Western Canada Part One: Buffalo Point to Big Muddy, 0-850km, Days 1-44.

Dear friends

Firstly, apologies for my neglect in not providing any trail updates for such a long time! I have no excuse except that I often forget that I made this website 😅

And with that apology out of the way, here's some trail updates!

We have crossed Manitoba and are about a third of the way across Saskatchewan, having travelled just over 800km so far.

Arriving in Steinbach MB and being hosted by the generous Tara was such a great way to start our journey, being reunited with little Wilson my grumpy packhorse and meeting Gaucho again was exciting... But it was also daunting, with an untried team and half a continent ahead. Add to that the dust storm that welcomed me to the Prairies, and I was filled with some trepidation prior to setting out.

But once our hooves were on the ground and I got to know Gaucho a bit better, everything started to feel much more real and make a lot more sense. The communities we have travelled through, the welcomes we have received, the amazing people we have met along the way has been such a heart warming experience, I feel so privileged to be out here with our hooves on the road.

The weather on the Prairies is a bit crazy though! Apparently this start to summer has been wetter and more stormy than usual, and every few days we seem to have severe thunderstorm events come through. The most difficult thing for me is to get used to the unreliability of the forecast! I'm used to planning around the forecasted weather conditions, but out here they change so quickly and the systems can be so isolated, it's challenging to make good planning decisions. But so far we have avoided the tornados and most of the hail.

I've maintained a southerly route, setting out from Lake of the Woods near where I finished my kayak journey last year and making our way down towards the border, where we have criss-crossed the historic Boundary Commission Trail. It has been great getting to know more of the history of the area and connecting with the past peoples who have moved through this landscape. Some highlights include staying at the historic Fort Dufferin and Newcomb's Hollow, the forests around Turtle Mountain, the Souris River Valley between Oxbow and Estevan in Saskatchewan, and of course all the kind and generous people who we have met along the way who have given us food and shelter and kind support on the journey 💓

We should be in Big Muddy SK in a few days, and from there we will work our way towards Wood Mountain and then north of Grasslands to Val Marie.

I'll do my best to provide some more regular updates going forward 🙏✨