2025 Mind Aid Walk Across Vancouver Island

I (Matthew Dickson, Founder of Mind Aid) am attempting to walk across Vancouver Island this winter of 2025 (February-March) to raise funds for mental health in developing countries!

I became the first person with schizophrenia to bicycle across Canada in 2023. A film was made about the ride. Click here to watch the film.

Now I am attempting to walk across Vancouver Island! I had bicycled across Canada when I was 20 in 1992 before I got schizophrenia, so I had a good idea what I was getting into when I started the ride across Canada in 2023. I am new to long-distance walking treks, so it is a real adventure for me!

Funds raised will go to FineMind, one of the 10 Mind Aid charities! Finemind helps people with mental illness in Uganda. You can learn more about them here: https://afinemind.org

Donate to Finemind here through the

2025 Mind Aid Walk Across Vancouver Island link:

http://spot.fund/2025MindAidWalk

You can watch the videos I'm making for the walk on the Mind Aid YouTube channel here.

I will be my own support vehicle driver. After walking 10-15 km each day I will retrace my steps back to my car for another 10-15 km, so 20-30 km each day total. I will essentially be walking up and down the island at the same time!

I could carry everything on my back and not use my car, but I'm not there mentally yet to do that. Plus it will be cold to camp at night, so this way with my car I can get to a place to stay each night, get food, give talks, etc.

I will take care of the trip expenses, and if I am unable to do that by sometime in January, I may have to cancel the trip.

When I was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 22, my dreams for my life were shattered. After 3 decades of recovery, being able to bicycle across Canada again in 2023 meant the world to me. Now it seems I can't keep myself away from these long-distance treks.

I'm not sure what my future holds in store for me, but other treks I'd like to do are walking the perimeter of Iceland and walking the coast of Norway.

In the meantime, my tentative route for Vancouver Island is below.

Tentative Route:

Destination - Distance

0 Mile Zero Marker for TCH in Victoria, BC

1 Strawberry Vale 9.2 km

2 Brentwood Bay 13.9 km

3 Brentwood Bay ferry terminal 1.6 km - ferry ride - Mill Bay ferry terminal to Mill Bay 5.1 km

4 Cowichan Bay 12.2 km

5 Duncan 9.6 km

6 Maple Bay 9.2 km

7 Crofton 7.4 km

8 Chemainus 11.2 km

9 Ladysmith 10. 5 km

10 Colvilletown 9.7 km

11 Departure Bay Beach 10. 6 km

12 Lantzville 10.9 km

13 Nanoose Bay 11.8 km

14 Parksville 13.6 km

15 Qualicum Beach 11 km

16 Dunsmuir 14.6 km

17 Bowser 9 km

18 Mud Bay 9.5 km

19 Buckley Bay 8.4 km

20 Royston 15.9 km

21 Sandwick, Courtenay 7.8 km

22 Grantham 8.9 km

23 Black Creek 10.8 km

24 Stories Beach, Comox-Strathcona 11. 8 km

25 Campbell River 15.9 km

26 Bloedel 14.5 km

27-37 Woss 114 km (11 days)

38-40 Nimpkish 31.1 km (3 days)

41-44 Port MacNeill 37.3 km (4 days)

45-48 Port Hardy 43.2 km (4 days)

= 48 days plus rest days, 510 km x 2 for retracing my steps back to car each day = 1020 km total