A 17,000 kilometre trip of a lifetime is dwindling down for two people chosen to travel the Trans Canada Trail.
Melba Seto and Adam Kaochanek are one of two couples being paid by Woods Canada to do an epic five month cross-country journey.
This is the fourth month of their trek, and the dental hygienist and electrician from Calgary have finally hit the East Coast.
“We were just at Peggys Cove and the lighthouse” says Kaochanek. “The sunset, the cove itself was so amazing. The little houses just kind of peppered all over the hillsides, it's been unreal.”
The pair’s journey began when Seto clicked on a Facebook video searching for adventure seekers.
“I clicked on it and as I'm watching it, it's like ‘do you climb? Do you hike? Do you wanna travel across Canada on the Trans Canada Trail?’ My heart started racing,” says Seto.
Kaochanek says it has been the adventure of a lifetime.
“When we first got the job, honestly it was so surreal, just to think we're actually going to be able to do this,” says Kaochanek. “One of my most memorable experiences is when we were paddling our kayaks, we saw a pod of Dall’s porpoises that sort of circled around us and checked us out for a bit.”
The pair has covered almost every province and territory, from waterfalls in the Northwest Territories, to scaling mountains in Banff National Park.
“Manitoba was something that surprised us a lot, because we honestly never thought of Manitoba a vacation destination,” says Kaochanek. “It turned out to be actually one of our favourite places, we wanted to stay longer, I remember saying that. We're like ‘oh, why can't we be here longer?’”
By the end of the trip, the couple will have traveled about 17,000 kilometers.
Since the Trans Canada Trail won't be complete until 2017, they have not been hiking a continuous trek. There has been times when they've had to jump in a plane, or hop in a rental car.
“We've been on road bikes through areas like B.C., we’ve been on mountain bikes in areas like Gatineau Park in Quebec. We've been on not only kayaks, but canoes and on our feet, we've been hiking quite a bit as well,” says Kaochanek.
The couple say they are proud of what they have accomplished together over the last four months.
“You'll know you’re a good match when you can camp with someone, because it takes two people to work together when you camp,” says Seto.
Their journey is not over yet, the pair will continue their travels with a trip to Cape Breton and then on to Prince Edward Island.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Matt Woodman
