After several hours on Inland Lake Trail on a hot summer’s day, Jake Corbett took his accomplishment in stride.
On Sunday, July 27, Corbett completed his 1,000th rounding of the lake and had family and friends on hand to join him and to help him celebrate the special occasion. He completed a journey that began in 1993.
Recounting the momentous occasion several days later, Corbett was emotional. An unexpected but deeply desired surprise was waiting near the conclusion of the adventure at Anthony Island Campsite. His sister, Kathy, came to celebrate.
“She’d been wheeled in on a wheelchair,” Corbett said. “She has mobility issues. It made the day. Some friends got her a wheelchair. She wanted to be there and it was wishful thinking on my part, knowing that it was probably not possible.
“That’s a trek getting her there—about eight kilometres return. It was a big push.”
His friend Gordon Norman, who has Parkinson’s disease, also made an enormous effort the day of the walk. He wanted to complete the circuit with Corbett who told him, “Gee, I don’t know Gord, it’s eight miles. Why don’t you go up to Anthony Island, and if you feel better, keep going and meet us.”
Corbett said Norman was determined, however, starting and completing the walk with him.
“What a trooper,” Corbett said. “I saw him three days after and he said he didn’t feel too bad after that walk. How many guys with Parkinson’s do you see doing an eight-mile walk?”
While his walking party was excited about the big day, it was bittersweet for Corbett.
“It was like, wow, what am I going to do now?” Having given the matter some thought, Corbett said he’s going to continue.
“I’m just glad I had the health to walk the lake 1,000 times.”
He’s had to make allowances, however. He did not finish the 1,000 trips around the lake on the same hips he started with. After beginning this amazing journey, he had both hips replaced. After the first hip replacement in 2008, he was back on the trail two months later. Following the second hip replacement in 2009, it was just six weeks after surgery.
“That impressed the surgeon,” Corbett said.
Part of the reason for continuing even after major surgery was that being outdoors and walking around Inland Lake has become an obsession.
“I’m just an old guy walking around in circles and I’ll keep doing that until I drop,” he said. “It gives me the opportunity to interact with nature. I hear everything. You never know what you are going to see. The peace and tranquility are a big part.”
Asked why he only travels around the lake clockwise, Corbett said he didn’t really know, but it just seems natural to him. Besides, since he’s gone 1,000 times around the lake in one direction, he doesn’t want to unwind all of those trips and start going backwards, he joked.
Corbett has documented his journeys. He has a stack of calendars detailing every walk that he’s done since 1993 except the first two. In fact, he’s developed a series of abbreviations and initials to fit the details into the small cells representing each day.
Preferring Imperial measurement, Corbett says the Inland Lake Trail is eight miles long, so he’s walked 8,000 miles now. That is the equivalent of across Canada and back, or one-third of the way around the earth.
He acknowledges he’ll never be able to walk another 1,000 trips around Inland Lake. The cumulative effect of what he has done, however, has been life changing. Corbett knows his regular treks on the lake trail have had lasting benefit. Even with the hip replacements, he said his passion for walking the trail has significantly improved his quality of life.
And to that end, he’s already completed his 1,001st rounding.
