Coast to coast, one step at a time

Details

Published on Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Submitted photo. Sarah Jackson and her temporary walking partner, Stephen Wynnyk, stayed at the Chabot residence while passing through the area on Jackson’s cross-Canada trek. From left: Stephen Wynnyk, Sarah Jackson, Karen Chabot and Bob Chabot.

By Kira Paterson

Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

Sarah Jackson, who is on a cross-Canada trek from British Columbia to Newfoundland, passed through the Neepawa area last week. Jackson stayed with Bob and Karen Chabot, who live about seven miles south of Neepawa, for a few days on her walk. She set off again on Wednesday, April 13 to continue east. 

Jackson has been travelling the Trans-Canada Trail for over 200 days now, keeping track of her daily progress on her blog and social media. The 24-year-old of Edmonton studied Sociology in university, but is taking a break to explore her home country. She started in June of last year, dipping her foot in the Pacific Ocean and will end at the Atlantic. She said once she finishes her journey, she is planning to go back to school. 

As for her reasons behind the trek, “It’s more a personal journey,” she explained. She said she was looking for something to do and she’s always been interested in long distance walking, so she decided to go on this trip. “It’s been wonderful,” she said, noting that she didn’t initially expect to go across the whole country, but she enjoys it more and more every day, so she keeps going. Now that she’s about halfway, she said she might as well see it through to the end. 

Jackson starts her days expecting to tent wherever she ends up that evening, but sometimes, she meets people who want to help out and welcome her into their homes. Chabot was an example of one of those people. Other times, she has family or friends in the area that she is able to stay with. 

She’s had many different walking partners throughout her journey, as well. Some have been strangers, others have been friends or family. Currently, she is walking with her neighbour, Stephen Wynnyk, who will be with her until she reaches Winnipeg. She said she recently met someone from Belgium who might join her, too. 

Taking it as it comes, Jackson has no timeline to follow. She said that sometimes, if she finds a place really interesting, she stays there for a while and explores a bit. She hopes to reach the east coast before the snow starts to fall again, other than that, she doesn’t really have a projected time of arrival. 

Jackson’s progress can be followed on her blog, sarahrosewalks.wordpress.com, where she tries to post a picture and how many kilometres she’s covered each day. She also has a Facebook page, a Twitter account and an Instagram account, which can all be found by searching SarahRoseWalks on any of the sites.