Love to hike? So does Sarah Wieler.
She’s a local journalist who recently released her first book, The Hike-Through Province.
“It’s something I’ve been dreaming about since I was a little kid. But life gets busy, and you start books and you don’t finish them. So this is the first, first full-length book I’ve actually gotten a chance to finish,” Wieler told our newsroom.
She moved to New Brunswick in 2016 to get her first job as a journalist in Saint John, and she got to discover and was inspired by the hiking trails in New Brunswick. She paid a visit to Fundy National Park and was hooked from there.
Wieler is still working on checking off her list of more than 150 trails that she wants to experience.
When asked if she has a favourite trail in the province so far, Wieler says that’s a really tough one.
“I would say a lot of the trails in Fundy, like Laverty Falls or Third Vault Falls. I absolutely love the Goose River Trail in Fundy, which hooks up with the Fundy Footpath. I absolutely love the view from there, the cliffs. Any view that I can get of the New Brunswick cliffs is probably my favourite trail,” she says.
Wieler also told us, even when she found out she was expecting her first child, that didn’t stop her from exploring New Brunswick’s trails.
“I told myself that I didn’t want to be one of those people who slows down during pregnancy. They said that exercise is something that’s really good for pregnant moms. So I hiked all the way up until four days before Eliza was born,” she says.
“It was Canada Day. We were still at Fundy, doing the Tracey Lake Trail, and when I was eight months pregnant, I did the Goose River Trail, which was a 21-kilometre hike and that is a challenge for people that aren’t pregnant.”
Her book incorporates all of those moments, with the hopes of inspiring other expectant moms to continue being physically active.
“The end of the book is actually hiking while I was pregnant. It includes some of the things that I learned, including how to be careful,” says Wieler.
“Discovering New Brunswick is definitely a good option, and you don’t need to go far. There are trails that might not be too far from where you live. There’s a piece of New Brunswick for everybody.”
During the pandemic, she began writing down her adventures and dividing them into different chapters based on different trails. As a reporter, editors were recommended to her, and that’s how she found Angella Cormier. She went through the book and helped her through the publishing process.
A book launch is planned on Saturday, May 3, at MEC on Wyse Street in Moncton from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wieler’s book is also available on Amazon.
Wieler isn’t stopping there. The new author is already planning another book to continue showing her love for hiking.
She wants mothers to know how to prepare for a hike and how to have the best experience in the first few weeks and months of their baby’s life.
“The next book will include things like how to change a diaper in the woods or on the edge of a cliff and how to do that safely. It’ll also include hiking after a Cesarean section. I had a C-section with my first, but I wanted to show her [Eliza] New Brunswick as soon as possible. Around a week after she was born, we were out hiking in Fundy,” Wieler explains.
No word on when her next book will be released, but Wieler says she already has a few chapters written based on her adventures with her daughter and husband so far.
