The world’s longest trail will be completed next year with nearly 15,000 miles of paths — here’s what it looks like

James Clark/Trans Canada Trail

Canada is going all out for its next birthday. In fact, you could say the country has been planning its celebration for 24 years.

The Great Trail, an extensive network of paths that spans the country from north to south and east to west, is set to be complete by the end of 2017, the year of Canada’s 150th anniversary. The project has been in progress since 1992, and will connect a whopping 14,828 miles of hiking and biking paths, making it the world’s longest recreational trail.

To put that into perspective, the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs the full length of the US’ west coast, is just 2,650 miles long.

Because of its length, the path connects a stunning diversity of landscapes, from urban walkways to snowy peaks. Take a look.

The trail wasn’t built from scratch — instead, the map was designed to connect a bunch of existing paths throughout Canada.

Trans Canada Trail

Christina Kozakiewicz, publicist for the Trans Canada Trail, the nonprofit that oversees the project, tells Business Insider that those preexisting trails make up more than half of the Great Trail. 

So far, 90% of the trail — 13,329 miles — has been connected across 13 provinces and territories.

Trans Canada Trail

Though the Trans Canada Trail organization was founded to create the trail, various local organizations and authorities have taken on the responsibility of building and maintaining the portions of it that pass through their regions or jurisdictions.

The trail runs through cities like Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal, as well as Canada's remote northern territories.

Trans Canada Trail

The most urban portion  is the Waterfront Trail in downtown Toronto, which goes along the shore of Lake Ontario and this is used by thousands of people every day. The most remote portions go through the Nunavut and Yukon territories in the northern areas of Canada. Kozakiewicz says dogsleds are commonly used on the trail in the winter there.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider