During stage 1 we will kayak 1,400 miles from Seattle, Washington to Skagway, Alaska. The Pacific Northwest is home to a wide range of aquatic and terrestrial animals. We will be studying whales and other marine mammals, kelp forests, salmon, and many other species.
The Pacific Northwest is home to a variety of large land mammals including Grizzly Bears, and Black Bears. Above and below the surface we are sure to find plenty of things to learn about. Many of these large mammals need large undeveloped spaces to thrive and the roadless sections of British Columbia and Alaska provide the perfect habitat.
From Skagway, Alaska we will hike over the Chilkoot Pass in the footsteps of thousands of gold seekers who struggled across the pass to reach the Klondike. Many of artifacts remain from those early days, and we will follow their path all the way to Dawson City along the mighty Yukon River.
From Bennet Lake on the eastern side of the Chilkoot Pass we will canoe through a chain of lakes that form the headwaters of the Yukon River past White Horse and down the swift flowing Yukon River to Dawson City. 
From Dawson we will hike 100 miles through the mountains to the headwaters of the Blackstone River. The Blackstone flows into the Peel River, which flows in the McKenzie River, which will lead us to the Arctic Ocean. The rivers flowing through these rugged mountains as some of the most pristine wild rivers in North America, with hundreds of miles of flowing waterways between towns or roads.
After over 2,600 miles of paddling and hiking we hope to reach the Arctic Ocean before freeze up. We will spend the month of October,2010 training our dogs, and learning about native life in the Arctic. In November we will head south along the McKenzie River by dog team, crossing 1,800 miles of frozen wilderness. There are many remote native communities along our way and we are sure to learn a lot from the people we encounter.
When the ice melts in the Spring of 2011 we will transition from dogsled to canoe and paddle 2,300 miles along the historic travel and trade route pioneered by Alexander McKenzie, Samuel Hearne, and other Canadian Explorers in the 1700's. We will finish this stage of our journey in the fall of 2011 by completing the 8 1/2 mile Grand Portage which will lead us to the rock shore of Lake Superior.
After spending the winter giving presentations and making final preparations we will begin 4,800 mile kayak journey from Grand Portage, Minnesota to Key West, Florida. The first 2,200 miles will take us through the Great Lakes and out the Saint Lawrence Seaway. 
During the final stage of our journey we will kayak the length of the Atlantic Coast from the Saint Lawrence Seaway to Key West, Florida. We will be following the seasonal whale migration from the Bay of Fundy in Maine to the warm clear waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way we will visit cities large and small, and study a variety of ecosystems and environmental topics. We also plan to take side trips into the cyprus swamps and Everglades National Park looking for Alligators, birds, and other critters.
Latest News
| Wilderness Classroom Presentation at Lincoln Park REI 12/01/2009  CHICAGO – Have you ever wanted to kayak among the orcas and sea otters of the Inside Passage or maybe dogsled the frozen Mackenzie River? The Wilderness Classroom Organization, a local nonprofit th [ ... ] |
| Visiting Mitchell Paddles 11/22/2009  During our time out East, we had the opportunity to swing by the Mitchell Paddle headquarters in Canaan, New Hampshire. There we met up with Peter Mitchell, who gave us a glimpse into the world of h [ ... ] |
| A Great Evening at Shedd Aquarium 11/17/2009  On November 5th, the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago hosted an event for the Wilderness Classroom. Dave and I were thrilled to have the chance to have an event in the Oceanarium. After all, the Oceanarium [ ... ] |
| MTI Adventurewear and Palm become Silver Sponsors of the NAO! 10/31/2009  Returning to the office after a school assembly, Dave and I were surprised to see a very large box on the doorstep. The box was from MTI Adventurewear! I jumped up and down with joy and Dave grabb [ ... ] |
| Whitewater Canoeing in North Carolina 10/26/2009 We hope you enjoy this video of us paddling our Wenonah Cascade in North Carolina. |
| Whitewater Canoeing Out East 10/23/2009  Dave and I have logged thousands of miles in a canoe. Most of those miles have been on flatwater lakes and rivers. While planning the North American Odyssey, we realized that the second stage woul [ ... ] |