View topic - Trans Canada Trail - it's not just for hiking

In canoe or on foot or bicycle, I figure I have another three months of fieldwork left (target completion is October 2012): researching some stretches to gauge river dynamics during low and high water, calculating Global Positioning System coordinates for campsites and portage trails, scouting alternate routes and networking with local outfitters. Usually, it’s solitary work. Having to continually deviate, stop to pace portage trails, map rapids, climb ridges and zigzag down lakes looking for campsite locations would drive most companions crazy. Once this work is done, I will spend several months more drawing and illustrating maps of each trail by hand.

Although there is still work ahead, I can already say that the decision by the Trans Canada Trail planners to opt for a water route over the lakehead was inspired. There are traces of Canada’s past everywhere along the Path of the Paddle. Pictographs contain the teachings of shaman artists. Stone circles speak to gatherings long ago. These ancient water trails can lead today’s paddlers not only to an understanding of our shared history but also to a realization of what these waterways can mean for our shared future.