Long and Crooked Path : Struggling to Return to the TCT
“… every time a problem ends
Another one begins ...”
Another one begins ...”
For all you dedicated readers who have faithfully
journeyed from the Atlantic to the Pacific with us along the Trans Canada Trail this far, experiencing
Canada vicariously through our adventures and misadventures, we realize this
blog is now long overdue. However life,
like trails are not a straight line connecting you from beginning to end or
from where you begin to your goal – it is a long and crooked path.
In recent weeks not a single day has gone by when we
haven't been asked the questions: Are
you still heading north this year? When are you planning to leave? Trust us when we say, in recent weeks not a
single day has gone by when we haven't been trying to answer those questions
for ourselves. There are a number of
factors that have combined to make the next steps of our journey on the Trans
Canada Trail uncertain.
“Best laid plans of mice and men go often askew”
Robert Burns
Originally, we had planned to head to Edmonton sometime
between early April and mid May to begin our trek north from Fort Saskatchewan,
AB to Tuktoyaktuak, NT. According to our calculations, mid-May was the absolute
latest we could leave and still have a chance of making it up to Tuktoyaktuk,
NT by late September, when winter and extreme temperatures frequently makes their
first appearance. Obviously, since we are
now in the second week of June, that deadline has passed, meaning our hike
north this season has already been delayed.
For Canadian readers, the main reason our departure for
the Arctic was delayed is likely obvious.
Simply put, Alberta is undergoing an "unprecedented" wildfire
season. At the beginning of May, news
channels across the country began reporting that over 170 forest fires were
burning across the province, 86 of which were out of control. Within days, more than 29,000 people had been
evacuated from their homes, and states of emergency had been declared in over
30 communities by local, band council, and provincial authorities. By May 9th, 416 wildfires were burning, affecting
an area of 410,441 ha, which is nearly double the 5-year average for this time
of year. While forest fires have been a
factor in our cross-Canada hike for the past two years, this situation is a
little different.
First, heading north, the Trans Canada Trail passes
through very few communities, offering scant opportunities for us to resupply
and recharge, even under the very best of conditions. Unfortunately, many of the communities we
will visit were affected by the fires in May, including some areas around
Edmonton, Fort Saskatchewan, Athabasca, Smith, Slave Lake, and Peace
River. As I write this, a few of these
fires are still burning, including several between Smith and Slave Lake
(currently being held), a very large one between Grouard Mission and Peace
River (out of control), and another near Cleardale (out of control). In BC the situation is little better, with
several fires burning between Fort St. John and Fort Nelson, as well as the
Donnie Creek wildfire, which is out of control, and is currently the second
largest fire on record for the province of BC.
Wildfire situations are constantly changing and evolving, but as many
communities across the country know all too well, the aftermath of these fires
remains long after the flames have been extinguished. This is partially where our problem lies.
During the past two years on the Trans Canada Trail,
we've visited communities that were devastated by forest fires and floods,
sometimes 1-2 years before we got there.
In many of the smaller communities, the motels were still filled with
the 'houseless' awaiting disaster relief, decisions on insurance settlements,
or completion of rebuilding projects.
Some towns still had no clean running water. In others, businesses had not yet reopened even
a year after the natural disaster. In these
situations infrastructure was already stretched to capacity. Not only do we believe it is irresponsible to
place an extra and unnecessary burden on communities that are still in
recovery, or are supporting nearby towns that have been devastated, but the
financial cost of doing so is prohibitive for us at this stage in our journey. In our experience, motel rooms can cost 2-3
times what they normally would, food also comes at premium prices, and at times
it is necessary to pay for drinking water.
Understandably, hiking trails are not a priority when rebuilding
devastated areas, and in the wake of a disaster it is often very difficult to
determine if local trails are even passable or not. Most of our trek north is on the highway, but
a few small sections are not. If this
route becomes cut off, or has been destroyed, in many areas there simply is no
viable alternative for us to take.
CBC Image, Alberta Wildfires
The second consideration we currently face is that we
are still only at the start of the fire season.
Forest fires have always been a natural part of the cycle of
regeneration in the Boreal forest ecosystem.
However, as the climate in northern Canada becomes hotter and drier, and
human activities like mining and forestry tip the landscape into imbalance, the
fires are becoming larger, more frequent, and the 'fire season' seems to be
starting earlier each year. In response,
many regions are restricting or prohibiting backcountry travel and camping, in
an effort to both reduce the likelihood of new fires being sparked, and to
reduce the need for costly and potentially dangerous rescues. While we never light campfires unless we are
in designated campgrounds where they are permitted, we cannot expect strangers
to simply trust us on this, especially when their lives and livelihoods are
under threat. Furthermore, with no
public transit available, in the event that we needed to evacuate, we would
have no choice but to rely on others for help at time when assistance would be
needed far more by others.
Finally, as I alluded to at the beginning of this
post, it is now too late in the season for us to reasonably expect to make it
all the way north to the Arctic Ocean on foot before the snow begins to
fly. As far as we can tell, our
remaining options are to walk as far as Dawson Creek, BC this season and take a
bus back, or to push on (possibly) to Whitehorse, YT, and fly back, picking up
where we leave off next summer. At the
moment, we are struggling to find ways to finance either of these options,
while simultaneously wrestling with the question of whether it is even smart to
head up north on foot during a year when the probability of encountering heavy
smoke or an active forest fire is twice what is considered normal, and many of
the landscapes and communities we visit may still be devastated.
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During the past four years many individuals have
supported our trek through donations, and we have received the equivalent of
$3,500 per year in expedition funding.
We are humbled and grateful for all the support, without which we
wouldn't have gotten this far. However,
our trek is now two years beyond what we budgeted for. To keep moving forward through the pandemic
we swallowed considerable unforeseen costs, and in the past two years the price
of airfare, bus tickets, rail travel, and motel stays in Canada have soared
exponentially to unreasonable levels. It
is now cheaper to fly to Europe than it is to take a bus from Toronto to
northern Ontario.
Will we be able to head north this year? Will we have to postpone our journey to the
Arctic until next spring? What other adventures can we share in the meantime?
At the moment, our next steps on the Trans Canada Trail remain uncertain, but
one thing is for sure - the dream and the possibility of walking to the Arctic
Ocean are still alive and well. As soon
as we discover the best way forward for us, you all will be the first to
know.
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See you on the trail (hopefully soon)!
“If something burns your soul with
purpose and desire,
it’s your duty to be reduced to
ashes by it.
Any other form of existence will
be yet another dull book in the library of life.”
Charles Bukowski
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