Every Journey Begins With the Intention to Finish

 “Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win By fearing to attempt.”
 
William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure
 

Did We Know We Could Walk Across Canada?

 

There is a curious tendency to look at an ambitious undertaking after it has been completed and assume that its successful conclusion was somehow inevitable from the beginning. We hear stories about explorers reaching distant destinations, mountaineers standing on summits, pilgrims arriving in Santiago de Compostela, or individuals crossing entire continents on foot, and because we already know how their stories end, it becomes easy to imagine that they knew as well. The uncertainty, the mistakes, the doubts, the difficult decisions and the possibility of failure become smaller in the retelling. What remains is an apparently straightforward narrative in which someone decides to accomplish something extraordinary, begins the undertaking, perseveres through difficulties, and eventually succeeds.

 

Yet standing at the beginning of a journey is very different from looking back upon one that has already been completed. Especially a journey that is a 24,000 km long hike. 

 

As we prepare to begin walking across Canada on the Trans Canada Trail, two questions seem particularly relevant. A reporter recently asked us: Was this something we always wanted to do? And, perhaps more importantly, do we actually believe we can accomplish it?

 

The first question is relatively straightforward. The second is considerably more complicated.

 

Was Walking Across Canada Always the Goal?

 

First off, walking across Canada has never been a lifelong ambition of ours. We did not grow up imagining ourselves crossing this country (or really any country) on foot, nor have we spent our lives working toward a particular moment when we could stand beside the Atlantic Ocean and begin walking westward. Anyone who looks at a picture of us will immediately note that we do not appear either like athletes or explorers.  Instead, like many of the journeys we have undertaken, the idea seems to have emerged gradually from other experiences, interests and conversations about where we might go next.

 

Over the years, long-distance walking has become an increasingly important part of our lives. Our experiences along the Camino de Santiago, the Bruce Trail and other pathways have taught us that travelling slowly offers something fundamentally different from visiting destinations by conventional means. Walking provides opportunities to notice the small details of landscapes, observe wildlife, encounter communities, and appreciate the gradual changes between places that are so easily overlooked when travelling by car, train or aircraft.  As a naturalist, these opportunities are especially appealing. A landscape is not simply something to pass through on the way to somewhere else. It is a living place with its own ecology, geography, history and human communities. Moving through it slowly creates opportunities to understand those relationships in ways that are difficult to anticipate before arriving.

 

Canada offers an extraordinary setting for this kind of exploration. We have travelled extensively within the country – hiking the East Coast Trail in Newfoundland, walking the Bruce Trail in Ontario and voyaging repeatedly on VIA Rail’s Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver, yet much of what lies between the destinations we know remains unfamiliar to us. The Great Trail (formerly the Trans Canada Trail) presents an opportunity to begin connecting some of those places through direct experience, following a pathway that crosses provinces, ecosystems, cultural landscapes and communities.

 

For these reasons, at one point in the past few years, what began as the appealing possibility of a longer walk became a serious undertaking. We began studying maps, researching trail conditions, investigating accommodation and resupply possibilities, calculating distances and considering how much time we would require. That idea and our research gradually transformed into a plan, and that plan became something we were increasingly committed to attempting.

 

But there is an important distinction between saying that walking across Canada was never a lifelong dream and suggesting that we are approaching the undertaking casually.  If only because – with no arrogance intended - once I decide to undertake something, I do intend to finish it.  The Trans Canada Trail included…

 

The Intention to Finish

 

I have never been particularly interested in beginning an undertaking with the expectation or possibility that I will abandon it partway through. Whether it involves academic work, research, writing, or travelling a long-distance trail, I prefer to begin with a clear intention of completing what I have set out to do.  Challenges may arise, but I hope and intend to work through them before continuing on.

 

This does not, of course, mean that I believe that determination alone guarantees success. Nor does it mean that I think every goal should be pursued regardless of the consequences. It simply means that when I commit myself to something, I do so seriously. I want to see it through, to understand what the undertaking demands, and to make a genuine effort to accomplish it.  Our previous long-distance walks have reinforced this approach. There have been difficult days, unpleasant weather, sore muscles, disappointing accommodations, confusing routes and mornings when the prospect of putting on a backpack again was considerably less appealing than it had been when planning the adventure or watching a movie about the route. None of those experiences automatically meant that the journey was at their end. Often they were simply part of what completing a long walk required.  There are always going to be tough moments and sacrifices en route – part of stepping out the door is accepting those realities.

 

The Trans Canada Trail will undoubtedly present similar challenges, although on a scale we have not previously experienced. We expect difficult terrain, unpredictable weather, long stretches between communities and a considerable amount of walking that may not resemble the picturesque pathways commonly associated with hiking. We also know that the amount of time required will test our patience, resources, planning and willingness to adapt.

 

None of this changes the intention with which we are approaching the journey.  We are not setting out from Newfoundland merely to see how far we happen to get before deciding that we have walked enough. We are setting out intending to cross Canada, reach the Pacific Ocean and, ultimately, continue toward the Arctic.

 

With all of that said, whether we can accomplish all of that remains another question entirely.

 

Can We Actually Do It?

 

There is a difference between believing that something is possible, knowing you can complete it given the opportunity, and knowing that it will happen.

