An independent filmmaker from British Columbia is travelling across the country documenting a trek across the Trans Canada Trail – she’s calling the journey Five Hundred Days In The Wild.

Dianne Whelan began her journey in Newfoundland on July 1 and plans to travel across the country along the Trans Canada trail for the next two years.

“I'm hiking, biking, canoeing, cross country skiing, and snow shoeing and I'm open to maybe a horse ride in Saskatchewan,” says Whelan. “Every day I'm going to get up and I'm going to put my boots on and I'm going to point myself west and head to B.C. but I'm the turtle out here and not the jack rabbit and if you remember, the turtle wins the race.”

Whelan's last two documentary films were shot on Mount Everest and in the high arctic. This time, it's a solo adventure, designed to raise awareness and excitement over the official opening of the Trans Canada trail in 2017

“This is the longest trail in the world and it's on our land, it's on this land and it connects everybody,” says Whelan. “Usually I'm following other people's adventures, so what makes this one different is that I'm a character in my own documentary. It's basically just me and the trail.”

Whelan says some of the best days are when she meets people on the trail. Many are amazed at what's she's trying to accomplish.

“I think it’s fabulous,” says runner Harry Lamont. “It's something, if I was younger and if I had the ability, I would love to do something like that.”

Whelan says her biggest challenge so far was paddling 300 kilometres on the Bras d'Or Lakes. She planned on two weeks, but instead it took 40 days.

“It's got currents and waves and tides and well it taught me a lot about patience and a little bit about, a little dose of humility too,” says Whelan.

Whelan hopes to have the journey finished by July 1, 2017, Canada's 150th birthday.

She also hopes to have her film and book ready for publication, by the fall of that year.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh