There’s a lot going ON THIS MONTH!
Registration Open for the Great Canadian Hike
Manitobans looking for a reason to get out on the Trans Canada Trail this fall have one: the Great Canadian Hike runs the full month of September.
The nationwide challenge asks participants to hike, bike, paddle or roll and log their kilometers toward a collective goal of 100,000 km across the country. Registration is free, and people can join solo or start a team with friends, family or colleagues. Kilometer tracking opens September 1.
Eastman offers no shortage of places to put those kilometers in. The Crow Wing Trail is the province’s longest Trans Canada Trail section, running roughly 190 kilometers from St. Norbert on Winnipeg’s south edge and through St. Adolphe, Niverville, Otterburne, St. Pierre-Jolys, St. Malo and Senkiw on its way to the U.S. border. It follows the route of 19th-century Métis traders, and it’s broken into shorter sections for anyone not planning a thru-hike.
Up in the Shield country, the North Whiteshell Trail runs from the dam at Seven Sisters Falls to Caddy Lake, linking lakes and campsites along the way. The South Whiteshell Trail, the Pinawa Trail and the Centennial Trail toward Grand Beach round out the region’s options.
Alongside the kilometer goal, organizers are aiming to raise $100,000 to help maintain the Trail. Registration and donations are both open now.
Reflecting on a year of impact: Trans Canada Trail Releases 2025-2026 Annual Report
Trans Canada Trail invested $12.5 million directly in mission-related work over the past year, according to its newly released annual report covering April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026. That funding supported 770 projects across the country, from infrastructure development and maintenance to signage, capacity building and research.
The Trail network reached 30,000 kilometres during the year, now within reach of more than 82 per cent of the Canadian population, with more than 200 million visits recorded on Trail sections. The organization also engaged over 1,000 partners in stewarding and supporting the Trail, working alongside volunteer groups, nonprofits, municipalities, Indigenous communities and regional partners.
The report highlights donors as well, including longtime monthly donor Peter Rowlands, first-time donor Larry Darkes and his $50,000 gift, and the cast and crew of the Toronto production of Come From Away, the inaugural donors to the organization’s Connected Canada fund.
CEO Mathieu Roy said the Trans Canada Trail exists because generations of Canadians believed in building something that connects people, places and communities across the country.
A Visit to the Kinsol Trestle on The Cowichan Valley Trail
A century-old railway trestle on Vancouver Island has become one of the most striking landmarks on the Trans Canada Trail, standing 44 metres tall and spanning 187 metres across the Koksilah River.
Completed in 1920 as part of the Canadian National Railway route on the island, the Kinsol Trestle saw its last train in 1979 and was abandoned soon after. In the early 2000s, the Cowichan Valley Regional District took on its restoration as the finishing piece of the trail built along the former rail corridor, with the Trans Canada Trail Foundation helping secure roughly $6.5 million. The work wrapped up in 2011 after close to 18 months, with some steel components fabricated in Victoria and trucked in overnight so pieces could arrive one at a time by crane.
Visitors park about a kilometre back — a deliberate choice meant to recreate the feeling of arriving by train — and walk in through the forest. The trestle sits on the Cowichan Valley Trail, open year-round to cyclists, walkers and equestrians, in a region known for paddling, hiking and farm-to-table dining.
Brian Farquhar of CVRD Parks and Trails called the Foundation’s support tremendous, crediting the partnership with advancing the Trail route across the Cowichan region.
Sarah’s Trans Canada Trail: From Soundchecks to Trailheads
A crew member on Sarah McLachlan’s Fumbling Towards Ecstasy 30th Anniversary Tour crossed the country from Victoria to Halifax last fall, and made a point of running a section of the Trans Canada Trail in every province along the way.
Sarah Shandl worked the tour as social media manager and production coordinator. Show days ran from roughly 8 a.m. to 1 a.m., often back to back, followed by overnight drives — a schedule that left little room for sleep or routine. Her days off became the exception: after tracking down a local coffee, she’d pull her running gear out of her suitcase and head out on the Trail alone. It started in Victoria, on the shoreline in a brisk mid-October wind, and became a running joke with the crew.
