Akshayuk Pass (Baffin Island)

A high Arctic traverse through granite giants. The Akshayuk Pass in Auyuittuq National Park is an approximately 97km traverse across Baffin Island, at or just above the Arctic Circle. This is a land of sheer granite towers: Mount Asgard and Mount Thor (featuring one of the world's greatest uninterrupted vertical drops (1,250m), with a west face that averages 15° past vertical) rise above ancient glaciers. Navigation relies on Inuksuit (stone cairns) and topographical intuition; there are no marked trails, no bridges, and no cell service. It is a raw, demanding journey through a landscape shaped by ice ages, where distances feel larger than they are and progress is often dictated by terrain and weather rather than the map. Once committed, you are fully self-reliant in a place where conditions can change quickly and retreat is rarely straightforward.

Walking the edge of the continent. The East Coast Trail (ECT) is a network of 26 individual wilderness paths stretching 336km along the rugged eastern shore of Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula. It links historic fishing villages with dramatic sea stacks, deep fjords, and ocean caves. Whether you're watching icebergs drift past in June or spotting whales from the cliffs in July, the trail offers a raw, maritime beauty that is distinctly Newfoundland. Most hikers explore the ECT as a series of day hikes from St. John's rather than attempting a continuous thru-hike.