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.
Expedition Blog Celebrating the summer solstice
Celebrating the summer solstice
Tuesday, 22 June 2010 00:00 Last Updated on Tuesday, 16 November 2010 03:37
It is easy to loose track of time during the summer in Alaska and on calm days we often find ourselves paddling late into the day, but to celebrate the summer solstice we decided to take a whole new approach. We spent June 20th exploring the rustic fishing town of Wrangell, Alaska. The delta of the sediment rich Stikine River blocks passage to the north at low tide and even kayaks have to traverse the giant delta mudflats on a high tide. So we waited for high tide. On a normal day we would start looking for a campsite around 4 or 5 in the afternoon, but to celebrate the solstice and to traverse Dry Straight—and celebrate the solstice—we launched at 4 PM, with our headlamps ready.
As we paddled into the shallowest section of the river delta, the tide was cresting and the sun cast a golden glow on the snowy peaks surrounding the Le Conte Glacier. The wind vanished with the sun and the mirror smooth swell was the only reminder of the steady headwind.
As we chatted about how the Dry Straight didn’t seem all that shallow, the bottom surged upwards and we were left gingerly dipping our paddle blades in 6 inches of water. For hundreds of yards we silently paddled with the mud inches below our hulls. It was a relief to know that the tides was still rising because a buggy night stuck in the middle of the river delta was not our idea of a solstice celebration.
We cheered as we passed Dry Island and left the mudflats behind. It was almost 10 PM, but there was still plenty of light. The sun’s final rays highlighted funny looking boats on the eastern shore of Fredrick Sound. The next morning we would realize that these funny looking boats were actually icebergs from the Le Conte Glacier, North America’s southernmost tidewater glacier.
With the delta behind us, we would have normally stopped and camped at the first inviting beach, but being the summer the solstice we decided to paddle our Current Designs Solstices until midnight. In fact it was after 1 AM by the time we set up camp and wolfed down a very late dinner. The bugs seemed to be out late celebrating as well, so we left our headlamps off. It was still light enough.
blog comments powered by Disqus