My Trans Canada Journey Begins

My Trans Canada Bike Journey!

The date is October 15, 2013 and I am enjoying the scenery that  surrounds this marker at mile zero of the Trans Canada Trail (TCT), now also known as The Great Trail. I don’t like the name change. Trans Canada is much more descriptive,  as this park is situated on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.   While this is the beginning of the trail, it is not the beginning of the story.

For that, we have to set the clock back a few months during the summer of 2013. I had planned a long weekend from the desk at work to visit Brantford, Ontario. My curling team was planning to play in a bonspiel during the Fall of 2013 and I wanted to check things out. Brantford is the hometown of the Great One - Wayne Gretzky - and he has been generous in giving back to the community.  I had brought the bike along, and I was looking forward to riding in some new territory. Turned out to be an interesting ride.

I had selected a local bike trail and a short time into the ride I came across a trail marker that indicated I was traveling on the “Trans Canada Trail”. I was immediately intrigued, as I was familiar with the Trans Canada Highway, the single major highway that spans the entire country. Could it be possible that this trail spans the country also?   Back  in my room I checked the Internet; to my delight I found that while not yet complete, the Trans Canada Trail was slated to form one continuous pathway from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. I knew immediately I needed to ride that trail!

The first decision was fundamental. Which direction?  There are logistics to consider. I had to get myself and my bike to the beginning of the trail. Since I wasn’t going to retire yet, I was only going to get a start on the trail this year. So wherever I should end I needed then to get me and the bike back to Wisconsin. If I decided to ride East then I would start at Victoria, British Columbia (BC) on Vancouver Island in the Pacific Ocean. BC has spectacular mountain scenery which would dominate the first 1000 miles of the Trans Canada Trail. Earlier in the ride I would find myself in the Canadian Rockies National Parks, rather than later.  Victoria would be a plausible place to start as I could take the  Amtrak Empire Builder to Seattle and bring the bike on the train as baggage. From Seattle there are ferries operated by the BC government which would give me access to Victoria. Finally, traveling easterly would take advantage of the prevailing westerly wind, if that is really a thing.

On the other hand, a westerly travel trip would take me to St. John’s, Newfoundland, where I would be starting in front of the Mile 1 Centre Arena. (This is so  Canadian. Neither site wants to be at the end of the trail!  Both cities consider themselves to be at the beginning of the trail.) With this trip, I would travel into the Maritimes, the relatively smaller provinces.  I would be making progress seemingly more quickly. In comparison over 1000 trail miles are in BC alone. The scenery would be more nautical, and it truly would feel like I would be riding in new territory. By comparison, I am already well experienced in traveling in Western Canada. Weather may be better for riding early on. Vancouver Island and the extreme western mainland around Vancouver is temperate rain forest. But those prevailing westerlies would be in my face.

I finally decided to start in Victoria.  So it’s a bike ride after a train trip, and the bike would ride along with me on the train as baggage. But the year is 2013, and Amtrak is not yet bike friendly. Unlike European trains in which bikes travel intact in the baggage car, Amtrak requires that the bike must be broken down and packed in a cardboard box. This incredibly inconvenient rule meant that I would have to:

1. Take my bike to my local bike shop in Sun Prairie  where they would break it down and package it in a box.

2.  Take the box with me by car to the closest Amtrak station in Columbus, WI, 

3. Upon arrival in Seattle, take an xl size taxi to a bike shop, where they would re-assemble the bike for me. 

4. Then at the end of the bike trip,  back to the Seattle bike shop to breakdown and box the bike.

5. Ship the bike back to Sun Prairie, since I would be flying back after attending a work conference in San Diego.

6.  Have the bike assembled again in Sun Prairie. 

And of course each of these steps cost money. 

Footnote: As I am composing this in 2021, I am pleased to point out that in the meantime, Amtrak has relaxed its bike requirements so that now in certain stations, including Columbus and Seattle, that Amtrak accepts bikes intact and they travel in the baggage car. At the destination one just needs to walk to the baggage car and get the bike from the train personnel.

So enough for this first post. I conclude with some photos from Columbus and Seattle. Join me, if you will, to travel along with me to experience our great Northern Neighbor, and the people who call themselves Canadian.

Century Link Field marks the western terminus of Amtrak’s Empire Builder in Seattle

Amtrak train station in a Seattle

My Amtrak station is in Columbus, around 15 miles from home.