Off-roading the 50-mile hike

 Posted by on 11 August 2009  Sidebar
Aug 112009
 

I don’t think that walking the full length along the very busy Highway 10 is a good idea. It’s not safe. I’d like to do it mostly on gravel back roads, and perhaps on old rail beds and unused road allowances. I’ve been trolling for old railway maps to see where the lines used to be, but I haven’t found any good north-south candidates. Also, when you’re on mile roads, crossing rivers becomes a problem. I’ve been scanning Google Maps for old-but-still-standing bridges we could use (here’s one, about 1.5 miles west of Hwy.10), but I’m open to route suggestions.

Grant Hamilton

  • Juel

    Just a thought about a route starting and ending in Brandon say Souris and back in one big square/circle…throwing this out there because I know Donny won’t come and pick me up in Onanole at 2am…

    • http://www.absurdintellectual.com/ Grant Hamilton

      Keith sent me an email approving of this idea in spirit, but suggesting that a Souris round-trip is slightly too far. He proposes Rivers, which I’ve verified is about the right distance, there and back, and can easily be done on mile roads.

      There’s also Beresford and Alexander — I’ve mapped it, here.

      One thing I like about this is that it’s a loop, not just there-and-back.

      Despite that, I really do like the bookstore-to-bookstore journey. It seems like ending up somewhere very far away — by foot — is more “romantic” than just ending up back where we started.