YORKTON - While the idea for an inter-connected trail system across Canada has its roots in the early 1990s, the resulting trail system of greenways, waterways, and roadways that stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Arctic oceans is still not exactly well-known.
But filmmaker Dianne Whelan is trying to change that.
Whelan undertook to cross the nation using the trail system walking, cycling and paddling the entirety of the 28,000 kms Trans Canada Trail, which crosses every province and territory and spans from coast to coast to coast. It is the longest trail network in the world. Her film journey began on July 1, 2015, in St. John’s NL and ended on August 1, 2021 in Victoria, BC.
And as a filmmaker she created a documentary telling the story of her journey. The documentary 500 Days in the Wild was six years and 24,000 kilometres in the making, was in consideration for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature Film category.
It was also the jumping off point for an interview with Whelan about her extended trans Canada journey.
A self-described “woman in her 50s who is not an extreme athlete,” Whelan completed the trek almost entirely solo. She is one of very few people who have traversed the full Trans Canada Trail, which is the longest multi-use trail in the world, and the first person to complete the Trail’s land and water routes.
Whelan said the journey was of course a challenge since “it is the longest trail in the world” but in the beginning “that was what kind of caught my attention.”
Whelan related she was just out of a marriage and had lost her dog and the challenge of the trail was her way of looking to sort of refocus.
“I could have gone out and bought a Harley,” she mused.
But instead she took on the trail giving her what she noted was “a sense of purpose. . . It clicked all the boxes.”
Once on the years-long journey was there ever thoughts of walking away from the challenge?
Whelan said she had “made it difficult to do that. I sold my car, rented out my home,” adding she “. . . honestly never wanted to quit.” She said even on the hardest of days it was the best of days.
It was a case Whelan found she adapted well to sleeping in a tent and taking in all the trail system encompassed living essentially outside every day of the journey.
“When I felt inspired I could stop and film,” she added, which of course appeared to her as a filmmaker. She was inspired often. “The trails are pretty amazing.”
The result at the end of it all was reams of film meaning in creating ‘500 Days’ much of what Whelan actually shot was on the cutting room floor. She said in her mind she really sees the potential for a series on the trail, each province making perfect episodes.
Certainly the adventure for Whelan was near epic – a project which has been her focus for almost
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recognizes it was a journey where “so many things could have gone wrong,” but they didn’t.
Now Whelan hopes she and her film inspire others to check out at least portions of the continent-spanning trail. While around the world there are many notable trails, she said Canada’s is still essentially “a baby” given when it was launched, and she sees interest in the Canadian adventure growing, adding it provides a perspective of the country you don’t get to appreciate travelling in your car at 100 kilometres an hour.
The film 500 Days in the Wild, had it’s world premiere Dec 1st 2023 at the Whistler Film Festival.
