10 spiritual hikes to rejuvenate your soul

1. Island Stroll
Prince Edward Island 

700 km

This loop begins outdoors Charlottetown and takes hikers throughout red-sand seashores and alongside quiet roads, up one facet of Prince Edward Island and down the opposite. Bryson Guptill, a member of the group Island Trails, determined to create the stroll after mountain climbing the Camino de Santiago. “It’s about strolling and pondering and the individuals you run into and chatting with them,” he advised the Globe and Mail final yr. “And a part of what’s so particular about P.E.I. is the individuals.” 

2. The Approach of Stella Maris
Nova Scotia 

120 km 

Every summer season, this six-day pilgrimage follows rural trails and highways alongside the japanese shore of Nova Scotia, beginning at Holy Cross Church in Center Musquodoboit and ending at St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica in RisePEI. Stella Maris means “Star of the Sea,” and it’s an historical title for Jesus’ mom, Mary. Rev. Rob Elford, a Catholic priest who led the preliminary pilgrimage in 2019, was impressed by his two journeys on the Camino. In response to the pilgrimage’s web site, Elford has “a deep sense of figuring out the Holy Spirit works by way of the stillness of the routine of strolling pilgrimages.”

3. Sentier Notre-Dame Kapatakan

Quebec

215 km 

Quebec’s take on the Camino begins on the statue of Notre-Dame-du-Saguenay in Rivière-Éternité and ends on the nationwide shrine at Ermitage Saint-Antoine in Lac-Bouchette. Fall is an particularly lovely time to hike right here and take within the views of the pastoral countryside and quiet lakes. The path is dotted with non secular and cultural websites. (Kapatakan means “portage” or “path” within the Innu language.)

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4. Martyrs’ Shrine
Ontario

89 km 

On native trails, this route leads north of Barrie to Martyrs’ Shrine, a Catholic church and historic web site in Midland. The shrine is called for St. Jean de Brébeuf and different Jesuit missionaries who got here to Canada 400 years in the past from France to attempt to convert First Nations individuals within the space. It is a in style pilgrimage web site, attracting tens of hundreds of holiday makers yearly from totally different faiths and cultures. There are plans to increase the pilgrimage route additional south to Toronto. 

5. Sudbury Camino
Ontario

30 km

Additionally impressed by the Camino de Santiago, this day-long hike takes place on sections of the Trans Canada Path in addition to the Rainbow Routes Affiliation path community. The route modifications yearly, and the purpose is for members to attempt to “problem your self, discover and recognize our group by foot.” Daniel Barrette, the affiliation’s govt director, advised the CBC, “The Camino is about slowing down the tempo, strolling extra slowly, being conscious of your surroundings, of your self.”

6. Crow Wing Path
Manitoba 

193 km

A piece of the Trans Canada Path, this route runs between Emerson and Winnipeg. It dates again to the 1800s, when it was one in every of a number of trails that crossed the Prairies. Again then, it was used to move items and other people between the Métis Purple River Settlement (now Winnipeg) and the Ojibwe, Dakota and Métis Crow Wing Settlement on the Mississippi River (present-day St. Paul, Minn.). 

7. Nice Divide Path
Canadian Rockies 

1,100 km

This trail — which, in some sections, shouldn’t be all the time an outlined path — follows the continental divide between British Columbia and Alberta. It passes by way of the standard territories of the Blackfoot, Tsuut’ina, Stoney Nakoda, Cree,Lheidli T’enneh, Ktunaxa, Secwepemc, Sinixt and Métis peoples. Traditionally, Indigenous individuals used passes alongside the divide as buying and selling and looking routes. Because the path’s affiliation describes it: “A journey on the Nice Divide Path guarantees to be demanding however…you’ll uncover a definitive wilderness expertise in one of the crucial magnificent settings on Earth.”

8. Nootka Path
British Columbia

35 to 40 km 

This secluded wilderness hike on the west coast of Nootka Island is difficult, with slippery roots, mud, tides, rocks and steep slopes to deal with. However the views of sandy seashores, crashing waves and old-growth rainforest are breathtaking. It’s vital to purchase a mountain climbing cross to journey alongside the ultimate portion of the path on the standard territory of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation. While you end mountain climbing, go to the church in Yuquot, an historical Mowachaht village.

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9. Dena Cho Path
Yukon

67 km 

This remote route follows the north financial institution of the Pelly River from the small First Nations group of Ross River to Faro, providing forested mountain climbing in addition to open views over the water. Traditionally, the Kaska Dena individuals used the Dena Cho to journey to Mount Mye, which as we speak is house to a Yukon authorities sheep-viewing centre. There are 4 cabins alongside the path out there for public tenting. With just about no cell service, and a excessive probability of seeing bears and different wildlife, this journey is all about appreciating solitude and nature. 

10. Itijjagiaq Path
Nunavut

120 km 

Situated on Baffin Island in Katannilik Territorial Park, this hike takes its title from the Inuktitut phrase for “over the land.” Inuit have traversed this route for generations. It’s usually utilized by locals to get between Iqaluit and Kimmirut, and it’s now a part of the Trans Canada Path. Advisable for adventurers with backcountry expertise, the hike is distant and there aren’t any path markers. The Itijjagiaq Path is a spot to absorb the fantastic thing about the North and bear witness to nature’s phenomena. Hikers could spot caribou, geese, owls and foxes. 

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Rhiannon Russell is a author in Whitehorse.

This story first appeared in Broadview’s July/August 2022 subject with the title “10 Canadian caminos.”

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