Training for the Trans Canada Trail in the North

 The Long Way Back to the Long Trail

 

“....we a band of merry men hope to accomplish stories seldom told...”

Roo Panes, Thoughts for Absent Friends

As a new year is now well underway - indeed, it is already early March, and so, once again, our attention is turning back to the Trans Canada Trail and back to the north.
 
The maps are back on the table. The gear is being checked, weighed, considered and then reconsidered. The conversations have shifted from if to back to how and when. After a year shaped by wildfires, detours, and recalibration, we are preparing to step back onto the Trans Canada Trail with a renewed sense of purpose -and a clear understanding of what this next year will demand.

 
Our goal this year for the #Hike4Birds is big.  Returning to the TCT we intend to begin at Fort Saskatchewan, the crossroads on the Trans Canada Trail in Alberta.  From there we walk north to Dawson Creek in northern British Columbia – Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway.  At this point, we will continue north a “trail” that follows the Alaska Highway corridor north to Whitehorse, Yukon.  

This route is along some the most remote and demanding terrain we have yet endured. It is a region defined less by towns than by distance, hard topography, exposure to the weather, and a mountain of logistics. It is an ambitious stretch, and we know better than to underestimate it.
 

Northern Conditions

 
Spring in northern Alberta and British Columbia is rarely gentle. We expect long days of lingering snowpack, freeze-thaw cycles that turn what few trails there are into mud and ice by turns, swollen rivers, and shoulder-season uncertainty. There will be road walking, wilderness access paths, and water routes to find our own way along.  Some of these are stretches where the trail exists more in theory than on the ground. Resupply points are few, cell coverage is unreliable, and weather forecasts are more suggestion than promises.

 
Beyond Dawson Creek, the challenges deepen. The Alaska Highway is both a lifeline and a test: long distances between services, unpredictable spring storms, cold nights, and the mental strain of exposure and repetition. Wildlife encounters are likely, insects are inevitable, and conditions are changeable by the hour. This is not terrain that rewards bravado. It rewards patience, humility, and preparedness.
 
And so, before we turn north, we must first get ready. After a year of interruptions and waiting – often spent sitting at a desk working – we need to rebuild or bodies and minds for what lies ahead.  While we don’t know yet, we both suspect that the Canadian north will not give us much room for “easing in”. 
 

Choosing the Long Way to Readiness

  
As such, at the last minute – as is our odd way – we have decided that heading north unprepared that instead we will set out on a series of trails that will give us the chance to get back to where we need to be to return to the Trans Canada Trail.
 
The decision is to voyage (an adventure in its own right) to the United Kingdom and walk a series of their national trails. Hiking in rapid succession - Wainwright’s Coast to Coast, the Pennine Way, the West Highland Way, and the Great Glen Way. If time, weather, and energy allow, we hope to add Hadrian’s Wall as well.  We have 44 days to do this before returning to Canada.

 
This is not a vacation. It is training in motion. Walking in the UK gives us a chance to re-enter long-distance mode without the logistical extremes of the Canadian north.  The long distances and required daily efforts will allow us to get in shape, relearn pacing,  and rebuild our trail instincts. They will, we hope, remind our bodies and minds what it means and what is required to walk day after day. 
 
We will need to be at our best this year, hiking the Trans Canada Trail to the north and toward the Arctic.  Our best estimates suggest that there are 2291 km of trail at minimum between Fort Saskatchewan and Whitehorse that will take us anywhere from 100-150 days to hike.  A tall order for anyone.
 

Readiness Is Not a Moment

 
As we shoulder packs and step onto these preparatory trails, we are keenly aware that readiness is not a switch that flips. It is something built gradually, through repetition, discomfort, and trust earned kilometer by kilometer and day by day on the trail.

By the time we return to Canada, we expect to be tired, but hopefully in better condition.  When we return, we will be stepping directly back into our #Hike4Birds heading north. 
 
The Arctic is still far away, but the path toward it has begun - once more, deliberately, and on foot.  There are no guarantees in the months ahead. There never have been
 
For now, we walk to prepare.

Then, we come home and return to the Trans Canada Trail and make our way to the Arctic
 
See you on the trail!