Inspiration

Canada Will Have the World's Longest Trail Network in 2017

Bike, hike, ski, and paddle your way across Canada.
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Photo by Laval Poulin

The East Coast Greenway, a proposed 3,000-mile bike trail along the East Coast of the United States, is impressive. But, just as they have when it comes to potato chip innovation and affordable health care, Canada’s got us beat in the world of car-free cross-country trails—like five-times-as-long beat. The Great Trail, also referred to as the Trans Canada Trail, is a 14,864-mile network of paths set to be completely connected by 2017, to coincide with the country’s 150th birthday.

The project began back in 1992 and today 87 percent of the proposed paths—12,905 miles of it—are already connected. (Not like it’s a race, but by comparison the East Coast Greenway is only at about 30 percent complete.) The goal for the next year is to finish connecting the remaining 2,050 miles, which once complete means you could technically traverse the length of the second largest country in the world, and get all the way from Montreal to the Yukon via the trail.

And the Great Trail is not just for bikes: It’s being built with summer hikers and horseback riders in mind, as well as with cross-country skiers and snowmobilers. River in the way? No problem. The project even includes entire stretches of water-based trails for kayakers and paddlers—about 26 percent of the total. Given Canada’s somewhat unforgiving terrain—much of the country is dominated by frozen lakes, dense forests, and barren tundra—building thousands of miles of navigable trails has been no easy feat, especially considering the vast network of local organizations building the trails and the fact that it is being paid for mostly by private donors, with the Canadian government matching fifty cents for every dollar donated.

So what happens next year when one hundred percent of the proposed trail will be connected? "2017 is just the beginning of our story," Trans Canada Trail president and CEO Deborah Apps told Condé Nast Traveler. "The Trail will never be complete. We will continue to build and improve this treasure for generations to come." Okay, you win, Canada.