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>It’s almost four times as long as the Grand Italian trail, which covers all of Italy. It’s also over five times as long as the West Coast’s famed Pacific Crest

>It’s almost four times as long as the Grand Italian trail, which covers all of Italy. It’s also over five times as long as the West Coast’s famed Pacific Crest Trail, and over six times as long as the Appalachian. the difference being that the pacific crest trail, the appalachian trail, and the grand italian trail are all actually trails rather than just lines on a map. The trans canada trail isn't a real thing, it's just some marketing people looking at maps, saying "this probably counts as a trail, right" and then calling the job done. the trans-canada "trail" includes creeks, four-lane highways, and unmaintained deer tracks.

ghaff 9y ago
I'm not that cynical. A lot of work went into getting it to this point and they're not just calling in "done." That said, there appears to be an awful lot of road walking compared to most other official long distance trails, even if those do sometimes have sections of road here and there.
QAPereo 9y ago
I just can't see many experienced through hikers falling for this, so what's the point? Pure bureaucracy?
- maxerickson 9y ago
  It can create demand and a some sort of nexus for planning. The North Country Trail in the US was established in 1980 and still isn't really close to done yet. An aside, the annual opportunity to actually hike the Lake Michigan crossing is coming up on Monday, the Labor Day walk over the Mackinac Bridge.
- jonknee 9y ago
  It’s not exactly a through hiking type of trail, but something you would do sections of. I see no problem that it includes water passages and what not, choose the recreation type you want and go get it.
  - notatoad 9y ago
    the problem with it including waterways is that words have meaning, and "trail" and "waterway" are words that mean different things. it's cool that they include waterways in their map. my problem is that they don't call it the "canada-wide recreation areas network", they call it a trail. and it isn't.
    - ghaff 9y ago
      Better tell the Northern Forest Canoe Trail https://www.northernforestcanoetrail.org/ https://www.northernforestcanoetrail.org/ "Trail" tends to imply hiking trail but there's no reason it needs to.
      - njarboe 9y ago
        Especially if it is called a "Canoe Trail" one would assume there is not a lot of hiking.
        Kluny 9y ago
        Try portaging your canoe for 20km through the wilderness and say that again :)
    - jonknee 9y ago
      Well it's not a network, it's a route across the country.... AKA a trail. Plenty of trails are or include waterways, "trail" != "hiking trail". Canada is especially rugged, rivers are the best way through large parts of it.
    - KGIII 9y ago
      Hmm... I checked the dictionary. I think this qualifies? I checked because I agreed with you, though I wasn't sure of the actual definition. A waterway could also be called a trail.
    - Maarten88 9y ago
      One of New Zealand's "Great Walks" is the Whanganui Journey, which is a kayak or canoe journey down the Whanganui River. http://media.newzealand.com/en/story-ideas/new-zealands-nine-great-walks/ http://media.newzealand.com/en/story-ideas/new-zealands-nine...
uoaei 9y ago
Stretches of the Pacific Crest Trail are also unsegregated shoulders of Highway 1.
- notatoad 9y ago
  What do you mean by "stretches"? 1km? 10km? looking around the map near me for an example, there's a section of trans canada "trail" from olds to airdrie that is just highway 2A travelling in a dead straight line for about 100km.
- nether 9y ago
  Not even close. The PCH follows the coast and the PCT follows mountain crests: http://www.bigbearhostel.com/uploads/6/9/6/1/6961020/9626729.jpg?477 http://www.bigbearhostel.com/uploads/6/9/6/1/6961020/9626729...
- seattle_spring 9y ago
  This is definitely not true. Are you thinking of the California Coastal Trail? Highway 1 runs directly on the coast. The PCT runs along the crest of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges-- more than 100+ miles to the east of Highway 1.
problems 9y ago
Additionally, much of the actual "trail" in it is rail-to-trail conversions, flat stretches with private farm land on both sides. Not exactly an exciting hike.
- 51Cards 9y ago
  No trails that go these kinds of distances are "exciting" all the time. Fairly hard to hike across Canada without going through the prairies for example. :)
kdbg 9y ago
Another thing is that it is quite stupidly routed in some areas with real trails. As a reasonably experienced long distance hiker, and being from Canada when I heard about the trail nearing completion my first though was, can I through hike this. I looked into the logistics of doing this in about a year of hiking . Crux would be getting out of the North and mountains and into SK for winter. Anyway, my first thought was damn there is a lot of road walking up north. Then I decided to see what it looked like when it ran through the town I grew up in, take a look: http://se.ri0.us/2017-09-02-134045614-af037.png http://se.ri0.us/2017-09-02-134045614-af037.png Notice how part of the 'trail' isn't even connected to the rest, how it does a lollipop in the southeast And if thats bad, a little west of there it has a huge lollipop into another town: http://se.ri0.us/2017-09-02-134257918-22a76.png http://se.ri0.us/2017-09-02-134257918-22a76.png And the Toronto area, just goes out to Detroit and then nothing: http://se.ri0.us/2017-09-02-134402430-7fd8a.png http://se.ri0.us/2017-09-02-134402430-7fd8a.png I get that its a connection of recreational trails and some of the weird routing is because the town's local trails are not meant to be trails 'to' somewhere but really, this is just bad design. As the trail does lollipops and has dead-ends I really don't think its fair to compare its length to more proper trails that one could reasonable follow end to end without needing to hike segments multiple times (there and back). I really wish The Great Trail was an awesome, trans-Canada hike, I really do, buts its just a great disappointment to me. I think funding/support this trail had would have been better spent on some of the amazing trails Canada has like the Great Divide Trail.
kentt 9y ago
I ran about 15 miles of this today (goes through my hometown). Some notable points: - about 500m on a two lablne road with no shoulder and 80km speed limit - 3 miles on the most beautiful abandoned road that looks like a Josh Keyes painting. I've done 100 runs down here and never seen anyone on it - 10 miles on a dyke. I bit close to the highway at points but a well loved and travelled trail. - the rest through suburbia. If there wasn't signs (and there often isn't you wouldn't know it was part of a "trail" since it's a normal sidewalk).
deanCommie 9y ago
> A quarter of this length is water—wetland and river routes where hikers will have to trade boots for boats. This is another problem. If you think you could do this entirely by human power, you're wrong. Zoom in on Vancouver, and the trail crossing the water across the Burrard Inlet in a zone where non-motor-powered boats are ILLEGAL (between the two bridges is the port, cruise ship terminals, and a busy float plane airport. No kayaks or paddle boards or sailing allowed. You'd think they'd plot a path in the 3rd largest city in Canada that is navigatable by kayak.

