Surfski Knowledge Base

Larry Goolsby
04/22/10 #8248

This morning, I helped 4 people launch their kayaks from Wildcat Cove that are on their way to Skagway Alaska. This is an epic trip in itself but is only a small portion of their itinerary. When they arrive in Skagway, two of them are taking the Alaska Ferry back to Bellingham while the other two (Dave and Amy)will continue on with a hike over the Chilkoat trail and onward to Whitehorse. Once there, they will take a canoe trip down the Yukon river to a point below Dawson City where they will start another land trek over to the Mckenzie river. At this point, I ran out of brain cells to record where and what they will do next, but I do remember that their trip includes a cross country dog sled trip before arriving at Lake Superior and then kayaking the length of the Great lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway. Once they reach the Atlantic ocean, they will continue down the eastern seaboard by kayak until the land at the Florida Keys. Their timetable for this trip looks to be 2.5 to 3 years and they chose today (Earth day) to start this journey.

I paddlled down from Marine Park to meet them at Wildcat Cove (didn't want to leave my car there unattended) and paddled part of the way towards Eliza with them before turning back to Bellingham and bidding them farewell. They are going to aim for camping at Blind island tonight (south of Orcas and between West and East Sound), and they want to try and average 15+ miles per day for the next 80 days. They are using Current Design Solstice kayaks that are fully packed and heavy. They are also hauling a laptop, a satellite phone, and a solar charger so that they can update their website about 2 - 3 times a week. If you are interested in following their progress, you can see their website at
http://www.northamericanodyssey.com/.
Larry G.

Brandon Nelson <brandon@…>
04/23/10 #8251

Freeking YEAH!!! Thanks for posting this, Larry. Epic, epic trip!

Brandon