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.
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Expedition Blog Île Verte -- St. Lawrence River
Expedition Blog Île Verte -- St. Lawrence River
Île Verte -- St. Lawrence River
Saturday, 21 July 2012 19:31
We woke up to another beautiful morning, ready to paddle to Montreal. We had a nice cool breeze all morning, and the 22 miles to the Lachine Canal quickly flew by. After we joined the St. Lawrence River, we noticed a huge change in the water clarity. It was much clearer. We could see the bottom in many places, and we saw quite a few large fish swimming around. Soon, we entered the Lachine Canal, and went through five lock over the course of seven miles. Together, the locks dropped a total of 14 meters; the rapids on the other side must be pretty big! As soon as we left the canal, our eyes were met with the skyline of Montreal. We were surprised by how big of a city it is. Soon after exiting the canal, we were swept away by the current coming from the below the rapids. It was moving us along at almost nine miles per hour! The waves were pretty big from the current and the constant boat traffic. It made for a fun final five miles of paddling. We set up camp on Île Verte, across the river from the large shipping port with all the ocean liners and also the magnificent looking "Stade Olympique." We saw quite a bit of wildlife today. We saw tons of big fish jumping out of the water, a large small mouth bass swimming beneath us, two Blue Herons, many terns and gulls, a cormorant, quite a few geese, two White Egrets, and some Mallards that swam right up to us in one of the locks. We travelled about 30 miles today in 11 hours (including lunch and time spent waiting in the locks.)
Lock before being lowered
Same lock after being lowered
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