and neighboring states appear periodically on the club schedule, which, like this website, is meticulously maintained by club member volunteers. Club anniversaries are celebrated enthusiastically and in style, about every five years. Dues are collected annually by the club treasurer.
Adventurous by nature, many club members pursue more rigorous hiking experiences, as well as other sports, in North America, Europe, and beyond. Many Forest Trails members have been active in the club for decades. Others have come and gone and come back again. Still others simply come and go. What hasn’t changed since 1942 is the opportunity for fellowship and health-promoting exercise the club provides for its members. That is a tradition we look forward to continuing well into the future.