Book inspires 885- km trek
Spur- of- the- moment decision for Katie Keenan
A day after returning to Peterborough from an 885- kilometre trek along the Bruce Trail, Katie Keenan is still adjusting to being back in civilization.
“I don’t think it’s hit me yet. It’s kind of surreal sitting in the living room, eating an egg that someone else has cooked for me,” said Keenan as she cut up her poached egg on toast while sitting on her dad’s couch on Saturday.
Just one day earlier, the Guelph University grad made her way to the end of a 38- day journey, which took her along the edge of the Niagara Escarpment from Queenston to Tobermory.
By taking on such an impressive feat, you’d assume the 23- year- old has experience taking long ventures on her own in the wilderness, but you’d be wrong.
“This was my first one,” she said.
Inspired by a book she received last Christmas, about a woman who hikes the Pacific Coast Trail, Keenan said realized it was something she’d like to do one day.
“I thought it would be really great if I could do something like that, but local and less intense.”
A while later, the Bruce Trail came to mind, so she borrowed a guidebook from the library in Guelph.
“Once I had the book, it made it seem more achievable,” she said.
She took only a week to plan her journey, and on Sept. 3, she was dropped off at the Bruce Trail’s Queenston starting point.
Her backpack was filled with a tent, sleeping bag and pad, cookstove, camera, journal, fi rst aid kit, food, water, clothes and a water filter. Weighing 45 pounds, it was adorned with a whistle and bear bells.
Th roughout her journey, Keenan travelled roughly 25 kilometres a day and camped along the trail, on people’s lawns, stayed with friends and relatives, and even spent a or two night in a hotel, when meeting family for a food drop.
All in all, she said she ended up sleeping indoors about 50% of the time, which was “way more than I originally planned for.”
Th e former St. Peter School student would meet fellow hikers along the way who would put her in contact with their friends along the route, so she could stay with them if needed.
She met with family three times along her trip to pick up food and would lighten her load by relieving herself of maps she’d used, before grabbing maps for the next leg.
“If I did again, I would take more time planning and do a better job with my food,” she said, adding that she mostly ate “glop.”
Although she often ran into others along her way, she said there were a few times when she was lonely and tired and just wanted to give up. “I’ve never experienced something that could make you feel so raw and empty, but at the same time could fi ll you up.”
Taking a minute to stop along the trail and see how far she’d travelled would often give Keenan the boost she needed to keep her spirits up.
“You’d be standing on a ridge and you’d look over at another ridge and think, I just walked through there yesterday. It’s kind of a neat feeling.”
As she heads back to Guelph to begin a new job as a research assistant in the university’s plant agricultural department, she said she’s squashed her need for adventure “for now” but thinks she’d like to do a biking trip next.
“It’s easier on the joints,” she said with a laugh.