I caught the long-distance hiking bug in 2017 when I thru hiked the Appalachian Trail. I was then 67 years old and decided to do the hard trails first while I still could do them. Unfortunately, events conspired to keep me from thru hiking those hard trails — first a family illness, then Covid, then pancreatic cancer. In the meantime, however, I thru hiked the Allegheny Trail, the Ice Age Trail, the Camino de Santiago, and the North Bend Rail Trail (part of the American Discovery Trail) and also hiked parts of the Florida Trail, the American Discovery Trail, and all 60 of the hikes from the 60 Trails within 60 Miles: Madison book. I’m struggling now to determine what long trails I can still do considering the physical changes caused by cancer treatment.
I first heard of the Island Walk from a hiker on the Camino de Santiago in 2022.
At the time, the route had only been open for a year. I was drawn to the idea of hiking a new trail — particularly walking all day but ending up at comfortable accommodations with real food at the end of the day, rather than camping. Go for a Walk, a travel planner in Summerside, PEI, arranged an itinerary that included accommodations (mostly at B&Bs), luggage transfer, and shuttles to the trailheads. All I had to do was show up and walk. Unlike my other long-distance hikes, I would be alone on this one.
READ: Sturdy Peasant’s 2024 Island Walk Journal Entries
Full Island Walk Certificate #71
