Ground Truth Trekking: Expeditions to explore environmental issues.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are you doing?
A nine-month continuous journey from the Puget Sound to the Bering Sea, traveling 4000 miles by foot, packraft, and skis on the edge of the North Pacific. This trip will take us through some of the most rugged, most remote, and most wild places in North America. We'll start at our front door in Seattle in June 2007, and finish at land's end on Unimak Island (first in the Aleutian chain), in March 2008.
So, you're walking to Alaska?
Yes, but actually, we're mostly walking in Alaska. Of the 4000 miles of this trip, 250 will be in Washington, 850 in British Columbia, and 3000 in Alaska.
Why are you doing this?
To explore and communicate the broad environmental issues facing this region - issues so broad we can only really see them on a four-thousand-mile walk. The breadth of our journey will bring the wilderness into context, raising awareness of the key environmental issues that touch this coast: logging, fishing, oil drilling, mining, and global warming. By walking across vast landscapes, we will show that seemingly inexhaustible wildernesses are finite. And by comparing them with developed areas, we will show that they are vulnerable and can vanish just as they have in other areas of the world.
Are you walking on a road or a trail?
No. The Pacific coast is rugged and mountainous, separated by ice fields from the rest of the continent. No road or trail follows the coast - in fact, very few roads even reach the coast.
Hig packrafting Seldovia Bay
The key to this new style of route we're attempthing! They're one-person inflatable rafts, weighing 4 or 5 (with spray skirt) pounds each. Made by Alpacka Rafts in Alaska. These fit easily in a pack, and are quite stable and rugged, able to handle both rivers and seas. On this trip we'll primarily use them for ocean crossings - up to 5 miles. They have a top speed of about 2 miles per hour. See my Packrafting page for more information, reviews, and past packrafting trips.
What about bears?
Bears will be common along our route in B.C. and Southeast Alaska. We deal with them mostly through common sense (camping in out of the way places), but also carry either flares or pepper spray, and store our food in bearproof bags
How will you get food?
We will resupply food by buying what we can find in villages and towns along the way. The average distance between stop points along our route is about 6 days, but the longest legs are up to 16 days between towns.
Are you carrying all your stuff the whole way?
Skis on our back in Seattle in June? No. We plan to mail gear to ourselves at some of our stop points - to switch to ski gear in the winter, and to replace worn out items like socks and shoes.
How are you training for this trip?
We don't really do any special physical training, other than trying to keep in reasonably good shape (I do aikido, while Hig likes taking walks). In 9 months of travel, we'll have plenty of time to get in top form. Our main difficulty will be not losing too much weight.
How will you update the blog?
We'll be grabbing internet connections wherever we can find them at towns along the way.
Are you crazy?
See our previous Alaska expeditons. You be the judge.