Somewhere between the Saskatchewan River and a cold, drizzly run along the Thunder Bay shoreline, Shandl writes, it struck her that the Trail was less a convenient place to exercise than a thread tying the country together — the same familiar signs waiting whether she was in B.C., the Prairies, Ontario or the Maritimes. She experienced it not in one continuous journey, she says, but in chapters and stolen hours between soundchecks and bus calls. Those solo runs remain among her favourite parts of the tour.
Making a DIFFERENCE
A Life Connected by Trails, Community and Nature
A longtime Winnipeg art teacher has left a gift in her will to Trans Canada Trail, supporting a path she saw as a thread linking Canadians coast to coast to coast.
Deborah Anne Nickel — Deb to those close to her — died in late 2024. She grew up in Montreal and lived in parts of British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario before teaching at St. Mary’s Academy in Winnipeg for more than 30 years.
Walking was part of her daily routine. She hiked the Harte Trail, strolled the Riverwalk at The Forks, and got outdoors on visits to family in Trail, B.C. Her generosity extended well beyond the estate gift: she gave blood more than 50 times, and organized an outdoor happy hour during the pandemic to keep her neighbours connected.
Deb often spoke about making the Trail accessible to people of all abilities, believing everyone should have the chance to experience Canada’s landscapes. Her friend Melody Kasper said Deb chose to support Trans Canada Trail because the organization reflected so much of who she was and what she valued.
How MEC Laval Came Together to Support the Trans Canada Trail During the Great Canadian Hike
A team of 17 employees at MEC Laval logged 2,246 kilometres during last year’s Great Canadian Hike, the 30-day challenge supporting the Trans Canada Trail.
The team came together after inventory specialist Marc-Antoine Aubin heard about the challenge and pitched it to colleagues as a team-building opportunity. Employees headed out on their own to hike, bike and jog, then shared their experiences back at work to keep each other going. One, Étienne, put in more than 900 kilometres on his bike and won a prize for the highest cycling total in a single week. Aubin combined his daily bike commute with weekend hikes in the Laurentians at the peak of fall colours — he grew up in the region and says everyone there has their own spots that feel a little magical.
The team also put up in-store signs to raise awareness among coworkers and customers. The Laval location sits between two main routes to the Laurentians and Lanaudière, both home to Trans Canada Trail sections including the Parc linéaire le P’tit Train du Nord. The store’s involvement builds on MEC’s Trails Giveback Day, which directs a portion of proceeds to Canadian outdoor organizations — Trans Canada Trail among the 2025 beneficiaries.
Trail News
Indigenous Experiences Along the Trans Canada Trail in Newfoundland
Western Newfoundland offers plenty of ways to pair time on the Trans Canada Trail with Mi’kmaw-owned businesses and cultural stops. The Newfoundland and Labrador Indigenous Tourism Association pointed to a handful in the Robinsons to Little Rapids area, most within easy reach of the Newfoundland T’Railway.
In Robinsons, Pirate’s Haven Adventures sits right along the Trail with chalets, glamping units and a long house restaurant and pub, plus guided land tours. Saint George’s is home to the Ktaqmkuk Mi’kmaq Historical Museum and Craft Store, the province’s only Mi’kmaw museum, open July and August.
On the Port au Port Peninsula, Secret Cove Brewing is a Mi’kmaw-owned microbrewery worth a stop after a day outdoors, while the People of the Dawn Indigenous Friendship Centre in Stephenville runs workshops on Mi’kmaw culture, health, food and teachings.
For a different view of the coast, Everoutdoor Adventures in Benoit’s Cove offers guided hikes and zodiac tours on the Bay of Islands, near the East Blow Me Down Trail in the Cabox Geopark. Around Corner Brook, Pollen Nation Farm is a Mi’kmaw-owned honey bee farm and restaurant with tours focused on pollinator health.
Trail users can now cross the Canada-U.S. border entirely on foot or by bike, with the Gordie Howe International Bridge’s multi-use path officially open to pedestrians and cyclists — the first international border crossing to join the Trans Canada Trail network.
The toll-free path runs 2.5 kilometres and is 12 feet wide, handling two-way pedestrian and cyclist traffic. It links Windsor’s Great Lakes Waterfront Trail — already part of the Trans Canada Trail — directly to the Iron Belle Trail and the Great Lakes Way in Detroit. Separate processing facilities at the Canadian and U.S. ports of entry let users complete their official border crossing on the bridge itself, and the number of people allowed on the path at once will be capped during the initial opening days.
