Go For It! : Exploration and New Perspectives

 “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door.

You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet,

there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

J.R.R. Tolkien

 

Being the “First”

Many years ago now, just after we had finished our plans to hike the Great Trail and just before our house in Simcoe Ontario sold the intrepid and inspiring Dana Meise completed his hike along the Trans Canada Trail from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Arctic in 2018.  His achievement marked the first time anyone had completed the national trail from coast to coast to coast.  While being the first to complete the TCT was never on our radar, the fact also remains that this achievement had already been completed even before we stepped outside our door or set foot on the path.

 

 

Around the same time another intrepid individual – Sarah Jackson – completed her Pacific to Atlantic trek making her the first woman to undertake the Trans Canada Trail from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

 

 

Amid all of this, in 2019, both Dianne Whelan and Mel Vogel (soon to be joined by Malo) were well into their own ventures on the Great Trail.  And so for us, the idea of being the first, or the fastest, or this… or that was more than a little of beside the point.  It was clear, even before we set out, that generally the national trail had been done.

 

 

Over the past four years I have come to see that this obsession with being the first person to do something too often also translates in society into a sense that only the first individual can be the one whose achievement is acknowledged.  

 

 

As a scientist, however – trained in the notion that repeated experiments give way to increased perspective and new results – this focus on “being the first” is odd and blinding to the benefits of repeating an undertaking and garnering new perspectives.  More so given that future experiments do nothing to remove from the achievements and discoveries of those that came before hand.  They just take it in new directions.

 

 

And so, while we were not the first to complete the 14,000 km stretch of the Trans Canada Trail from the Atlantic to the Pacific the #Hike4Birds can nonetheless be seen as a Canadian adventure that gives way to new perspectives and which perhaps expands upon  – but which absolutely does not remove from - the achievements of those who came beforehand.

 

We have sought to carve our own niche and offer our own contributions rather than striving to supplant the adventures and experiences of others.

"Not the First”

As already noted, when we set out from Cape Spear Newfoundland in 2019, more than 555 days and 14,000 km ago we had no illusion that we were the first. Indeed, this simple fact has been regularly reiterated by almost every outdoors company that we hoped to get support or sponsorship from over the last four years.

 

 

For the hundreds of requests and interviews we have done we have received an equal number of rejection letters asking questions such as :

 

You are not the first so what is the point?

You don’t have the athletic skills so what is the point?

You don’t have the right look so what is the point?

You are hiking to educate people and just show off nature in Canada?  What is the point? 

You are aware that science and education are boring?  So what is the point?

 

The sole exception to this perspective being Briden Solutions of Calgary Alberta who have been wonderful to us helping with food and dehydrated supplies in their efforts to promote exploration, ensure we were prepared and to help others in the community.  To them our heartfelt thanks goes out to you!

Adventure of a Lifetime

So if one isn’t the first, then what is the point of hiking across Canada?  

 

 

Well, we wanted the journey.  We wanted the chance to share Canada with Canadians from a perspective most today will never see or have the chance to enjoy.  Admittedly we also wanted to learn more about ourselves, change the direction of our desk bound lives, and to break free of the cycle of fear that the news media and internet seem to constantly promote.  And – to be honest – we wanted to go on the adventure of a lifetime.

 

And so that is what we did.  For four years we took everything we have and poured it into this single endeavour.  Into it when our home, our jobs, our careers and all of our energy.  The point was to push our own boundaries, to see the world differently, and to collect experiences rather than things.  We also wanted to understand Canada more than we thought was possible through books, the TV, or the internet. 

The Trek is Reason Enough 

As two of the few who have completed the Trans Canada Trail unsupported on foot from the Atlantic to the Pacific we can definitely tell you that despite not being the first or the fastest – the trek itself is enough of a reason to step out the door.

 

The natural wonders across Canada, the stunning diversity of cultures we have experienced, and the amazing people we have met are all reason enough of a reason to set out.

 

And going on the adventure of a lifetime is enough of a reason to set out. 

 

 

There is so much of this world that is absolutely unknown and will only be found, embraced, and understood by those willing to step into the unknown - or that which we presume to know - and stumble upon it and reconsider it. 

 

The message being : Never let anyone else tell you that because you are not the first that your dreams have no value – no one knows what will come of stepping out the door and following your own path. Remember that while a lot of the world has already been mapped and quantified there is still so much more to be discovered and understood.  The world today needs explorers and new perspectives now more than ever. 

