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

Trans Canada Trail Hiking Guide and Information Atlantic to Pacific Canadian Hiking Guide and Blog Tips and Advice for Trekking Across Canada Welcome to the Come Walk With Us Trans Canada Trail hiking blog! Over the span of 556 days over the span of four years, we hiked 14,000 km from Cape Spear, Newfoundland to Victoria, British Columbia on the world's longest recreational pathway. In this travel and adventure blog, we share photos and stories from our long-distance walk across Canada on the Trans Canada Trail (formerly the Great Trail), as well as gear reviews, trail information, and advice for planning your own thru-hikes. Epic landscapes, stunning wildlife, fascinating histories, daunting challenges, and countless acts of random kindness were all part of our journey across Canada. We hope you enjoy it! NEWFOUNDLAND Our #Hike4Birds across Canada on the 28,000 km long Trans Canada Trail began at Cape Spear, Newfoundland on June 1, 2019. Atlantic Puffins, whales...

  “Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration’s shove or society’s kiss on your forehead.  Pay attention. It’s all about paying attention.” Susan Sontag   Lived Experiences   Over the years, we have tried to share what we have experienced, as honestly as we could, through photographs, writing, and public presentations. Yet one thing has become increasingly clear to us: a thing is only ever fully known by doing. No matter how carefully something is described, photographed, and shared….lived experience carries a depth that cannot be borrowed, replicated, or convincingly performed from a distance.   Reading and watching matter. Stories, images, and films can move us, teach us, and sometimes even change us. For most of us, they are the only way we will ever encounter much of the world.  And that’s ok.   But they are not the same as first-hand and lived experience, and they do not offer the same lessons, the same growth, or the same respon...

Canadian Trails and Motorized Vehicles. The question of whether ATVs should be allowed on hiking and cycling trails in Canada - let alone on the Trans Canada Trail - is not a simple one to ask, and even harder to answer. When the Trans Canada Trail was first envisioned, it was imagined as an off-road, non-motorized corridor: a place where walkers, cyclists, paddlers, and skiers could move through the country at a human pace. That vision mattered. It still matters. And when we began our #Hike4Birds journey from the Atlantic toward the Pacific, we agreed with it instinctively. We believed that if a trail was to be shared by the most vulnerable users - those on foot or on bicycle - then it should be protected from motorized traffic. At the time, we also assumed there was little meaningful difference between motorized vehicles on trails. Or between snowmobile use and ATV use on pathways. Both were machines. Both moved quickly. Both could damage terrain. Six years later, that debate...

 Why Trek Across Canada?   “Walking allows us to be in our bodies and in the world without the burden of being productive.” Rebecca Solnit. Wanderlust: A History of Walking   A Question that Assumes a Simple Answer   It is a deceptively simple question, and one that rarely has a satisfying answer. Why hike across Canada? Why trek the Trans Canada Trail ?  Why walk so far, for so long? Why devote six years to a journey from coast to coast to coast?  The question, or similarly related questions, each assume that the answer will be singular, logical, and easily understood - when in truth it is none of those things.   For some, the idea of crossing a country on foot is framed as an athletic challenge or an act of endurance. For others, it is treated as a kind of personal manifesto and a declaration of identity.  For still more, it is an act of unimaginable insanity that is an utter waste of time and money.   Certainly not Athletic   One of...

With a Little Help from my Friends   “Backpacking : an extended form of hiking in which people carry double the amount of gear they need for half the distance they planned to go in twice the time it should take.” David T Baker   Walking Coast to Coast to Coast   When we first set out on our cross-country trek on the Trans Canada Trail , many people - including journalists and trail organizations - described our #Hike4Birds as an “unsupported hike.” Technically, that’s true. We carried our own gear. We walked every foot of the route. We were self-funded, unsponsored, and largely unknown.   But from the very beginning, we knew that wasn’t the whole story.   Because the truth is this - there is no such thing as an unsupported hike across Canada.   What “Unsupported” Really Means   In hiking culture, “unsupported” is often worn like a badge of honour. It’s shorthand for independence, resilience, and self-sufficiency. But after trekking 14,000 km from Ca...