When couple Simon Lanoix and Julie Chatelain took their first steps on a 15,000-kilometre journey, their future Langford home was little more than a construction site.
Eight years and thousands of kilometres later, the couple is enjoying some well-earned time with their feet up in their Belmont condo after completing the Trans Canada Trail – tackling its vast length in stages.
Their adventure came to an end when they arrived at the Point Zero marker at Victoria’s Clover Point on Saturday, Aug. 8, friends and family joining them for the home stretch of the roughly 1,200 km B.C. section of the trail, which they started two months ago.
“It hasn’t sunk in, to be perfectly honest,” said Lanoix.
“When you do a long trail like this, you can’t imagine finishing,” adds Chatelain. “You just can’t think of the end, you just have to think of sections or small bits.
“So when we realized the end was approaching, there was a sense of relief and pride.”
Inspired by the opening of the Trans Canada Trail the previous year, which coincided with the 150th anniversary of Canada’s Confederation, the couple’s epic journey began in 2018 in St. John’s, Nfld.
Having previously completed many long-distance hikes, some up to 2,000 kilometres in length, Lanoix and Chatelain were searching for their next challenge.
“We thought this is an opportunity to stay in Canada and get to know Canada the way we know the other countries that we’ve walked across,” said Chatelain.
“We decided it was going to be a multi-year project, because I won’t be camping at -35 C in Alberta – there’s some limits to what I’m willing to do.”
Over the course of the journey, the couple experienced a variety of ever-changing landscapes, communities and cultures.
“It’s like we’ve done six different trails,” says Lanoix. “Because there really are massive amounts of difference in landscape and culture … so it really is the ultimate trail in a way because you see all of that.”
But while the scenery and communities changed dramatically from east to west, the couple said one thing remained constant: warm and generous Canadian hospitality.
Offers of food, water, showers and places to stay were plentiful along the way. In one small town, a mayor even offered the couple a personal guided tour of the local museum.
The pair also enjoyed a brief moment of fame when their journey made the pages of a local Newfoundland newspaper.
One man who recognized them after reading the story went a step further, returning with what Lanoix considers one of the culinary highlights of their adventure.
“He takes off, and he comes back and he gives us two jars of home-canned lobster,” says Lanoix. “We bought a piece of bread and had one of the best meals of our trip – we had a feast.”
For Chatelain, those encounters were as memorable as the trail itself.
“People are really friendly, and as soon as they figure out what we’re doing, they want to be part of it somehow,” she said.
From mountain caribou and grizzly bears with cubs, to herds of elk grazing outside their tent in the Kootenays, Canada’s wildlife has delivered some awe-inspiring, show-stopping moments for the pair.
Some close encounters with bears, however, have proven decidedly hair-raising; also revealing just how differently the couple reacts in a crisis.
“My first reaction was to grab my phone,” says Lanoix.
“I’m behind him like one of Charlie’s Angels, ready with my bear spray,” adds Chatelain.
The journey wasn’t without its challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic brought their trek to a standstill for two years, while the trail itself presented plenty of obstacles.
Still in its infancy, the Trans Canada Trail isn’t always designed with hikers in mind, making some sections particularly difficult to navigate on foot.
“It’s actually really tough – the camping is almost impossible in certain sections, lots of private land, so you really have to be very careful how you stealth camp,” said Lanoix.
“It’s the challenge of a new trail. It needs a little bit of time to grow,” adds Chatelain.
The Rockies provided another test when Chatelain dislocated her ankle and, despite the injury, had to use her grit and determination to walk 30 kilometres to get help.
“You just get through it and at the time you complain, but then it becomes the story you remember because it was a challenge that you accomplished and you’re proud of yourself,” she says.
“I’m tougher than I think I am, which is great even at my age.”
Married for over 40 years, Lanoix and Chatelain have long shared a love of the outdoors, and a desire to explore it together.
Over the course of their travels, the couple has earned themselves nicknames from the trail community.
Lanoix goes by “Energizer,” a nod to his seemingly endless supply of energy, while Chatelain is known as “Sweep” for her habit of picking up litter as she walks behind him.
Even trekking across Canada, Chatelain has been doing her bit to keep the country tidy.
“One small wrapper at a time,” she says.
And if completing the Trans Canada Trail sounds like enough adventure to satisfy the couple, think again.
They are already considering their next challenge, with trails in France, Ireland and the U.K. among the possibilities.
They plan to take a little time before setting off again. Although, true to his Energizer nickname, Lanoix clearly has no intention of slowing down.
“He is participating in an ultra marathon in October,” says Chatelain.
Whatever comes next, whether it’s another epic adventure or simply a quick stroll on the Goose, the couple is determined to keep moving forward, always putting one foot in front of the other.
“And it’s gonna continue that way until we can’t,” says Lanoix.