Mile zero, day one, May 21st, 2013. I have too much weight for the canoe cart. I had reinforced the aluminum axle but it still wasn’t strong enough. To lighten the load on the axle I have a pack on my back and packs on the bike. I also know the weight is too much for me to ride or even to push the bike up the steep hills. I don’t have solutions at this point but I’ve been long enough preparing and it’s time to get rolling. Much to learn and not at all sure that everything I’ve put together is going to work as planned. I did have a goal though – to make it to Inuvik, a hundred miles from the Arctic Ocean near the mouth of the Mackenzie River. That was achieved on September 20th, 2014. Getting across to Canada’s east coast took much longer. I reached the Atlantic Ocean on August 16th, 2019 at Shediac, New Brunswick. After the Covid delay, I reached Newfoundland, completing the ten provinces, in 2022. That was not the end of my journey. I am pursuing a retirement lifestyle I enjoy and intend to continue doing this as long as I am able. In May, 2023 I paddled west from Saguenay, Quebec to the Ottawa River. From Ottawa, I used the Rideau and Trent Severn canal systems to return to Lake Huron. That season ended with the canoe stored in Jasper, Alberta. VIA rail was used to get it there. I intended to paddle the Athabasca River to Fort Chipewyan in 2024 but a medical issue changed that plan. That has been resolved and I will resume paddling in 2025. Presently I’m favouring following the North Saskatchewan River to Lake Winnipeg and then the Winnipeg River. All are waterways I haven’t paddled.
Nomader, you say you’ve sold your house and you’ve rid yourself of all your homely possessions. Where will you live?
… it’s no matter?
But Nomader you have more than two hundred pounds to lug around and no vehicle.
… it’s no matter.
And Nomader you pretty much eat the same thing every day and are never certain where you’ll sleep.
… it’s no matter.
Well, Nomader what is it that drives you? What’s in a head that thinks that’s a desirable way to live?
… perhaps some would say there’s… no, matter!
Welcome to my travel journal covering my eight years of exploring Canada. WordPress indicates it has more than 60,000 words and almost 1000 pictures. Welcome aboard! Take my paddle and begin your vicarious journey north to the Arctic and east to the Atlantic. Or explore the menu and read it in any order.
The menu heading, Nomader Where, has a link to my personal tracker. On that page, I also update where I am at and what the current plan is. The menu heading Map, has a colour-coded map of my journey so far. That map is done using Google Maps and Google provides the distance in kilometres for each line digitized. The table below summarizes my annual self-powered travels in Canada for the eight years I’ve traveled since 2013. A total of 25,479 km.
