Pukonen wants people to know that no change is impossible, not even climate change
Markus Pukonen has been going around the world without using a plane, train, or car for the last eight years. This trip is more than 73,000 km long. He didn’t even ride an elevator.
In July 2015, Pukonen, who is from Tofino, B.C., left Toronto in a canoe. On July 2, 2023, he rode a bike back to Canada from the United States. He crossed the border at Niagara Falls.
He said that the whole trip had been “amazing” and “unbelievable.”
He says that over the years, he has hand-cycled, tricycled, skied, kayaked, SUPed, bicycled, sailed, and walked his way around Canada and then the world.
He has been to every place. He’s taken in the fresh mountain air.
“I sailed across the Pacific Ocean, rode my bike through Southeast Asia, and sailed for many years on many different boats. “In the end, I got stuck in [Rishikesh, in the north of India] during the pandemic,” he said.
“So, I got stuck in a community during the COVID times that was much more social than I had expected. And it was a beautiful, peaceful, spiritual community where a lot of people go to get trained as yoga teachers.”
When the first lockdown in that town was over after eight months, Pukonen rode his bike through India. He said he bought a 27-foot sailboat in the south of India and then sailed across the Indian Ocean to the Seychelles and then to Africa.
“I sailed around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, across the South Atlantic Ocean, into the Caribbean, and then to Florida, where I got off the sailboat and started paddleboarding up the coast for 1,000 miles until I got to the Appalachian Trail.”
“Crossing the border was pretty hard on me
Pukonen said that crossing the border at Niagara Falls two days ago was “pretty emotional.”
“I had no idea it was going to happen, but at the customs booth I started to choke up and shake,” he said.
He said that the customs officer didn’t believe him when he told him what he had been doing for the past eight years.
“When he looked at me, I thought, ‘Oh, really? Sure. OK, so that’s what you’ve been doing?'” Pukonen said.
After he was let in, Pukonen “cycled around the corner next to the Niagara Falls and just started crying my eyes out.”
He said that when he crossed into Canada, he didn’t expect to feel this way. “It felt pretty special to get back home a day after Canada Day.”
Pukonen said that one of the reasons he went on the trip was to learn how his actions affect the environment.
“Before the trip, I had traveled a lot in Latin America and a little in Africa, and I had seen how my life, what I bought, and what I did in Canada affected people and places all over the world,” Pukonen told CBC Hamilton.
“I’m so happy for my brother.
Tamsin Pukonen, who is his sister, told CBC Hamilton that she is impressed by what he did.
“I’m so proud of my brother for setting such a big goal and sticking to it. I guess I thought he could do it at first, but now I can’t believe he did it. I can’t wait to see what he does next because his life is so interesting. She said, “He will likely sleep for a few months.”
“During this eight-year trip without a motor, I was most impressed by his commitment to the mission. It makes me wonder if he will ever use a motor again. It feels less like a mission to him now and more like a way of life.”
‘Many challenging moments
Pukonen said that there were “many challenging moments” along the way, and that skiing across British Columbia in the middle of winter was one of the hardest parts.
“I had to dig snow out from under a tree, start a fire, cook on the fire, and sleep in a little bivvy sack, which is like a waterproof sleeping bag. It was very hard to stay alive in the freezing cold weather.” I told him I wouldn’t do that again.
“One of the most consistent long-term challenges I faced was just staying alive on the roads around the world, but especially in Asia, where the pollution and dust on the roads is so bad that you breathe in black exhaust from cars and they honk their horns in your ear every time you go by.”
Thought about giving up and stoppin
Pukonen said there was only one short time during the whole trip when he actually thought about giving up.It happened while the ship was sailing from India to the Seychelles.
“The trip was only supposed to last 15 days… But I left a little bit out of season, so there wasn’t much wind, and after 30 days, a storm hit. Big waves came. It was nighttime… “My boat started making sounds I’d never heard before, and water started leaking in. I was still a long way from an island where his girlfriend was waiting for him.
“I was tired, and it was the first time on the trip that I wanted to hit the “escape” button… so I gave up.
“The storm passed, and 12 to 24 hours later I was sailing happily toward the island, having forgotten how scared I had been at that moment.”
Pukonen said that the main message he wanted to send was that change is possible and that climate change, which is one of the biggest problems facing humans right now, can be solved.
“As long as we take a step in the right direction, I think we all have the power to make very big changes in the world around us, and everything we do has a much bigger effect than I think we realize,” he said.
Final leg begins Wednesda
Pukonen will start the last part of his eight-year journey on Wednesday morning. He and his friend Rayne, who started the trip with him in a canoe in 2015, will kayak from St. Catharines across the lake.
“It’s going to be a long day of paddling, a bit of a “suffer fest” that will almost be the end of the trip. He said, “I’m going to kayak into the west side of Toronto and then rest for a day or two.”
Pukonen has asked his family, friends, and anyone else in the area who wants to join him to walk through the city with him.
He said, “I’ll walk from the Humber Bay Arch Bridge to The Beaches at the Balmy Beach Club, where there will be a party to mark the end of the trip.”