The Great Trail ... A Few Details

The Great Trail, which was formerly known as the Trans Canada Trail, is the longest recreational multi-use trail in the world at over 24,000 km in length. It consists of a system of greenways, waterways, and roadways that stretch across Canada from the Atlantic, to the Pacific, to the Arctic oceans linking over 15,000 communities. The Great Trail was officially completed for Canada's 150th birthday in 2017, but in reality the trail association and countless volunteers are still working hard to make improvements to the trail system and to direct sections off roadways and highways. As with many trail associations, the work undertaken to date and the effort by volunteers has been and continues to be incredible!

In its current form, the Great Trail presents a number of challenges to thru-hikers. For example, about 30% of the trail follows roadways, which don't always present safe or enjoyable hiking conditions. Another difficulty for thru-hikers is that the trail network alternates between terrestrial pathways and waterways that must be paddled. While it is possible to walk an alternate route around the shorter stretches of waterways, the route along the northern shore of lake Superior consists of over 1,000 km of waterways. For a hiker that doesn't have intermittent access to a canoe, this represents a considerable length of trail that must either be skipped or highway-walked. Another challenge in thru-hiking this trail is that it cannot be completed in three seasons, which means that hikers need to alternate between summer and winter gear, and they need to be able to anticipate changing terrain and seasonal conditions, especially during the coldest months, in order to stay safe.

See you on the trail!

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