Parlevliet began hiking Canada's oldest and longest marked footpath that stretches 900 km from Niagara to Tobermory on Aug. 11 when he realized his mental and physical health were declining.
“I started doing the hike because I was feeling very depressed,” he said.
After hitting his head at work a few years ago and enduring a severe concussion and brain damage, he was struggling with his mental health.
“I wanted to do something healthy to get me on track. At the beginning it was really really hard, I couldn’t go very far and I was just feeling so out of shape. I stuck with it and kept going until it started to get easy, then it got hard again towards the end because I was just really tired.”
“I just thought so much. There were certain days I just would be in the woods by myself and start crying,” he said. “But I genuinely feel like a different person now.”
Initially this hike was only meant to better Parlevliet’s health, though as he walked alone he began to think there was potential for something more.
After he completed the trail end-to-end on Nov. 8, 58 days after starting, Parlevliet created a GoFundMe.
50 per cent of all the money raised will be going to HeadsupCAN, a local charity that aims to help those suffering from post-concussion and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) symptoms.
“I picked HeadsUP because it’s personal to me. I’ve been struggling with concussion related brain trauma since I was in high school, and also because I trust where the money is going. The founder Ryan Sutton is from Ennismore.”
The other 50 per cent will be going to the Youth Emergency Shelter.
“I wanted to do something nice at Christmas - I love Christmas. Gifts aren’t what Christmas is about to me, but I still think that kids should be able to have some gifts and have some food and feel like they’re loved at Christmas.”
Parlevliet says it was a tough trek,hiking around 40 km a day, and there were many times he wanted to quit. Now that it’s done he hopes to hike more in the future.
“I’ve wanted to do this Bruce Trail thing for a while. I started thinking about the idea in 2015 or 2015. I didn’t really know anything about it. If you have anything you want to do, just do it. Just make it happen.”
He says he hopes anyone interested in hiking the Bruce Trail will reach out to him on Instagram with any questions.
“I didn’t have fancy gear, I didn’t have poles, I didn’t have good shit - I just did it. It was really uncomfortable at times it rained for like 15 days straight, my feet were soaking, it was really miserable but I made it through and then got to good weather. If there’s anything you want to do, don’t wait for other people - just make it happen. I’m so glad I did it. There were times I thought ‘I can’t do this anymore I want to quit’ but I just kept going and it felt so good to be done.”
To donate to the Bruce Trail End to End Charity Hike click here.