Group walking historic trail from Swift Current to Fort Battleford
273-km trail used by Indigenous travellers in pre-colonial times
A group of people departed from Swift Current, Sask., along a historic Saskatchewan trail on Thursday morning. They are headed north — 273 kilometres to be exact.
Their destination is Fort Battleford, and six of the group have committed to walking the full length over an 18-day stretch.
The trail was used by Indigenous travellers in pre-colonial times and was re-established in the late 1800s once the Transcontenental Railway came along, said Hugh Henry, one of the hikers and a member of the Saskatchewan History and Folklore Society.
Though very little remains of the actual trail today, archival maps were studied, then transcribed to modern day maps as a reference point.
"We'll be roughing it, for the most part," Henry said of the trek.
At one point about two years ago, Henry and a friend walked the path used by the North-West Mounted Police to Fort Walsh from Wood Mountain, a 310 km trip which was completed in 21 days.
"It just seemed like a logical extension to try it again," he said, adding the Swift Current-Fort Battleford trail was about the same length.
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With files from CBC Radio's The Morning Edition