May 6, 2008 was a date of destiny and adventure Dana Meise will never forget because he is still on the continuing adventure.
That adventure was to cover 1,750 kilometres in the first part of Meise’s planned national hike along the Trans-Canada Trail. He will be the first person to take on the monumental journey and plans to learn as much as he can along the way.
His overall goal is to hike the trail, visit Canada’s three oceans, and take in as much as the country has to offer to the man with the moniker of (and Twitter handle) The Hiking Fool.
“P.E.I could have taken me literally five days, but my goal was to learn, so I stayed in PEI almost a month,” Meise said on his stop in Canmore Sept 25. “It isn’t about ‘look at me go!’ it’s about stopping and learning and experiencing Canada as I go.”
Meise keeps his friends and followers up to date with his website and Twitter account, and plans to compile all of his Canadian exploits into a book once he finishes his journey.
“I don’t think I’m a great writer by any means, but the content in itself has gotten a lot of interest from publishers already who have contacted me. I just sent the word out and it was pretty successful.”
“It’s just the content itself – who else has walked a thousand kilometres in communities on the world’s longest trail? Well, nobody,” said Meise. “It’s a record too and that always sparks peoples’ interest, it’s kind of how Canada was settled in the first place – explorer spirit.”
Meise says he feels fortunate to take on the task because time isn’t a factor for the journey. “It’s rare in the world we get to do that in this day and age.”
Meise started the journey in Cape Spear, Newfoundland, “The same place that Terry Fox dipped his foot in, but I didn’t do that because three-and-a-half foot swells were coming in from Ireland.”
Meise grew up in Saskatchewan and Red Deer, but has spent the majority of his life in Prince George, B.C. and said he hadn’t done much hiking before starting the journey. “As a forest technologist one of the things that sparked it was meeting people from all across Canada, because everyone seems to come out to the West at one point in their youth.”
He said he was fascinated by the different cultures. “Cape Bretoners could all play music, and Newfoundlanders were always funny and the French were so cultured; it was all just so unique.”
“It’s almost like walking through Banff and Canmore, because there are all these little cafés, bakeries and all these different cultures,” Meise added.
“I walked four and half thousand kilometres of just prairie, and as a forest technologist from B.C. you can understand I feel like a fish out of water,” said Meise. “And as much as it was culturally beautiful, I learned how to plant a wheat field, I combined, I swathed canola – I’ve done it all.”
To follow Meise on his journey, visit his website at: www.thegreathike.com, or visit his Twitter feed: @TheHikingFool
