Trans Canada Trail ... It was the name that got me
As we near the departure date (less than two months now!) working with great collaborators like Bird Studies Canada and Nature New Brunswick and gaining great support from Clif Bar Canada, Briden Solutions, and the Baillie Bird Fund the question we get asked most is...Why? Why this trail? What, at first, drew you to this venture?
To be
honest there are countless reasons to toss it all in, and get out into the
Canadian wilderness. Yes I want to get
youth outdoors again, yes I want to promote the protection of the Boreal
Forest, and yes I want increase participation in the Citizen Sciences. But those aren’t the original reasons I
wanted to hike the Trans Canada Trail.
To be
honest none of us really need a reason to go into your backyard, watch birds,
or go out onto a local trail, visit a provincial park – or if you are lucky
enough – stay in a national park. But in
this instance, the notion of trekking along not just a trail but the Trans
Canada Trail, seemed too irresistible to pass by. Yes I know it is now officially called The
Great Trail ... but it’s original
moniker, the Trans Canada Trail – evokes everything an outdoors person, a
hiker, and an explorer could hope for.
It reminds you of the majesty of the Trans Canada Railway, the history
of racing to complete the rail line or the beauty of travelling in VIA Rail’s
Canadian or Ocean trains from the Pacific to the Atlantic Oceans. It reminds
you of summers spent in the backseat of your parent’s car passing through the
countryside from coast to coast on the Trans Canada Highway – HWY 1. Of climbing Signal Hill, visiting the Citadel
in Halifax, getting your Dirt Shirt in PEI, seeing the Bay of Fundy, touring
Montreal, camping in Algonquin Park, being stunned by the vastness of the
Prairies, exploring the dinosaurs in Drumheller, or relaxing in Tofino on the
Pacific coast.
Like its for-bearers, the Trans Canada Railway, and the Trans Canada Highway, the TCT
calls you to explore and see the nation. It is yet another thin line across the map –
built by Canadians - that is both too large to consider all at once, yet which
ties the nation together. It reminds you
that amid all of the nation’s vast geography, beautiful landscapes, and
cultural diversity it is still possible to follow a single band of rail line,
roadway or trail-way from coast to coast to coast. It is one of those great and improbable
national projects which reflect the wonderful culture which Canada has. And it connects so many of us together and
the promise that if you stay on it long enough you will see the unexpected,
learn something new, find that rare bird you have always sought, to spend a
night above the tree line under the Northern Lights.
The notion
of the Trans Canada Trail, it has it all.
It is the stuff that dreams are made of, and the sort of undertaking
that improbable ventures can be built around.
The Trans Canada Trail allows anyone to explore the myriad of
connections available in this great nation.
Yes, I
guess you could say that at the outset it was the name that got me. I am a romantic. I am a geek for nature, the wilderness, and
yes for Canada. I love watching fishing
boats in the Atlantic, the food in Quebec, the forests of Northern Ontario, the
big sky of the Prairies, the majesty of the Rockies, and kayaking along the
Pacific coast! I love that you can see the same birds across the entire nation
while at the same time see different species in almost every province and
ecological niche on the continent! I
love the notion that we have a ton of different landscapes – from the Arctic
Tundra, to the Prairie Grasslands, to the tidal marshes of the Bay of Fundy but
that we also have vast systems such as the Boreal Forest which span the country
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Amid
all of this the Trans Canada Trail ties the parts together of the nation
together and makes it whole once again. It
allows us each to explore the connections – familial, social, cultural, and
ecological – that make us Canadian!
We are a
great, vast and privileged nation. We
are safe, secure, and prosperous all at once.
I am privileged to be able to embark upon this three year
expedition. I am privileged to be
Canadian, privileged to have the time, the means, and the support to see Canada
and to be able to share my love of the outdoors and birding with others. But most of all I am privileged to live in a
country which has continually sought to ensure that any of us can trek from
coast to coast to coast for ourselves!
See you on
the trail....
See you on the trail!
Remember to follow our entire adventure here : www.comewalkwithus.online
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