Key West to Halifax - Greatests Moments

We made it! We paddled and hiked for ten months, traversing from Key West Florida to Halifax Nova Scotia.

Read along by clicking on the selections to the right, or scroll on down to read the blog entries from the finish back to the to start.

I'm often asked questions about the trek, and the answers form a nice summary. 

Q. Best Part?

A. Kayaking. We just love the intimacy and physicality of being in nature out on the water.

Q. Scariest moment? 

A. The stormy seas in Sarasota Bay grew beyond the level in which we could do a rescue if we capsized, and worsened while we tried to find a place to bail off of the water. 

Q. Scary animals?

A. We saw alligators, bears and rattlesnakes (and moose, skunks, coyotes and porcupines) but had no serious encounters. The only problems were ticks and mosquitoes. 

Q. Friendly people? 

A. There were lots of friendly people, but Liz Price of the Big Bend paddling trail and the people of Suwannee Florida, Sarasota Florida, St John New Brunswick and Moncton New Brunswick were particularly amazing.

Finish - Sep 29

I haven't seen the Atlantic Ocean since the Florida Keys. Today I see it again. A brilliant blue sky, calm air, and a flat sea. Tranquility. Peace. Calm. 

I stop for a few minutes of quiet solitude. Who can explain the magic serenity that comes from watching the sea? 

Lucy, Craig, and some of their neighbors and co-workers join me for the last couple of miles. It's great to have the company as we chatter about nothing in particular, and walk down the gorgeous coastline.

Your Turn - Sep 28

Tomorrow my trek ends, 286 glorious days paddling and hiking the 4,000 miles from Key West Florida to Halifax Nova Scotia.

Early on we posted our hope that we might inspire you. Too often it seems dreams are deferred to some distant future when it will be easier or more convenient, or one listens too much to those doubting inner voices.

I hoped to show that anything is possible if you commit yourself to your dreams. Maybe yours is to learn the guitar, or design your own house, or grow the perfect rose, or volunteer for a worthy cause. 

You have some little kernel deep in your heart if you listen quietly enough for it to arise. 

Your dream might be both exciting  a bit frightening. "Can I really do that?"

Sunday Finish? - Sep 26

Can I finish on Sunday?  I've been making good time.
Just how many more miles are left? What are the roads like? What will the weather be? 

- Spirit recalculates the miles remaining as of Wednesday night. Just 78. Three twenties and a final eighteen and we're done. 

- Other than a few trail segments the final day, the route is hard pavement. Easy miles, but tough on the feet and legs, which are already sore. I'm going to slow down my pace a bit to reduce stiffness and pain.

Lucky - Sep 25

I'm lucky, like my Dad.

On Monday many miles of the ATV trail consisted of red clay. With rain forecast in the afternoon I could foresee a very slippery trail full of puddles, not to mention sticky, heavy shoes. I pushed hard to beat the rain, and was lucky to reach gravel before it hit.

On Wednesday the forecast was again rain and I pounded hard to beat it.

Which Route? - Sep 23

Very little of the Trans Canada Trail is complete in central Nova Scotia. Other than the Short Line rail to trail, essentially none of the TCT appears to exist yet, except the little stretch near Lucy's house that inspired this trek. 

I'm actually not sure of that. The TCT website may be out of date (it was for New Brunswick) and I haven't had any replies to email to various Nova Scotia organizations (mostly governmental).

And then I'm not sure what I want. When hiking on busy monotonous roads, I decide to switch to wooded ATV trails. Penned in on viewless ATV trails, I look for the openness of roads. Back on the roads my sore feet beg for ATV trails. Stepping through puddles on ATV trails, I long for a well built road.

Autumn - Sep 21

The rose hips stand big and ripe, while the rose leaves shrivel. Grass tassels flitter in the wind, having shed their seeds. Hay is cut, dried and baled, and the fields are green again. The fireweed is spent. The last wild berries won't have enough sun to swell and ripen. The cattails explode into cotton balls. The fawn has lost its spots. No birds announce the morning sun. The winter firewood is stacked and dry. 

The weather seems unsure. It puts forth a day like summer and then a day like a storm, but both are just facsimiles. The wind blows with new strength and the nights bite colder. The skittish weather seems hesitant to cross over, fabricating as many remaining warm days as it can.

Tidal Bore - Sep 20

In a few special places in the world, high tide is inaugurated by an upstream wave, a tidal bore. The Petitcodiac River in Moncton is one of those places.

We see the wave approaching a mile downstream, bending around a curve and then reforming into a charging wall of froth and mud spanning the 100 feet from bank to bank. In no time it was near.

The Fundy Footpath - Sep 18

I enter my most highly anticipated hike within New Brunswick. The Fundy Footpath might be my last extended wilderness on this trek. My feelings are reminiscent of 100 Miles Wilderness in Maine, the last isolated section before the end of the Appalachian Trail. Isolated wilderness is where I thrive.