ghaff 9y ago

I'm not that cynical. A lot of work went into getting it to this point and they're not just calling in "done." That said, there appears to be an awful lot of road walking compared to most other official long distance trails, even if those do sometimes have sections of road here and there.

QAPereo 9y ago

I just can't see many experienced through hikers falling for this, so what's the point? Pure bureaucracy?

maxerickson 9y ago
It can create demand and a some sort of nexus for planning. The North Country Trail in the US was established in 1980 and still isn't really close to done yet. An aside, the annual opportunity to actually hike the Lake Michigan crossing is coming up on Monday, the Labor Day walk over the Mackinac Bridge.
jonknee 9y ago
It’s not exactly a through hiking type of trail, but something you would do sections of. I see no problem that it includes water passages and what not, choose the recreation type you want and go get it.
- notatoad 9y ago
  the problem with it including waterways is that words have meaning, and "trail" and "waterway" are words that mean different things. it's cool that they include waterways in their map. my problem is that they don't call it the "canada-wide recreation areas network", they call it a trail. and it isn't.
  - ghaff 9y ago
    Better tell the Northern Forest Canoe Trail https://www.northernforestcanoetrail.org/ https://www.northernforestcanoetrail.org/ "Trail" tends to imply hiking trail but there's no reason it needs to.
    - njarboe 9y ago
      Especially if it is called a "Canoe Trail" one would assume there is not a lot of hiking.
      - Kluny 9y ago
        Try portaging your canoe for 20km through the wilderness and say that again :)
  - jonknee 9y ago
    Well it's not a network, it's a route across the country.... AKA a trail. Plenty of trails are or include waterways, "trail" != "hiking trail". Canada is especially rugged, rivers are the best way through large parts of it.
  - KGIII 9y ago
    Hmm... I checked the dictionary. I think this qualifies? I checked because I agreed with you, though I wasn't sure of the actual definition. A waterway could also be called a trail.
  - Maarten88 9y ago
    One of New Zealand's "Great Walks" is the Whanganui Journey, which is a kayak or canoe journey down the Whanganui River. http://media.newzealand.com/en/story-ideas/new-zealands-nine-great-walks/ http://media.newzealand.com/en/story-ideas/new-zealands-nine...

