My route across Canada. I’ll be on a good many of the rivers that helped define this vast and variable land.

For centuries, if not millennia, sections of this route were well known and well travelled by First Nations peoples who thrived in this immense landscape. These same peoples guided all of Canada’s early explorers and cartographers over mountains, along rivers, and across seemingly endless prairie.

Literally and figuratively, that early partnership among equals is what put Canada on the map.

One of my goals is deceptively simple: I’m looking to gain a better understanding of the relationship that early Canadians had with the rivers, lakes, and forests they lived and worked among. The route, although changed in most places, is very much the same if one chooses to travel on foot and by canoe.

It has been said to walk a mile in another’s shoes is the best way to gain a bit perspective outside of your own.  While walking over 4300 miles in the footsteps of our forebears, I’m hoping that this trek will enable a more profound insight into the experiences and lives of all those who have come before. All those whose lives and varied contributions have shaped this amazing country and my home, Canada.