The bridge opened to vehicle traffic on July 27, 2026. The path is expected to draw cross-border trail tourism, connecting people to attractions on both sides of the river including Essex County’s wine region, Ojibway National Urban Park, the Detroit RiverWalk and the Joe Louis Greenway.
Nationally, the Trans Canada Trail generates $23.1 billion in annual economic activity and supports 221,000 jobs, with more than 200 million visits to Trail sections last year. Trans Canada Trail CEO Mathieu Roy said the organization is thrilled to welcome the path to its 30,000-kilometre network.
Discover Trans Canada Trails Southernmost Trail Experience in Windsor Essex Pelee Island
The Trans Canada Trail reaches its southernmost point in Windsor Essex, where the network meets the bottom edge of mainland Ontario — thousands of kilometres from its far points in Tuktoyaktuk, Victoria and St. John’s.
The area takes in several Trail sections, from the Chrysler Canada Greenway to the City of Windsor trail network, an off-road corridor running through the city with views of the newly opened Gordie Howe International Bridge, itself now part of the Trail.
Flat terrain makes the region a draw for cyclists, and Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island publishes a cycle tourism map covering waterfront spots — among them the Windsor Sculpture Park, a free outdoor museum with 31 sculptures sitting directly on the Trail. Birdwatching is another regional strength, and paddlers can head out on nearby lakes and waterways.
In the city, the Ojibway Prairie Complex takes in six natural areas, and Adventure Bay Family Water Park sits just off the Trail. History and arts stops include the Tower of Freedom, an Underground Railroad monument linking Windsor and Detroit, the Chimczuk Museum, and Art Windsor Essex. Wineries, coffee shops and farm-to-table restaurants round out a day on the Trail.
Windsor Essex’s cycling routes are designated an Exceptional Experience on the Trans Canada Trail, the result of a partnership between Trans Canada Trail, Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island, the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail and FedDev Ontario.
In the NEWS
B.C. Couple Conquer Mountains, Valleys to Complete 8-Year Cross-Canada Hike
A Langford couple has finished walking the Trans Canada Trail, covering roughly 15,000 kilometres in stages over eight years.
Simon Lanoix and Julie Chatelain reached the Point Zero marker at Victoria’s Clover Point on Aug. 8, joined by friends and family for the last stretch of the 1,200-kilometre B.C. section. The pair set out from St. John’s, N.L., in 2018, inspired by the Trail’s opening the year before. Experienced long-distance hikers who had walked routes of up to 2,000 kilometres abroad, they wanted to get to know Canada the same way — and planned it as a multi-year project from the start, since Chatelain had no interest in camping at -35 C in Alberta.
Canadian hospitality was the constant across every province, they say. After a Newfoundland paper wrote up their trek, a man who recognized them returned with two jars of home-canned lobster — a meal Lanoix counts among the trip’s best. Wildlife delivered its own moments, from mountain caribou and grizzlies with cubs to elk grazing outside their tent in the Kootenays. There were setbacks too: COVID-19 halted the trip for two years, and Chatelain walked 30 kilometres on a dislocated ankle in the Rockies to get help.
Married more than 40 years, the two go by trail names: Lanoix is “Energizer,” Chatelain “Sweep,” for the litter she picks up behind him. They’re already eyeing trails in France, Ireland and the U.K.
Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for Canada’s Newest Binational Cycling Destination
More than 100 cyclists from Canada and the United States rode across the Gordie Howe International Bridge for the first time last week, marking the opening of what organizers are calling Canada’s newest binational cycling destination.
The riders are part of the 2026 Great Waterfront Trail Adventure, which arrived in Windsor-Essex on Aug. 10 for a five-day stay taking in the region, Pelee Island and Michigan. A ribbon-cutting was held at the University of Windsor before the group set out for the bridge and crossed into Michigan. The bridge’s multi-use path is the first signed international crossing on both the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail and the Trans Canada Trail.
Marlaine Koehler of the Waterfront Regeneration Trust said the region’s investment in active transportation goes well beyond the new crossing, noting the group could easily have filled six or seven days of riding there.
Explore More
Ali’s Trans Canada Trail: Reflections on the Water
Trail Profile: Pelee Island Great Lakes Waterfront Trail
Pat’s Trans Canada Trail: The Genest Family’s Cycling Adventure
Find Your Path North: Journey Along Yellowknife’s Trans Canada Trail