 

Trekking across Canada, as with all hikes, is about the journey not the destination because there is always room for exploration, improved understandings, and new perspectives – of ourselves and the world around us.

 

“I don’t care if no one else believes, cause I still got a lot of fight left in me”

Rachel Platten, Fight Song

 

Great Trail Firsts

With all of that said, let us circle back to the topic at hand of “firsts” on the Trans Canada Trail…

 

Dana Meise was the absolute first to hike all of the TCT from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Arctic – in his adventure he lit a fire and guided all that followed with his inspiring trek.

 

During this time, Sarah Jackson became the first woman to venture from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

 

In the years that have followed others including the talented Dianne Whelan would walk, cycle, and paddle her own route while making a movie (500 Days in the Wild) from ocean to ocean to ocean. 

 

Recently (only a couple of days before our own arrival in fact) the intrepid Mel Vogel along with Malo became the first woman to hike across the nation to all three oceans along the Great Trail.

 

 

Each, as we have been, was also a Royal Canadian Geographical Society expedition at various times during their adventure.  And yet, while we have all essentially trod the same pathway, the shape of our own adventures, the moment of our experiences and uniqueness of our perspectives meant that we each undertook individual treks providing new insights into the Canadian Experience, the times in which we live, and the national trail itself.

 

This is why it is so exciting to read Dana Meise’s facebook posts, to hear about Mel Vogel’s experiences, to watch clips from Dianne Whelan’s forthcoming movie, and to see Instagram posts from the amazing Bonnie Thornbury – as each of these alongside our comprehensive photography and blog provide wider and wider insight into the experiences of those communities across Canada that we have all visited and seen from our own perspective.

Come Walk With Us : Sharing Canada with Canadians

All of which gives way to the question, in the past 4 years what niche does Come Walk With Us’ trek have amid all of these inspiring people?

 

First, we are the first duo to hike on foot unsupported from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

 

Second, we are the first to release a comprehensive daily blog and to document the entire Trans Canada Trail from the Atlantic to Pacific providing a guide and map of the national trail for others to follow in the future.

 

Third, Sonya Richmond is the first to bird the nation along the TCT and share (to date) more than 400 species with Canadians striving to learn about Canada and its wildlife. 

 

 

Fourth, Sean Morton is the first to comprehensively photograph and document the TCT and the modern Canadian experience along the trail from the Atlantic to the Pacific – in the process taking more than 750,000 pictures and having shared more than 100,000 of them.  En route his photographs of Canada have won awards, been featured in Canadian Geographic, Ontario Nature, Broadview magazine, and Alberta Nature as well as over one hundred newspaper articles. 

 

 

Fifth, we are the first to hike the national pathway for a cause, namely striving to encourage Canadians to engage in Citizen Science and using the TCT to campaign for Bird Conservation, the protection of Important Bird Areas, and the essential nature for the Boreal forest.

 

Finally, we are the first to hike across the nation with the intention of Sharing Canada with Canadians towards promoting youth engagement in communities across the nation by showing them the natural beauty, engineering marvels, and ingenuity of peoples across Canada.  In the process we have shared over 800 blogs, over 100,000 pictures, written over a dozen articles, and given hundreds of presentations to nature groups, hiking clubs and school classrooms.

 

All in all, not a bad list of accomplishments for two novice hikers striving to find birds and spend time in nature.   We only hope that each of you have found enjoyment in this trek as well.

 

“…the best I can do does not do the place much justice in the way of beauty…”

Tom Thomson, 1914

 

 

Go for It!

At the end of the day what does all of this add up to?  Perhaps the best piece of advice we can give anyone now is : To those who dream of undertaking an adventure – whether big or small – go for it! Find a way to make it work.  Challenge your own fears, overcome your limitations, and go beyond your comfort zone.  Adapt to challenges en route and know that people from coast to coast to coast are cheering you on.  

 

 

Continued exploration is necessary, there is a value in improved understandings and a need for new perspectives – and so in providing these we hope we have inspired each of you towards setting out on your own exploration of Canada and the world in whatever form it might take.  Canada is an amazing country and filled with more natural grandeur and in person kindness than most realize or have the opportunity to see first hand.  

 

“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by

 the things you didn’t do

 than by the ones you did do.”

 Mark Twain

 

Wherever you are right now you are travelling down a road, the road of life. We hope you’ll get to explore new places and take some detours as your travel. But above all you must follow your path. 

 

 

“The Road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, and I must follow, if I can”

J.R.R. Tolkien