The trail is described as "challenging" with corresponding warnings. Fourteen river crossings and innumerable small creeks provide some of the challenge, but the main warnings relate to two tidal flat crossings (with thirty foot tides!), ten stiff climbs and some treacherous cliffs.

Dobson Trail and Fundy Park - Sep 15

Ah, easy trail miles. The Dobson Trail is a good trail. Sure there were a few wet spots, but I was able to average 2.5 mph for the day, a rarity for me on the Appalachian Trail. Viewless and in rain, the hiking was mostly just banging out miles, so I was glad they were relatively easy. I'm thankful to all of the trail volunteers. 

Once inside Fundy National Park I encountered a sign that my preferred route was closed. Alonzo had warned me about this. Unfortunately, a nice long stretch down the Upper Salmon River became a road-walk along Hwy 114. Only after I completed the road-walk and reached the Visitor Center did I learn that the trail work was completed a couple of weeks ago and they failed to remove the one sign I encountered.

Moncton People - Sep 12

Today was an amazing day. The walking was fine; the amazing part was the people. Again.

We had breakfast with Alonzo Leger, a bit of a living legend in these parts: he blazed the route for the east half of Fundy Footpath. Possibly no single person knows the trails that I will hike for the next five days better than Alonzo. He even joined me on the morning walk along the Moncton Rivertrail.

In the afternoon Paul Gaudet, the Manager of Interpretive Services at Hopewell Rocks gives us a private tour of that park by golf cart. We get to see 41 foot tides rushing in around the rock pillars, plus lots of amazing videos.

In the evening, Jim deWolfe, a 20 year veteran of the Dobson Trail and past President of the hiking club, knocked on our RV door for a great chat, and then Alonzo and his wife came by for a end-of-day beer.

Wow! Does New Brunswick have the friendliest people in the world or what!

Prudence - Sep 11

On Wednesday, Trevor and I hike our last miles together, along the Fundy Trail up to the start of the Fundy Footpath. This is one of the most scenic stretches of trail I'll hike in the Maritime Provinces, except that it is foggy all day and the views are nonexistent. 

The upcoming Fundy Footpath is a rugged trail. Several of the St John Outdoor Enthusiasts know the trail very well and caution that it is steep and slippery even for advanced hikers, drop-offs are perilous, and tidal river crossings are tricky. The Guidebook echoes the same cautions. 

Unfortunately the weather is deteriorating.  A very wet system is arriving from Ontario, followed by Tropical Storm Gabrielle from Bermuda. The Fundy Footpath cautions against some of the river crossings after heavy rains. Heading into such a challenging and remote wilderness for four days by myself with this upcoming weather does not seem prudent. But I don't want to just sit for three days waiting for the storms to clear.

St John Enthusiasts - Sep 10

For the next four days the TCT is mostly road-walking, so I contacted Trevor, of the St John Outdoor Enthusiasts, to see if there is a better route. 

Trevor went out of his way checking out alternate routes. He pre-hiked routes that seemed promising, redirecting around obstacles like missing bridges. Then he assembled a packet for me with maps with the route drawn on them, printed directions, tide tables and anything else I might need!  He even arranged places to park our RV! Lastly, he's going to hike with me through this section. Pretty amazing.

Kayaking Again - Sep 6

The Trans Canada Trail becomes a water trail for about 60 miles on the St John River, from Oromocto to Grand Bay. 

Spirit and I will be paddling together. Cool! We ride again, reminiscent of paddling our first 700 miles together in Florida.  Spirit somehow pulled dry bags, paddles and camping gear out of some deep recess within the RV, rented a kayak, and we're off!. 

I've been looking forward to this stretch. Any day outdoors is a good day; any day on the water is even better.

Greeters - Sep 3

Yesterday Lucy and Craig drove up from Halifax to welcome us to Canada. The astute reader just flashed on "Halifax", which is the destination of our trek. Yep, our journey leads to their house. 

We had a great time holidaying in Fredericton with our greeters. We took a walking tour along the river, past the old church and the parliament house, and then circled back past grand old homes. 

They brought a birthday cake of cinnamon rolls - real good ones, not too sweet. Very thoughtful, and tasty! 

The next day I hiked into Fredericton on the trail and was greeted by Poul, of New Brunswick Trails, and the Honorable Brian MacDonald, a member of the Legislative Assembly.

Rail Trail - Sep 1

On Friday, I crossed into New Brunswick, Canada! With just two Provinces ahead, 80% of the miles are now behind me. 

I've been making steady progress with no days off for five weeks, and I'll keep that going (if I can) to make up for the time lost to Lyme Disease. I'd like to shorten the time hiking in October. While I can handle all weather hiking, I certainly prefer good weather!

I stopped in at Visitor Info Center near the border and learned that the section of the TCT (Trans Canada Trail) from Woodstock to Millville has been completed, notwithstanding the TCT website. I'll reroute a bit and hike that rail trail, happy to shift 20 miles off of the roads. The path turns out to be an easy but viewless walk on what is primarily an ATV and snowmobile route, and the distance is rapidly dispatched.