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...

“Man Plans, God Laughs” Yiddish Proverb Planning a Hike on the Trans Canada Trail How long does it take to hike the Trans Canada Trail from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Arctic? The answer is longer than you might think. People assume that there is a neat answer to this question. They expect a clear number – a set number of kilometres and a specific number of days or weeks or months. Something that can be easily set into a hike itinerary on the calendar. People ask this question in the same way they might ask about how long it takes to fly to Europe, or drive across the country, or how long it takes to hike the Appalachian Trail. But the Trans Canada Trail - the Great Trail, Sentier Transcanadien, le Grand Sentier - resists tidy answers and easy understandings on every level.  Even before stepping onto the path in 2019, we knew that variables would influence the timeline. Would we walk into each provincial capital or take more direct connectors? Would we trek every spur ...

  “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...