Jennifer Geens
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 23/05) - Jamie Bastedo is hanging up his travelling gear for the winter.

A small crowd at City Hall welcomed the author and adventurer last Friday. The NWT Recreation and Parks Association commissioned Bastedo to travel all 3,112 km of the NWT portion of the Trans Canada Trail and write a guidebook.

Premier Joe Handley (left) and Mayor Gord Van Tighem break the sod for the Trans Canada Trail Pavilion where Matonabee Street meets the Frame Lake trail. - Jennifer Geens/NNSL photo

The ceremony was also held to kick off construction of a pavilion that will mark Yellowknife's place on the trail.

Bastedo paddled from Fort Smith to Fort Providence, and cycled from Fort Providence to Yellowknife to collect material for a guidebook to the NWT portion of the trail.

He will finish the project next summer by biking the Dempster highway and paddling to Tuktoyaktuk.

After speeches and a barbecue lunch, dignitaries walked along the Frame Lake trail to the foot of Matonabee St., where construction of Yellowknife's Trans Canada Pavilion will begin this week.

Premier Joe Handley, Mayor Gord Van Tighem, and Municipal and Community Affairs minister Michael McLeod broke the sod for the pavilion.

Handley said the government is investing in the trail to help the territory's residents stay active. In July, government announced $500,000 over five years will go to the NWT Recreation and Parks Association for trail development.

He said the Trans Canada trail may also promote tourism. "I think you'll find there are people who'll want to do a piece of the trail in every province and territory, and ours is the longest and most exciting," he said.

Ruth Rolfe, travel association president, said the guidebook Bastedo is writing will help travellers use the trail safely.

She recalled that when she worked at the visitor information centre in Hay River, tourists used to ask how to paddle safely over the Slave River rapids.

The answer is you don't.

The pavilion will be officially unveiled in the spring. More than 900 Yellowknifers bought metres of the trail for $50, and will have their names inscribed on the pavilion.

Other pavilions will be in Hay River, Inuvik, Tuktoyaktuk and Norman Wells.

From end to end, the Trans Canada Trail will stretch more than 18,000 km over land and water.