Dianne Whelan

I learned this beautiful story from an elder in the Mi’kmaq Indigenous community, Danny Paul, who said we’re kind of like trees. On the surface, every tree looks like it stands alone. Beneath the surface all the trees in a forest are connected.

Since leaving, home has been the trail. In the first few years, I tried to go through winter. One of the elders I’d met, a Cree woman, wrote me and said, we didn’t travel in winter. That’s when you create art, share stories, make food. After I got that bit of wisdom, I was off trail about five weeks this winter. It’s never about athletic achievement. It’s like the old tale of the rabbit and the turtle. The turtle completes the journey. The rabbit burns itself out. I dropped the rabbit suit and put on the turtle shell.

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How does this journey compare to other extreme adventures you’ve done?

They are all about the infusion of traditional Indigenous wisdom with science and technology to take people through danger to safety. What’s great about science and technology is, yes, we have these amazing satellite phones and GPSs and high-tech stuff. But when you’re like 200 miles from the North Pole and you hit a hurricane and it’s minus 80 out, all that technology stops working and at that point it’s the wisdom of the elders that keeps you alive — because it’s their understanding and relationship to the land and their experience that has been passed on to them through multiple generations. Everest was the exact same thing: Very few get up that mountain without a Sherpa. I have great hope that if we blend traditional Indigenous wisdom with science and technology that we can find sustainable ways to live with the Earth and all life on the Earth.

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I won’t be eating oatmeal ever again in my life. Ever. Throughout the day, I had a snack bag with trail mix and dried fruit and cheese and crackers and nuts. And of course, chocolate, and I have a soft spot for gummy bears. Dinner was instant noodles, pasta, carbs. At the beginning, I was nervous about bears and trying to keep a clean camp. I met many, many, many bears and 98 percent were kind and wonderful to watch. I never carried anything but bear spray for most of the journey. When I went to the high Arctic, I carried a gun and had to use it once because I had a bear come into my camp. My partner was with me. She picked up the gun and fired a couple of warning shots and we quickly packed off into the canoe and realized we didn’t spill our coffee.

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Any indulgences you’re looking forward to?

Well, a toilet actually. And food. I’d say my bed, but I’ve come to a place of being pretty comfortable sleeping in my tent. I joke that for the first few weeks, I’ll be putting up my tent indoors.

 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/07/travel/Dianne-Whelan-Trans-Canada-Trail.html