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.
Hiking Back in Time on the Chilkoot Trail
Monday, 19 July 2010 18:24
Dave and I just spent four days hiking the Chilkoot Trail, following in the many footsteps of eager stampeders who followed the same route during the Klondike gold rush between 1897-98. As we hiked, we tried to imagine what the journey must have been like over 100 years ago. While the route seemed difficult at times, we were thankful that we only had to do it once with our lightweight Granite Gear backpacks and modern hiking footwear.
The Chilkoot trail existed long before the Klondike gold rush. It was used by the Tlingit people as a trade route into the interior of Canada. The Tlingit people would trade their goods from the coast with other First Nations people from the interior. They would exchange their coastal goods like fish, seal oil, and seaweed for moose, caribou hides, and other plant materials available only from the interior.
All those who traveled over the Chilkoot Pass were required to carry a year's worth of food and supplies. The Canadian government required this to prevent starvation and make sure that those heading to the Klondike were prepared to be self-sufficient. The food weighed about 1,150 lbs. With the additional required supplies, each party heading over the pass had to carry about a ton in total. Some people hired packers. Some used horses. Some traveled in the summer like us. Later on several tramways were built, allowing those who could afford it to have their gear hauled to Crater Lake for about 7 and a half cents per pound.
However, the easiest way to go over the pass was actually in the winter. Dave and I decided that if we had to haul 2,000 lbs over the pass, we would want to use a dogsled for as much of the route as possible. This is what many people did, relaying their gear from one camp to the next, on their way to the summit. The winter was the easier time to haul supplies for several reasons. The first 10 miles of trail are boggy and cross several streams. In the summer, you could be wading through a lot of mud and the mosquitoes would be pretty bad. In the winter, you could travel on the frozen river by dogsled. The famous part of the trail up to the pass, called the Golden Stairs is a tricky scramble over loose rocks during the summer time. When the Golden Stairs were covered with snow in the winter, it was easier for prospectors to cut steps in the snow. Once they deposited their load on the summit, they would slide back down to get more of their supplies. The journey in the winter could be dangerous too. Some people froze to death. An avalanche in early April of 1898 killed 60-70 people.
When we reached the top of the Chilkoot Pass on July 13, there were still large patches of snow and ice. We were glad to be only making one trip up. I am amazed by the willpower of those who would reach the summit only to drop their load and head back down for more. It was hard to imagine making the same trip up and down 30-40 times!
Once the stampeders reached the lakes, they must have been greatly relieved. A series of ferries transported goods on Crater Lake and Lindeman Lake. At Lake Bennett most stampeders built boats. At this point, they were 33 miles into a 600 mile journey. Even though they had many miles to go, many of them thought the hardest part was behind them. Those who arrived in the winter waited for the ice to go out, before beginning the rest of the journey to Dawson. Many trees were harvested in this area to build boats. I thought that the forest looked like it was making a pretty good come-back. However, later I learned that it will take another 200 years for the forest to return to its pre-gold-rush state.
Instead of building boats, Dave and I waited for the train to deliver our kayaks. You see, the kayaks took the other popular route, over the White Pass (by train). The railroad was built toward the end of the gold rush and many men and women had a similar struggle shuttling supplies along the White Pass Trail. It was a bit longer than the Chilkoot, but not as steep.
As we unloaded the contents of our backpacks into our kayaks, I thought about the stampeders loading their 2,000 lbs onto their newly made boats. Many boats were leaky or tippy. They had to navigate several sets of rapids. Not all of the boats made it. We paddled through the series of lakes into the Yukon River. I was kind of glad that Miles Canyon was just fast flowing water and the Whitehorse Rapids no longer exist because a large hydroelectric dam has been built. Our only challenge was to portage around the dam. While the dam eliminated the rapids, the ecosystem has been affected. The construction of the dam in the late 1950s had a detrimental effect on the migration of the Chinook Salmon. Now, the world's longest wooden fish ladder can be seen, extending 366 meters along the east side of the dam to aid in the migration of this amazing fish.
Dave and I are now in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory preparing for the next phase of the trip. Since we will continue following the route of the Klondike gold rush, down the Yukon River to Dawson, we will be sure to keep an eye out for more artifacts and stories from the gold rush. Who knows, we might even find modern-day prospectors still searching for gold in the same area!
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