Philosopher Lao Tzu said "a journey of 1,000 miles must begin with a single step" and local author and burgeoning adventure writer Steve Hainsworth began his 885-kilometre trek with that idea in mind.
After working as an announcer during the Olympics and Paralympics, Hainsworth was ready for his next challenge. Inspired by Canada's monumental achievements in the Olympics and a book he recently read, he decided to tackle Canada's longest hike - the Bruce Trail in Ontario.
"I was really inspired by the Olympics, was really inspired by Bill Bryson's book A Walk in the Woods and, as a burgeoning adventure writer myself, was looking for that professional challenge," he said.
"So I thought, 'Why not look for what Canada's longest trail is and try and go for that, see if it's accessible and doable."
The first 185 kilometres of the Bruce Trail was chartered in 1962 by a group of forward-thinking hikers who wanted to preserve the Niagara escarpment's natural beauty. The trail was named after James Bruce, who was appointed Governor General of the province of Canada in 1848.
The Ontario trail is an interesting blend of trail and urban sprawl, and it traverses towns like St. Catharines, Hamilton, Burlington, Collingwood and Owen Sound.
"When I initially imagined hiking across southern Ontario, I envisioned apartments and offices towering above the trail," said Hainsworth. "I couldn't have been more wrong the Bruce Trail regularly finds ruggedness more often than it uncovers urban sprawl."
Hainsworth started researching the trail and figured it would take between one and two months to complete and according to trail information, he could follow the signage on the trees.
"You start walking in Niagara Falls, and follow these little white, hand-painted blazes marked on tree trunks that just lead the way down the trail," he said.
"If you stand at a tree with a blaze on it and you look down the trail, you're supposed to be able to see the next blaze so that you know where you're going. But that's not always the case of course, because the trail is very rugged, up and down with switchbacks and that sort of thing."
This led to some steps in the wrong direction.
"It's easy enough to not see a blaze for a little while and think, 'Oh, I'm headed back to Vancouver. How did I do this?'" he said.
"So there were definitely moments of getting lost on the trail and misadventures."
Plagued by hurt, humidity and mosquitoes but armed with humour and hiking shoes, Hainsworth embraced the misadventures head on.
He said the obstacles are what make it interesting and after leading numerous canoe, cycling and hiking trips in Canada and abroad, he's had his fair share.
"As an adventure journalist, being able to recognize, realize and roll with the punches of those misadventures is key," he said. "There's always something - a rainstorm, a chance adventure with a black bear, a trail being blocked.
"And literally I had 30 days of that sort of thing while trying to complete the trail."
Hainsworth hiked every day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and said his closest call came just the day the trip was ending.
"I hiked about 30 to 35 kilometres per day and in the final couple hours of hiking it was literally left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot," he said.
"One day at about 4:30 p.m. I went to go step over what I thought was a log until the 'log' started moving out from underneath me. I leapt back to realize that waddling away from me - what I thought was this log - was a giant porcupine."
Hainsworth said the animal didn't rush him, but rather waddled away and climbed the nearest tree.
"We both just watched each other for a while and then I finally took a breath and continued," he said.
"Fortunately for me, this porcupine was much more docile than I ever thought because that could have been a painful situation."
Hainworth's book, Adventures with Bruce, brings the reader on the journey, day-by-day and kilometre-by-kilometre. He said he writes to engage both the hardcore adventurer and the hammock adventurer.
"I think it would appeal to someone perhaps who wants to do the Bruce Trail, or perhaps they've already done the Bruce Trail and they want to see if their recollections are the same as mine," he said.
"And then the hammock side - someone who's going away for a vacation and they want to read about rather than actually hike on Canada's longest hiking trail.
"I really do try and include the adventure athlete and the armchair athlete in my writing."
He encourages anyone who is intrigued by the idea to make the adventure happen.
"It's a beautiful trail, and somehow not enough people know about it and not enough people are using it right now," he said.
"So anyone's who inspired by the book should lace up their shoes and check out the trail themselves."
Hainsworth's book will be released the first week of July and is available at Republic Bicycles in Squamish and Armchair Books in Whistler.
