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Photo by Dana Meise

“No part of this country will be left unexplored to the best of my ability. When this is finished I will have visited every province and territory and every capital,” he said.

The trail formally ends at Inuvik, and switches to the Mackenzie River. But Meise said he’ll walk to Tuktoyaktuk on a newly-completed but still closed road, and then come back to canoe the length of the Mackenzie for posterity’s sake.

“The funny thing is Canadians tend to think of Canada as east to west. But there is this whole northern area as well. How could I possibly brag about seeing the entire country if I haven’t been to the north?”

Meise’s achievement may lack the same notoriety as that of early explorers like Ernest Shackleton or John Franklin, but it is equally compelling because it helps inspire those around him, said John Geiger, the CEO of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. The trail wasn’t really meant to be walked in its entirety, but Meise’s trek has revealed a new way of looking at the country, he said.

“It is a spectacular message to Canadians about appreciating the land in which they live,” said Geiger “Dana’s achievement is in itself spectacular. To have someone set out and achieve this goal is remarkable.”

For Meise, the wilderness has been both a comfort and a challenge. “It was a dream of mine to be an explorer. I wanted to test myself to the limits,” he said.

Photo by Dana Meise

It has been that, and more. Meise has seen the country in a way no one has in modern history. He got lost for days when he stepped off the trail in Ontario. He once woke to find a black bear sniffing his head. A Grizzly bear tracked him for days. In the Rockies near Cranbrook he hiked an extra 30 kilometres one day to get out of a Grizzly’s territory. He’s been head-butted by a deer, had a raccoon purloin a boot and has nearly stepped on a porcupine. Deep in the Ontario bush, he fell and seriously dislocated a shoulder and fractured an elbow, but soldiered on.