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 Ottawa
Expedition Blog Ottawa
Ottawa
Saturday, 14 July 2012 22:22
We woke up to sun streaming into our tents. Louis soon came to pick us up, and brought us to their house for the best breakfast we have had in a very long time! We had bacon and eggs, all sorts of fresh local fruits, and some delicious fresh, local fruit & nut bread. What a meal! After breakfast, we headed into downtown with Louis and Julia as our tour guides. First we saw the "Changing of the Guard" in front of the magnificent Parliament buildings. Julia works at the library and got us some free passes to the National Gallery of Canada. We walked around for a while and saw some great Canadian artwork including some beautiful landscape paintings from "The Group of Seven" which was the first major Canadian art movement. Next we visited the Inuit art exhibit which was fascinating. Particularly spectacular, was a caribou's head whose antlers had been intricately carved into sled dogs, bears, seals, humans, a kayak, and other meaningful things to the Inuit people. After the art gallery, we walked across the Alexandra bridge to the Quebec side to take a peek into the Museum of Civilization which is a striking building with beautiful grounds. There was a wedding party there at the same time as us. Then we walked back to the car, taking as many air conditioned breaks as possible and sampling local things like fresh strawberries and a frozen banana dipped in chocolate. We did some food shopping and then Louis and Julia dropped us off at the home of Jay Morrison who a mutual friend put us in contact with. Jay and his wife invited us over for a delicious dinner of salmon burgers and a great rice and bean salad with ice-cream and strawberries for desert. They also invited Max Finkelstein over for dinner. It was great to meet both of them. They have both paddled across Canada and done numerous long canoe trips, so it was great swapping stories and talking about areas we have all been through. Max wrote a book about his journey, that we have read, so it was awesome to talk about it in person. They offered us much useful information about paddling down the rest of the Ottawa river, where to camp and what to visit. We had a wonderful evening with Jay, Kelly, and Max, and we hope to see them again sometime and maybe go paddling!
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