Eventually, Kneip and her sailing companions sailed to Lewisporte, Newfoundland, where she prepared extensive documentation outlining her plans. Her application was successful, and she was granted a two-year stay in Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt took a while for it to sink in. This is really happening, being underway in Canada is my home for the next two years,\u201d Kneip said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/unnamed-525x700.jpg\")
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A relieved Kneip with her Canadian approvals. Photo: Katharina Kneip<\/p>\n
Crossing Newfoundland<\/p>\n
Kneip quickly sent her winter gear ahead to Ottawa, Ontario, where she plans to arrive around December, then began walking 300km across Newfoundland. The trek took 10 days in unusually hot and dry conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was incredibly hot, 35\u02daC. All the marshland was dried out. Some people wrote me like, \u2018Oh, why don\u2019t you have a water filter if you\u2019re short on water?\u2019 But there was literally no water,\u201d she told ExplorersWeb.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_8603-525x700.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
On foot across Newfoundland. Photo: Katharina Kneip<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite the heat, she found support in rural communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I was sweating and walking through the incredibly vast landscape, past countless flowers and caribou, accompanied by singing birds, mosquitoes, and many other animals, something else happened that I would never have imagined\u2026the incredible helpfulness and enthusiasm of the people here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finishing her trek at Corner Brook, Newfoundland, in early August, Kneip hitched to Nova Scotia with a Belgian sailing couple, landing in Cape Breton.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_8580-700x525.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Some of the backcountry Kneip covered in Newfoundland. Photo: Katharina Kneip<\/p>\n
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick<\/p>\n
By then, large wildfires had forced the closure of trails across the province and parts of New Brunswick.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything was closed, no hiking was allowed, no wild camping. I had to skip my hiking plans for Cape Breton.\u201d<\/p>\n
With trails closed, she followed rural roads westward, walking stretches of 60 to 100km with no houses or cell service.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1180-700x525.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Kneip and her Belgian sailing companions. Photo: Katharina Kneip<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Accommodation remained a challenge. Campsites were scarce and expensive, so Kneip often relied on local hospitality.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was actually maybe the best experience so far, meeting all these people\u2026[They] told me all their family history and invited me in, gave me food. I\u2019ve never eaten so much bacon in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once in New Brunswick, she followed ATV tracks after fire bans were partly lifted. She reached Bathurst on August 16, after about a month. From there, she walked the 150km Nepisiguit Mi\u2019gmaq Trail through northern New Brunswick.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Kneip-East-Canada-Map-700x467.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Map Source: shadedrelief.com\/north-america<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moose season<\/p>\n
The timing coincided with moose hunting season, which added new risks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never seen so many dead moose in my life,\u201d she recalled. \u201cLike, really, every car\u2026and truck had moose on the back, and so I didn\u2019t want to stay in the woods during dawn.\u201d<\/p>\n
From northern New Brunswick, she continued to Edmunston, near the New Brunswick\u2013Quebec border. Here, she is currently resting with hosts from a travelers\u2019 hospitality network.<\/p>\n
Looking back, she described her east Canadian stage as more social than nature-focused. \u201cIt became much more of a cultural walk than a nature walk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Funding a a global journey<\/p>\n
Kneip\u2019s ability to sustain such a long journey rests on years of financial preparation, frugal living, and occasional outside support. She isn\u2019t allowed to work while in Canada, so she relies entirely on advance planning and resourcefulness.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been planning, meaning saving, for about three years before I started. I dedicated my whole life to save money,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Kneip worked multiple jobs. \u201cI worked full-time in two jobs and got some artist grants also.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1479-700x525.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
On the coast of Cape Breton. Photo: Katharina Kneip<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
She avoids relying on sponsorships or heavy social media promotion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could do much more on social media, I guess, like in terms of having more followers\u2026[but] that is something that I don\u2019t want to do. It was very clear to me that I want to be independent from that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ottawa and beyond<\/p>\n
Kneip\u2019s immediate plan is to continue west to Ottawa via a mix of hiking and bicycle trails, including repurposed railway lines.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_8584-525x700.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
On the road in Newfoundland. Photo: Katharina Kneip<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Once she reaches Ottawa in early winter, she will head west across vast northern Ontario to Winnipeg, aiming to arrive in late April. She then continues heading west across Canada, ultimately turning north to Alaska.<\/p>\n
From there, she hopes to sail across the Bering Strait into Russia to continue her trek. Given the unknowns of travel in Russia and the difficulties of hiking across that country for what will surely be years, she will have to surmount many logistical issues. It will be several more years before she sees her finish line back in Germany.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"German long-distance traveler Katharina Kneip, 35, is now well underway with the Canadian leg of her multi-year journey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[22492,49,48,66],"class_list":["post-188083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-adventure-travel","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}