Wilderness tips: Connect with the great outdoors!
Credit to Author: Canadian Immigrant| Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2022 14:11:44 +0000
Never mind COVID, there’s another pandemic out there: “nature deficit disorder.” With a little planning and connecting to the right resources, you’ll be on your way to exploring all that Canada has to offer.
They say you go to Europe for the culture, but you come to Canada for the nature! And we are blessed to have that in abundance. With literally thousands of kilometers of trails, there’s something for everyone of every skill level. And for many, COVID has reignited a love affair with all things au naturel.
Environmentalists say that new Canadians are woefully underrepresented when it comes to connecting with the great outdoors. While new Canadians now comprise over 20 per cent of the population and represent two-thirds of this country’s population growth, statistics (such as the Ontario Parks campground survey) suggest that immigrants aren’t taking advantage of the gifts nature has to offer.
It seems as if new Canadians would like to connect with nature, but aren’t quite sure how to go about it. For some, it’s about not knowing where to start, for others it’s about lacking the resources. For still others it’s about fear of the unknown: Canada, after all, is a place of wild terrain and what happens if you cross paths with a wild animal?
Let’s break things down shall we? Accessing the wonders of nature and all it has to offer doesn’t have to be difficult. With a little planning and connecting to the right resources, you’ll be on your way.
First things first.
Download an app called alltrails. Available for free on both Apple and Android, this marvellous app (www.alltrails.com) helps you access trails close by and enables you to filter by difficulty, location, mileage and other variables. It also allows you to read reviews of other people’s experiences and see photos..
Now that you have a sense of where you would like to go, consider what you need to bring with you.
One of the most important things you’ll need is a decent backpack. A good one will have a hip belt that transfers weight from your shoulders to your hips. A good pack also has a pouch for water which is essential for hiking.
What will you need to carry with you? Consider a website like cleverhiker.com, which suggests that you bring food like energy bars, a flashlight, knife, lighter, map and compass (or at least an app that allows you to download a map for offline use) sunscreen, a extra layer of clothing in case it rains, and toilet paper in case nature calls. Be sure to wear sensible footwear like trail running shoes, which offer great support, are lightweight and provide good traction.
Sounds like a lot doesn’t it? But all of this fits quite easily into a backpack and in the event of an emergency you’ll be glad to have these items. Of course the list is by no means complete, but it should get you off to a good start.
Next, check out the Parkbus.ca website. Parkbus offers a service called Naturelink that provides subsidized transportation to outdoor spaces and outdoor programming for newcomers. The program creates safe spaces for people to explore nature and helps to develop confidence in a natural environment.
For people a little more confident and who feel comfortable venturing out on their own, here’s a random list of some favourite trails picked from different parts of the country.
Selected by Travel and Leisure magazine as one of the top 35 walks in North America in 2003, Newfoundland’s 5.3 km Skerwink Trail is a loop hike that varies from mild to moderately challenging and takes a few hours to complete. Watch for sea stacks, whales, icebergs as well as the occasional fox that might cross your path.
New Canadians on the “left coast” British Columbia, are blessed with a plethora of trails throughout the entire province. Great for beginners, the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve offers the Schooner Cove Trail, which includes long stretches of sandy beaches that mingle with coastal rainforest. This section is about 22km long and the trails tend to be fairly accessible and generally short.
In Ontario, head towards the mighty Bruce Trail. Canada’s oldest and longest marked footpath, the trail stretches 900 km from Niagara all the way to picturesque Tobermory. Along the way take in the Niagara Escarpment, a UNESCO world biosphere and stop for some fish and chips at Neyaashiinigmiing. (formerly Cape Croker.)
We’d be remiss not to include The Trans Canada Trail (tctrail.ca), Canada’s national trail, the longest network of multi-use trails in the world. Parks Canada has assembled some excellent virtual journeys using Google Earth, which enables anyone with a computer to check out the trail on a virtual level first. But make sure your feet tackle the trail later.
This, of course, is just a selection from the multitude of trails Canada has to offer. Choose wisely. Beauty awaits.
RESOURCES
Some additional sites to check out and further explore connecting with Canada’s nature:
Nature as a Second Language | Alberta Parks
Connecting new Canadians to nature (ontarioparks.com)
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