uoaei 9y ago

Stretches of the Pacific Crest Trail are also unsegregated shoulders of Highway 1.

notatoad 9y ago
What do you mean by "stretches"? 1km? 10km? looking around the map near me for an example, there's a section of trans canada "trail" from olds to airdrie that is just highway 2A travelling in a dead straight line for about 100km.
nether 9y ago
Not even close. The PCH follows the coast and the PCT follows mountain crests: http://www.bigbearhostel.com/uploads/6/9/6/1/6961020/9626729.jpg?477 http://www.bigbearhostel.com/uploads/6/9/6/1/6961020/9626729...
seattle_spring 9y ago
This is definitely not true. Are you thinking of the California Coastal Trail? Highway 1 runs directly on the coast. The PCT runs along the crest of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges-- more than 100+ miles to the east of Highway 1.

problems 9y ago

Additionally, much of the actual "trail" in it is rail-to-trail conversions, flat stretches with private farm land on both sides. Not exactly an exciting hike.

51Cards 9y ago
No trails that go these kinds of distances are "exciting" all the time. Fairly hard to hike across Canada without going through the prairies for example. :)

kdbg 9y ago

Another thing is that it is quite stupidly routed in some areas with real trails. As a reasonably experienced long distance hiker, and being from Canada when I heard about the trail nearing completion my first though was, can I through hike this. I looked into the logistics of doing this in about a year of hiking . Crux would be getting out of the North and mountains and into SK for winter. Anyway, my first thought was damn there is a lot of road walking up north. Then I decided to see what it looked like when it ran through the town I grew up in, take a look: http://se.ri0.us/2017-09-02-134045614-af037.png http://se.ri0.us/2017-09-02-134045614-af037.png Notice how part of the 'trail' isn't even connected to the rest, how it does a lollipop in the southeast And if thats bad, a little west of there it has a huge lollipop into another town: http://se.ri0.us/2017-09-02-134257918-22a76.png http://se.ri0.us/2017-09-02-134257918-22a76.png And the Toronto area, just goes out to Detroit and then nothing: http://se.ri0.us/2017-09-02-134402430-7fd8a.png http://se.ri0.us/2017-09-02-134402430-7fd8a.png I get that its a connection of recreational trails and some of the weird routing is because the town's local trails are not meant to be trails 'to' somewhere but really, this is just bad design. As the trail does lollipops and has dead-ends I really don't think its fair to compare its length to more proper trails that one could reasonable follow end to end without needing to hike segments multiple times (there and back). I really wish The Great Trail was an awesome, trans-Canada hike, I really do, buts its just a great disappointment to me. I think funding/support this trail had would have been better spent on some of the amazing trails Canada has like the Great Divide Trail.

kentt 9y ago

I ran about 15 miles of this today (goes through my hometown). Some notable points: - about 500m on a two lablne road with no shoulder and 80km speed limit - 3 miles on the most beautiful abandoned road that looks like a Josh Keyes painting. I've done 100 runs down here and never seen anyone on it - 10 miles on a dyke. I bit close to the highway at points but a well loved and travelled trail. - the rest through suburbia. If there wasn't signs (and there often isn't you wouldn't know it was part of a "trail" since it's a normal sidewalk).

deanCommie 9y ago

> A quarter of this length is water—wetland and river routes where hikers will have to trade boots for boats. This is another problem. If you think you could do this entirely by human power, you're wrong. Zoom in on Vancouver, and the trail crossing the water across the Burrard Inlet in a zone where non-motor-powered boats are ILLEGAL (between the two bridges is the port, cruise ship terminals, and a busy float plane airport. No kayaks or paddle boards or sailing allowed. You'd think they'd plot a path in the 3rd largest city in Canada that is navigatable by kayak.