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 Updates Planning and Logistics Outfitting Our Tandem Whitewater Canoe
Outfitting Our Tandem Whitewater Canoe
Monday, 19 October 2009 22:38 Last Updated on Tuesday, 24 November 2009 23:40
You don't sit in a whitewater canoe. You kneel. Having a low center of gravity is key. Also, you don't just toss your camping equipment in the bottom of the boat. You pack it in dry bags and secure it in place. All whitewater canoeing must be done with the inevitable in mind: at some point you're going to flip over.
After getting our Cascade from the Wenonah factory, we added a few bells and whistles-- actually we added D-rings, thigh straps, lacing eyelets, foam pads, and floatation. North Water makes a great tie-down kit for outfitting canoes! Dave's dad was nice enough to lend us his power tools and help us with the process.
After thoroughly reading the instructions and looking at little diagrams, we set to work. First, we screwed all of those little lacing eyelets under the gunnels. Parachute cord will later be strung in between all of the eyelets to hold the float bags in place.
Then, we glued all of the D-rings in place. Some of the D-rings are for holding the float bags in place. Others are for our thigh straps. Kneeling in our spots helped us determine the proper foam pad and thigh strap placement.
Outfitting the canoe took us a couple of hours, not to mention glue-drying time! After the canoe spent the night in a warm garage, we loaded it on top or the car ready to hit the river. I have a feeling we'll need to add skid plates eventually!