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.
Recent Photos
North American Odyssey
Recent Videos
Saturday, 08 May 2010 02:58
Latest News
| Larry Hawkins School adventure weekend. 05/12/2013 Amy and I just returned from a fun weekend at the Indiana Dunes. We were joined by 29 middle school students from Larry Hawkins School in Chicago. We would like to thank Mr. Diachara and all the chape [ ... ] |
| See you at Midwest Mountaineering’s Outdoor Adventure Expo! 04/23/2013  Dave and Amy are returning to the Outdoor Adventure Expo. You may have seen one of their presentations here over the years. We hope to see you again! In our presentation on Saturday we will share the [ ... ] |
| Presentations at Community Eco Fair in Alexandria, MN 04/23/2013  Dave and Amy will be giving several presentations about the North American Odyssey at the Community Eco Fair on Thursday, April 25. They are coming to Alexandria to share images, video clips, and rive [ ... ] |
| Arriving in Key West and Accomplishing Our Goal 04/07/2013  Student Response Worksheet (Upper) |
| Key West, Florida 04/05/2013  We paddled about 15 miles under an intense sun and light southeast wind. Sea turtles, sharks and rays swam in the shallow water below the hulls of our kayaks. When we reached the point where we were p [ ... ] |
| Sugarloaf Key, Florida 04/03/2013  While we were camped on Big Pine Key, we had a chance to observe an endangered animal. This animal is the Key deer. There were several Key deer that would roam around the campground. Key deer are a su [ ... ] |