 

We have reasons to feel reasonably confident about beginning this journey. We have already completed several long-distance walks, experienced the daily routines of carrying our belongings, learned to manage our food and equipment, and discovered that we generally enjoy spending our days moving through unfamiliar landscapes. We know something about fatigue, wet tents, uncomfortable nights and the frustrations that arise when plans do not unfold as expected.  Our previous experiences also suggest that we are capable of walking considerable distances over successive days. We understand that the first week can be difficult, that physical endurance develops gradually, and that the most important adjustments are sometimes psychological rather than physical.

 

Nevertheless, none of these experiences establishes that we can walk across Canada.  The difference in scale is enormous. The Camino Frances and Bruce Trail were both in the order of 800 km in length – the Trans Canada Trail is 24,000 km – which is no small difference.

 

A journey lasting several weeks can often be planned around a relatively predictable period of time. Walking across an entire country will require us to think in terms of seasons and years, not days and months. Weather conditions, trail closures, financial realities, equipment failures, personal circumstances and countless other factors may affect our progress. We can research many of these possibilities and prepare for some of them, but we cannot reasonably expect to anticipate everything that might happen.

 

Even the question of how long the undertaking will take remains uncertain. We have developed estimates based on distances and our previous walking experience, but the figures on our spreadsheets are only estimates. They cannot tell us how we will feel after months of walking, how quickly we will move across unfamiliar terrain or how often circumstances beyond our control will require us to stop. In many respects, the preparations have made us more aware of the uncertainty rather than less. The more we learn about the Trans Canada Trail, the more complicated the undertaking becomes. As we have come to discover - what initially appears as a continuous line across a map is actually a network of local pathways, roads, former railway corridors, water routes and changing trail conditions. Reaching the other side of the country will require considerably more than simply putting one foot in front of the other and following a single route. 

 

Regardless, we nonetheless believe we have the experience to begin. We hope we have the resources and determination to continue. I have the drive and expectation that we will complete this undertaking - but none of these things equates to the certainty that we will finish.

 

Uncertainty, the Unexpected, and the Possibility of Not Finishing

 

There is another reality that is easy to overlook when discussing ambitious journeys: sometimes they end for reasons that have very little to do with determination, preparation or experience.

Every day on a trail carries some degree of risk. A misplaced foot, an unexpected fall, an accident along a roadway, an illness or any number of ordinary misfortunes can bring an undertaking to an end. We have walked enough to recognize that experience does not make anyone immune to injury, nor does careful planning eliminate the possibility that circumstances will force us to stop.

 

Indeed, it would be rather foolish to imagine otherwise.

 

Long-distance walking requires a willingness to accept uncertainty while making reasonable efforts to manage it. We can investigate the route, prepare our equipment, assess weather conditions, carry appropriate supplies and make decisions intended to reduce unnecessary risks. We can also acknowledge that there will be occasions when the most sensible decision is to stop, turn around or change our plans.

 

I, for one, do not believe that there is a contradiction between intending to finish and recognizing that finishing may not always be possible. I think this is important to recognize - as we do not want the desire to complete the Trans Canada Trail to become an obligation so absolute that we lose the ability to acknowledge that continuing would be unsafe or unreasonable. Equally, we do not want the possibility of failure to become a reason for never attempting something we believe is worthwhile.  The fact that a journey might end unexpectedly does not diminish the intention with which it begins.

 

Beginning Without Knowing the Ending

 

Perhaps one of the difficulties with planning a journey of this scale is that we are trying to imagine an ending that is still several years and tens of thousands of kilometres away. We can picture reaching the Pacific Ocean (easily since we have lived beside it for years). We can imagine what it might feel like to look back across Canada after having walked from Newfoundland to British Columbia. We can even imagine continuing northward toward the Arctic Ocean, although our understanding of what that part of the journey will involve remains largely theoretical.  But imagining those moments is not the same as knowing we will experience them.

 

At present, there are still maps to study, equipment to test, arrangements to make and a considerable amount of uncertainty surrounding the practical realities of the undertaking. We have plans, expectations and estimates, but no experience of what it will actually mean to spend years attempting to cross either Canada or a continent on foot.

 

Perhaps that is as it should be. One of the things that attracts us to long-distance walking is that the experience cannot (and perhaps should not) be fully understood in advance. No matter how carefully we investigate a route, there are always landscapes we have not seen, people we have not met, conditions we have not anticipated and lessons we have not yet learned. If we already knew precisely what would happen, much of the reason for undertaking the journey would disappear.

 

Looking at the maps before us, it is possible to imagine a straightforward account of our future adventure. We will leave Cape Spear, cross the Atlantic provinces, continue through Quebec and Ontario, traverse the Prairies, cross the mountains and eventually arrive beside the Pacific. With sufficient planning, determination and a little luck, perhaps the journey will unfold something like that.  But I suspect the actual journey will be considerably more complicated and involve a great deal of the unexpected.

 

If and when we eventually reach the other side of Canada, it may be tempting to look backward and imagine that the achievement was inevitable from the moment we first began planning. We will have a completed route, a collection of a few photographs, journals filled with bird and nature observations and perhaps an account of the difficulties we encountered along the way. From that perspective, the journey may appear to have been moving toward its successful conclusion all along.

 

Here, at the beginning, nothing about that conclusion is assured. Today what we have is an idea that has become a (now widely known) intention, experience that gives us some confidence, preparations that we hope are adequate, and a willingness to begin something whose outcome we cannot predict.

 

Was walking across Canada always our goal? No. But it has become one.

 

Do we know that we can successfully complete the Trans Canada Trail? No. We know only that we intend to try, and that we will make every reasonable effort to finish what we have begun.

 

See you on the trail!

Follow the journey at: www.comewalkwithus.online