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Nocturnal
I saw an owl the other day. Against dawn’s glowing eastern sky, a silent silhouette suspended in the branches between the path and the grassy field. I stopped to watch the rare sight, trying to make out the details of the great creature in the dim light. Although my eyes struggled, I knew I hadn’t…
What the Trail Requires: The Mantario
For the past couple years I’ve heard stories about the Mantario Hiking Trail from friends who’d hiked and run it. At about 63km (40 miles) long, it’s not to be taken lightly. The trail was created in 1970s (though I wonder at its prior history), and traces a north-south path through the Mantario Wilderness Zone,…
Secret Paths of Steinbach
When I was a kid, I was enthralled by secret portals into other worlds. Books like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Secret Garden captured my young imagination. What if I could crawl into a tunnel, a cave, or an ordinary wardrobe, and enter into a secret mystical world? I imagined carving a…
Running Every Single Street in Steinbach
“To walk across a place is to truly know a place.” – Rickey Gates # Last year I was inspired by Rickey Gates’ “Every Single Street” project, where the ultrarunner set out to run all of the 1170km (1100 miles) of street in San Fransisco. No big deal, right? Here’s the documentary that was produced…
The Right Path
Lately I’ve been reflecting on a recent read, On Trails, by Robert Moor. Looks like we’ve got a little impromptu series of posts going, you can read other thoughts from this book here and here. This book’s cover, even in its Dutch form, drew me in last summer, and this winter I finally had the…
Trails Through the Snow
The path is made by walking. Antonio Machado You’ve probably seen them, veering off the snow-free sidewalk and through the deep snow. What begins as a series of footprints slowly becomes a packed-snow path. In his book On Trails, Robert Moor calls them “desire lines.” Desire lines are shortcuts adopted by hundreds of feet, an…
Making the Rounds
In his book Keep Going, Austin Kleon references the US Postal Service’s unofficial slogan in describing his family’s morning walk routine. “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” This morning, on a day where the Canada Post has been delayed or…
To Know a Place, Run It: Reflections from the 2019 Polar Bear Marathon
As a runner, I believe that the best way to get to know a place is on foot. Sure, you can cover ground more quickly in a car or plane, but to really know a place, you need to get out of your vehicle, plant your feet on the land, and feel the air on…
Prayers and Blessings
The North Face recently released a documentary called The Invisible Wall, featuring ultrarunners Mike Foote (American), Mauricio Carvajal (Mexican), Mario Mendoza Jr. (Mexican-American) as they run along the Mexico-US border. You should check it out (here). Ever since learning about the running traditions of the Tarahumara people of Mexico and the Navajo of southern US,…
Adventure Awaits
Our desire for adventure and our desire to be safe and comfy are often at odds. Of all the adventure stories that we hold dear, most of them only really start once something fails to go according to plan. Yvon Chouinard probably put it best: It’s not an adventure until something goes wrong. I learned…