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Whether you are looking for a place to hike, cycle, paddle, ride, cross-country ski or snowmobile, you can find an experience that resonates with you. As the longest recreational trail in the world, The Great Trail offers a wide range of activities through a variety of landscapes – urban, rural and wilderness, along greenways, waterways and roadways.
True to its name, The Great Trail embodies the vastness of our terrain and the diversity of our people. |
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The great Trail
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It is our hope to help promote this Canadian jewel. Family and friends have shown an interest in joining us for some section walks, which we will share on our blog. Also, we will endeavor to meet people along the walk and learn more about our country and its history.
We started the Great Walk in June 2018. We began from St John's NFLD, crossing more than 900km. Continuing west we crossed all of the Maritimes. We plan to walk for as long as the weather permits and break for the winter months. In 2019, we will resume our trek in the Maritimes, continuing west across Quebec and Ontario. We hope to complete the lower crossing of The Great Trail, of approximately 12,000/13,000km, in three years - finishing in Victoria, BC.
First and foremost, the links above to 'The Great Trail' is key for any travelers on the trail. The website and in particular, the smart phone app will be of great benefit to any long distance hiker as more information is shared and uploaded. We will be doing our part and adding information, comments, photos onto The Great Trail App.
We started the Great Walk in June 2018. We began from St John's NFLD, crossing more than 900km. Continuing west we crossed all of the Maritimes. We plan to walk for as long as the weather permits and break for the winter months. In 2019, we will resume our trek in the Maritimes, continuing west across Quebec and Ontario. We hope to complete the lower crossing of The Great Trail, of approximately 12,000/13,000km, in three years - finishing in Victoria, BC.
First and foremost, the links above to 'The Great Trail' is key for any travelers on the trail. The website and in particular, the smart phone app will be of great benefit to any long distance hiker as more information is shared and uploaded. We will be doing our part and adding information, comments, photos onto The Great Trail App.
logbooks - Legend & Description
OUR LOGBOOK - We are sharing our detailed planning information.
When we plan long distance walks, we research and take a deep dive to understand where we will find supplies and services. Along The Great Trail, we have gathered this type of information using Google Maps, the Great Trail map and various provincial books (most were published 8-10 years ago). This information is considered moderately accurate. We will update our logbooks as we walk along the trail - the Maritime Provinces have been updated as of November 2018.
When we plan long distance walks, we research and take a deep dive to understand where we will find supplies and services. Along The Great Trail, we have gathered this type of information using Google Maps, the Great Trail map and various provincial books (most were published 8-10 years ago). This information is considered moderately accurate. We will update our logbooks as we walk along the trail - the Maritime Provinces have been updated as of November 2018.
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Updated Maritime Provinces
We have built our logbooks by province. In these logbooks, we have calculated; distances (both cumulative and between services), distance off-trail (if applicable) for any services, types of terrain expected, communities and services, phone numbers for campgrounds, addresses and water access. |
Example of Logbook for the Province of Quebec
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We use this information to plan our caches, understand when we need to carry more water, and where we can expect to rest/camp and/or shower. There are some alternate sections where the trail may be too rugged for our 'wheelie'. We have opted to use secondary roads in these areas. This may be useful for cyclists and others who want to stay away from very rugged trails. For significant water trail sections, we've chosen some roadway alternatives. The Index (right) is important to decipher the detailed information in our logbook. We hope that our research will be helpful for anyone planning to undertake significant sections of The Great Trail. |
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The Provincial Logbooks
PDF Files |
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The Province of Newfoundland - (post trail updated November 2018)
approximately 900 km of moderate multi-use trail on the T'Railway Provincial Park. |
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The Province of Nove Scotia - (post trail updated November 2018) approximately 715 km of mixed of roadways and moderate trails with a waterway section.
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The Province of Prince Edward Island (post trail updated November 2018) (Both; Borden-Wood Island & Tignish-Elmira Variants) approximately 450 km of well groomed paths on the Confederation Trail
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The Province of New Brunswick (post-trail updated November 2018)
approximately 922 km of mixed trails and roadways with a waterway |
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The Province of Québec (post-trail information updated July 2019)
approximately 1418 km |
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The Province of Ontario (post-trail information updated October 2019)
approximately 4172 km |
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The pre-trail information for the Prairies and BC is now available - the data will be ground verified during our crossing (spring/summer/fall 2020)
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The Province of Manitoba (pre-trail information created December 2019)
approximately 1330 km |
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The Province of Saskatchewan (pre-trail information created December 2019)
approximately 1380 km |
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The Province of Alberta (pre-trail information created December 2019)
approximately 1215 km |
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The Province of British Columbia (pre-trail information created December 2019)
approximately 1710 km |
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The GPX Files are available from The Great Trail App - in the app, simply select the measuring tool (the ruler icon) then choose the 'export highlighted trail' option. A GPX will be available for download. We have not used these GPX Files, we found that the iPhone App using the GPS location is more than sufficient for our journey.