How To Join Us

To be eligible for membership, you must complete six club hikes as a visitor within a 12-month period. Let the hike leader know you are a visitor at circle-up before the hike so you can be provided with a hike attendance card.  Or you could fill a card out ahead of time.

Your mailing address, telephone number and email address are requested to help verify your identity on future hikes and enable us to send you an invitation to join CHC after you have met the hike requirement.  Please write legibly and submit the completed card to the hike leader, so that we can track your progress toward membership.

After six club hikes have been reported, you will receive an invitation via email to join our club.  After you join the club these hike attendance cards are used to help track one's mileage.

For more facts and information about hiking with CHC, see New Hiker Information and Hiker Resources.

Your invitation will include an application and a liability release form. These forms must be completed and returned to the Membership Committee, along with the initiation fee and initial calendar year’s dues.

Membership is effective the first Sunday following receipt of your completed application, liability release, dues and initiation fee. After that you will receive a packet with information about the club rules and other helpful information.

Dues for new members as well as a one-time initiation fee are listed on the Joining Us - Dues and Fee Schedule page. Your initial dues payment covers the period between your effective date and December 31 of the same year. (First-year dues for new members are reduced by 50% for memberships effective on or after September 1.)  Renewal dues (for the next calendar year) are payable annually by December 31 each year thereafter. See Joining Us - Dues and Fee Schedule.

Benefits of Joining

Club membership offers many benefits!  Miles hiked by members are tracked and we recognize members for significant mileage achievements (100 miles, 500 miles, and each 1,000 miles).  Members have access to our monthly newsletter (Newsteps) and this website's members only section.  These two resources provide mileage records and information about social events and other club activities such as worldwide travel and hiking excursions.  Additionally members have early registration for our excursions and events at our private facility, Camp Onwego.  A local outdoors shop kindly offers our members a discount.

You don't have to be a member to hike with us, although you would miss out on these membership perks.