What Did We Wish People Understood About Walking Across Canada for a Cause?

When Sharing Our Journey Became Another Part of the Work

 
Looking back on years of walking across Canada, one of the things we occasionally wish people had better understood was just how much effort went into documenting and sharing our journey. While the physical demands of walking almost 18,000 kilometres were considerable, maintaining our #Hike4Birds project alongside the expedition required an entirely different commitment of time and energy.

 
Each day involved considerably more than putting on our backpacks and following the Trans Canada Trail. There were routes to research, resupply arrangements to figure out, equipment to maintain, and the ordinary necessities of finding food, water, and somewhere to camp. On top of these responsibilities, we spent most of our evenings writing journals, editing photographs, preparing articles, answering correspondence, and working on presentations for classrooms and nature organizations.  We enjoyed much of this work. Indeed, sharing our enthusiasm for Canada's landscapes, birds, wildlife, and communities was one of the reasons we undertook the expedition in the first place. Nevertheless, there were occasions when maintaining our published material became an exhausting addition to an already demanding day.

 
What we had not anticipated was how readily sharing a journey could create expectations among those following it.

Now, to be clear at the outset – the vast majority of readers were encouraging, curious, and generous in their support. However, others appeared to regard our journals as a form of entertainment that should arrive regularly, present only rare birds, particular kinds of experiences, or reflect their own understanding of what the Trans Canada Trail and Canada ought to be. When we described difficult conditions, disappointing experiences, or problems with the route, we sometimes received criticism for presenting aspects of Canada or the trail in ways that others found unappealing.

 
There were also occasions when we were asked to explain decisions that, from our perspective, were simply ordinary parts of managing a long-distance expedition. Why had we stopped somewhere? Why had we changed our plans? Why had we not continued walking? Why had an update been delayed? Why weren’t our pictures better?  Why didn’t we mention some place in town that someone went to school in 50 years ago, etc.? Individually, these questions were often understandable, but responding to them repeatedly could become overwhelming, particularly when we were already trying to manage the practical demands of the journey itself.

 
Another source of frustration arose from missed professional opportunities associated with documenting the national pathway. We occasionally proposed articles or projects based on our experiences, only to discover that similar work had subsequently been assigned to others. In some cases, those assigned to writing the article or undertaking the projects later approached us for information or advice about the very subjects we had originally proposed. While we understand that organizations are free to choose whom they wished to work with, the experience of drafting a proposal only to have the idea handed on to someone else can nevertheless be disappointing, particularly given the years we had devoted to exploring and documenting the route.

 
None of this meant that we expected recognition simply because we had chosen to walk across Canada. Nor did sharing our experiences entitle us to dictate how others described or represented the national trail. We were simply surprised by some of the demands and expectations that developed around what had begun as our own expedition.  Perhaps the most unexpected aspect was discovering that publishing an account of a journey while it was still underway could leave us feeling responsible to people who were following it. We had invited readers to share in our discoveries, but we had never intended that invitation to become an obligation to provide constant updates, justify our decisions, or describe Canada according to someone else's expectations.

There is an important difference between welcoming people into an experience through writing and photography and allowing their expectations to determine how that experience is lived.

 
Ultimately, we were two people walking across Canada because we wanted to explore its natural history, landscapes, and communities. We hoped that sharing our observations would encourage others to discover more about the country and the natural world around them. For much of our journey, it did exactly that, and we remain grateful to the many people who followed and supported #Hike4Birds.
 
What we hadn't anticipated was how much work would eventually be involved in maintaining that invitation, or how easily the expectations surrounding it could begin to compete with the experience itself.
 
See you on the Trail!