Come Walk With Us on the Trans Canada Trail (TCT)

We'd like to send out a HUGE thank you to everyone who stopped by our online shop today to make a purchase from our online store or to make a donation for Giving Tuesday !  Your generous contributions make a huge difference in supporting our goals of promoting diversity in the outdoor community and inspiring people to connect with nature through Birds and Citizen Science. After 10,000 km on our #Hike4Birds across Canada on the Trans Canada Trail most of our gear needs replacing this winter - including another camera lens that succumbed to the prairie dust and our tent, so every little bit helps! We couldn't have gotten this far without you, so whether you took the time to meet and support us in person on the trail, listen to one of our free presentations, donated online, made a purchase from our store, or offered us much needed words of kindness and support - you have our sincere gratitude! We hope you are looking forward to the month's worth of blogs and i

When we woke up this morning  the sky was dark and it was pouring rain.  As a result, we had a very late start, heading out around 10:00 am in an effort to avoid getting immediately and completely drenched.  We were only partially successful, as the rain continued to fall on and off for the next few hours, but at least it was a warm fall day. Due to the rain we had a relatively short walk today, covering only around 22 km along the Route de la Nouvelle France.   This is one of the oldest thoroughfares in North America, connecting the eastern edge of Quebec City to the Côte-de-Beaupré, which is around 57 km east of the capital city.  For the first 16 km of the walk we followed the Avenue Royale, and for the last 5 km the TCT diverted onto a paved bicycle trail, which is a continuation of the Marie-Hélène Prémont veloroute . There are eight major points of historical interest along the Route de la Nouvelle France, and we began at one of them - the Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré Shrine .  From t

When we climbed out of the tent this morning we were greeted by a pale pink sunrise and mostly clear skies.  As we made breakfast and packed up the sun peeked over the ridge, setting the yellows, oranges, and reds of the trees ablaze.  We couldn't have asked for more spectacular scenery to begin the morning!   The first two kilometers of trail after leaving La Faille involved a very steep climb straight up the side of a mountain.  In many places the trail was muddy and wet, and the deep coating of wet leaves made the rocks very slippery.  In the most difficult sections there were ropes to help guide us, which we greatly appreciated.  Although the going was tough we kept a pretty steady pace, stopping every once in a while to catch our breath and enjoy the scenery. Much of the slope was covered in sugar maples and American beeches.  A carpet of yellow, orange, and red maple leaves crunched beneath our feet while overhead a canopy of coppery beech leaves rustled and shone.  We could