'The soul of Canada': First woman to walk solo across country reflects on five-year journey

When Melanie Vogel moved from Germany to Canada it was love at first sight.

"If I plan to stay here," she recalls thinking. "I might want to get to know it."

So, after reading an article about the Trans Canada Trail, Melanie spontaneously decided to walk from coast to coast by herself, camping along the way.

"To adventure for the sake of adventuring," she smiles.

With a 60-pound pack on her back, Melanie embarked from Cape Spear, N.L., in the summer of 2017.

"I did really not know how this journey would unfold," she says.

Melanie documented her experiences on her Between Sunsets website and social media accounts, including her Facebook page.

Her online journals ranged from relishing the different seasons to greeting the dynamic wildlife, to appreciating the diverse geography.

"And truly reconnecting with this land and nature," Melanie says.

She shared the exuberant moments – like in one video where she's walking and singing an improvised song about it being "such a good day" – and the challenging ones, like the video showing her scream and cry in agony while hiking up a relentless incline.

Although she always found a way to make the bad days better by focusing on the natural beauty that surrounded her, Melanie admits that half way across the country she started struggling to move forward.

"My spark for this journey had kind of lowered," she says.

But then a feral dog started following Melanie along the trail, who she eventually adopted and named Malo.

"Watching him walking in front of me with his tail wagging," Melanie smiles. "It just made all the days so much better."

Especially after Melanie decided to expand her journey and walk north to the Arctic Ocean, where they had to pause during the pandemic, before embarking on their final leg to the West Coast.

"When you’re walking you cannot be fast," Melanie says. "And your whole life slows down."

And you find you have the time to meet thousands of strangers who become friends along the way, some of whom offered places to stay during the worst weather, fixed her broken gear, and delivered gift bags of food.

Melanie says many of the people she met will remain friends beyond the trail.

"The kindness of the people is the soul of Canada," she says.

After five and a half years and 20,000 kilometres, hundreds of people showed up to follow Melanie as she took the final steps of her journey in Victoria, B.C.

"I was so touched," Melanie says. "I started to cry."

While she immediately celebrated her accomplishment by placing her blistered bare feet in the Pacific Ocean, Melanie says it will take some time to truly reflect on the personal impact of her adventure.

What she does know for sure is that Canada feels like home.

"The love has deepened so much now," she says.

Melanie says the greatest gift of all may be that whenever she starts feeling overwhelmed by the often relentless rhythms of modern life, she now knows calm and balance can always be found by walking along the closest trail and surrounding yourself with nature.

"And the realization of that," Melanie says. "Is just so comforting."