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 Vermont Farm Tours
Vermont Farm Tours
Wednesday, 01 August 2012 10:23
We are now in Burlington, Vermont, enjoying a very relaxing few days. Yesterday, we were given the privilege of going on a Farm Tour with Chris Howell who runs the company, Vermont Farm Tours. He takes people on tours of local farms, exposing people to the abundance of local food in the area. He gave us a wonderful tour, full of exploration and delicious local treats. First, we visited Windy Corners Farm, which is essentially a subsistence farm as they primarily produce food with the intent to live off of it. But they will sell excess food. They took us on a tour exploring the gardens, the barn, and the new hay bale construction house. Next, we sampled some raw milk from the goat and cow, fresh from that morning, and had a couple delicious cheeses made from the milk.
From there we drove a couple minutes down the road to the Charlotte Village Winery and Pelkey’s Blueberries. There was a wine tasting which included wines from blueberries and grapes picked from their land. Then we had a delicious lunch with fresh local salad, sandwiches made by the City Market Co-op, cupcakes, and a lesson in wine and cheese tasting.
We picked two pounds of blueberries and then headed to the Bread and Butter Farm, where the presentation will be today. We went on a tour of the property, exploring the greenhouses, barn, milk room, and fields. We also heard the fascinating story of how the farm was saved from development. Then we went to the bakery, and made mozzarella cheese! It was an intriguing process of turning a gallon of fresh raw milk into cheese. We were all amazed at how easy it was to do. We were also impressed with how delicious it was! We tried it on its own, then we added some basil leaves, and then we toasted it on some fresh bread from the bakery. What an amazing treat! We even tried it with a few of the blueberries from earlier, but we don’t recommend the combination.
It was an absolutely wonderful and fun-filled day and we learned a lot as well, all thanks to Chris Howell and Vermont Farm Tours.
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