A Prince George native can now lay claim to being the first person to walk the entire southern portion of the Trans Canada Trail.
Dana Meise, 39, took the last of an estimated 25 million steps Thursday when he dipped a foot into the Pacific Ocean at Clover Point in Victoria, ending a more than 16,000-kilometre trek that began in May 2008 in Cape Spear, Nfld.
"Surreal," and "pretty cool" were among the expressions he used to describe the feeling he got upon finally completing the journey - although he has one more leg remaining and plans to start walking and paddling to the Arctic Ocean in April.
"It was my dream come true and I've not completed it yet," Meise said. "I've already set the record but it's going to be a lot bigger record."
To meet his goal of completing the journey this month, Meise walked 30 to 40 kilometres per day carrying a 60-pound pack along the way and covering about 3,800 kilometres during the last leg of the southern trek.
His feet suffered plenty of hardship.
In summer 2009, he developed Plantar fasciitis, a very painful foot problem, that reduced his hiking to two months for that year and while out on the trail, blisters were an ongoing annoyance.
"They look like hamburgers," Meise said about the condition of his feet. "You just get so used to the pain that you just push through it and it's no big deal.
"It's not life threatening or anything, it's just uncomfortable and I always tell people, 'when I'm out of my comfort zone, that's when I'm most comfortable.'"
Through it all, he went through 17 pairs of hiking boots, relying on Keen Oregon boots which lasted about 1,000 kilometres each).
Meise said he embarked on the journey in honour of his father, who is now confined to a wheelchair due to a brain aneurysm and lives at Simon Fraser Lodge.
"When you see somebody go through what my dad has gone through, and the man he is, it's outstanding and if you can't find the inspiration in that, then in all fairness there is nothing anyone can do for you ever," Meise said.
Meise spent most of his formative years in Prince George, attending College Heights Secondary School before moving to Red Deer where he graduated. He returned to Prince George where he has worked as a forestry technician for about 20 years.
He listed seeing the sun rise off the shore of Newfoundland, reuniting with his family and being the subject of media fanfare in Ottawa and meeting his now girlfriend in Thunder Bay, Ont. as the top three highlights.
The most challenging portion was not confronting the snow and cold weather while crossing the mountains in B.C. but making his way across the prairies, due in part to a lack of water.
"It used to be 80 per cent marshland but it's all been drained for agriculture so you can go for days without a single stream...you have to knock on doors to ask for water," Meise said. "I was so dehydrated and dizzy and headached and fatigued from dehydration."
About 17,000 of the 24,000 km of trail under development has been completed. The goal is to have it all in place by Canada's 150th birthday in 2017.
