The first person to complete the world's longest hiking trail is a filmmaker

Dianne Whelan, 59, is an award-winning Canadian documentary filmmaker and author. In 2015, with little hiking experience, she started off from St. John's in Newfoundland and walked and biked the Trans Canada Trail, which spans approximately 14,900 miles nationwide as the world's longest trail network. I walked the canoe. For most of her six-year journey, she traveled solo and filmed in her latest independent documentary, 500 Days of Wild.

Where did your passion for the outdoors come from?

I grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia. When I was five years old, I remember being fascinated by seeing a frog spawn hatch becoming a tadpoles. From there, I felt very connected to nature. By the time I was 12 I had taken photos of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, the first mountaineers who summited Everest. After that, I did an outward program as a teenager. This is a 21-day course where you learn survival skills that allow you to head into the wild with a backpack.

What was included in the route?

My goal was to complete the journey on one continuous line starting from the Atlantic coast and across Canada to Alberta. There, we headed north towards the Arctic Ocean and returned to the Pacific finish line. In all, the route consists of 487 separate trails, including hiking and cycling, as well as many paddling and portage carrying canoes between the two bodies of water.

I had this idea that it was non-stop and I would push myself throughout all seasons. But when I was on the Paddle Path (a predominantly water-based section of the trail that runs through northwest Ontario), the water froze around me and I had to set up camp. Bush wak-out carrying the canoe that was there. One of the elders of the first countries I met saw this on social media and reached out to me, “Winter isn't time for travel, it's time to sew buttons. Be like a bear – hibernate The time has come.' So I often stopped halfway through and started while waiting for the ice to melt.

Where did your travel inspiration come from?

My mother told me about this incredible new trail and part of what intrigued me was that it had never been done . And the situation in my life was just right. My 13-year marriage has ended and my 16-year dog has died. Everything that connected me was no longer there. Yes, it was a sad thing, but it was also a unique opportunity to go and do it.

How did you prepare?

I gave up on the house, sold the car and basically removed my bill. I didn't have any special equipment – just my old knapsack and mountain bike. When I came to the first water trail, I borrowed a friend of a friend of a canoe. When it comes to fitness, it was all hands-on training. How else do you prepare your body to be active for 9 hours a day?

It was a very grassroots development, and that was my superpower. The problem with overplanning is that you are strictly obsessed with the plan. I left on a schedule, but burned it on the 10th day when I was blaming myself for not doing what I thought I could do in three days. The trip was expected to last for 500 days. So, the name of my film, but it ultimately took me six years.

What was your daily routine like?

One of the important things about this length of journey is self-care. Once the water has settled I paddle for the long days. When the weather isn't good, I stop. If something went wrong, no one would help. I've really come to recognize my vulnerabilities.

When my body got tired, I set up camp and sometimes I wrote a couple of days to make lots of food. And I really value my equipment.

How did you feel on the trail?

Even if I went for months without seeing anyone, I didn't feel alone. Suddenly, what was important was the direction of the wind, the animals would print around me. I probably felt the awakening of something in all of our ancestors – a connection to my environment. I've learned that old ways of traveling don't do that without a motor. It pays homage to the land. For all the fears that people have nature, it is our home.

How was it like traveling solo as a woman?

There's nothing brave here. I was afraid of being a woman camping alone at night. However, along the course of my journey I was saved by hundreds of strangers. When I left the house I thought the world was run by psychopaths, but it turns out to be full of kind people.

How was it like traveling with your partner?

I've been out since my 20s and started a relationship on the trail with another woman. This turned out to be one of the greatest gifts of the entire journey. She would paddle up to the Arctic Ocean for several months with me and then live in a van to meet me on the trail whenever I needed to resupply. We were watching the fire on the beach and the sky danced in the aurora. That was the beginning of our relationship – the first date of five months, we call it.

We had never seen another canoe at the time, but we've heard there was a couple in the kayak behind us and the canoe in front of us. It will be interesting to see how news spreads on the trail. The man eventually owns five miles behind us, and Julian from the couple was eaten by a bear. My partner and I not only had the beauty of experience, but we had to confront the adversity of storms, bushfires and pure psychological horror that someone was being eaten by a bear. We've experienced a lot together, and now we can handle anything – we're still together.

How did you feel about crossing the finish line?

It was actually a real low light – after being unable to burden the need to make money for bills for a long time, I had to reconnect with this other way of life. Luckily, there is 800 hours of film footage, so even if you sift, you can still focus.