Expedition Essentials: Mitchell & GMCR

What could be more essential to a canoeing expedition than a good quality paddle? Luckily Mitchell paddles, a family-run company based out of Canaan, NH, is hooking us up with 10 brand new paddles. Each of us will be ready to draw and pry through even the gnarliest set of rapids with our new Premier whitewater paddles. And when it comes to making miles on the flatwater, we'll be able to pull out five matching Leader bentshaft paddles. Mitchell paddles are both beautifully crafted and tough enough to stand up to two months of daily wear and tear on the waterways of northern Canada. We're excited to have Mitchell on board!

Speaking of things that we can't live without... some of you may have heard stories of (or even have first hand experience with) the infamous BPE caffeine addiction. Early morning with the BPE isn't a pretty sight anyway, but early morning with the BPE sans coffee is, well, let us not speak of it. Thankfully Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has signed up to provide us with enough coffee to motivate us out of the sleeping bag each morning. In case it still isn't obvious how seriously we take our coffee here's just a small sampling of coffee related pictures from the 2005 expedition:

The Countdown Begins

This week's conference call focused on finalizing our schedule for the summer so that we could purchase our tickets home from Kugluktuk. Here's the rough plan:

• Mid-May: Emily, Meg and Nina meet in Madison to finish packing out.
• June 4: Begin the drive north -- Madison to Yellowknife via Boulder Junction.
• June 9: Start paddling at the Northwest corner of Great Slave Lake.

• July 22ish: Resupply at the Dismal Lakes on the Kendall River.

• August 10: Reach Kugluktuk, Nunavut on the Arctic Ocean.
• August 11: Fly out of Kugluktuk for Yellowknife where we'll have left the van.
• August 16: Back at Manito-wish to give a slideshow during the 90th Anniversary Celebrations.

This plan puts us on the water in just 50 days! Within that time Meg will be relocating her life to the East Coast, I have to write a Second Year paper, Karen has to get Seafarer up and running for the summer, Beth needs to finish her first year of Medical school and Em plans to run a half Iron Man in Idaho. Not to mention packing out 600 pounds of food, checking, rechecking and triple checking our gear list, putting some hours in on the river, and squeezing in as much time as possible in flip-flops and sundresses.... Wish us luck!

BTW: If you're planning to paddle up north this summer and need to fly home on First Air, buy your tickets soon -- they are currently having a Summer Seat Sale.

Wilderness Paddlers Gathering

Early in March I was lucky enough to be part of the Wilderness Paddlers Gathering at the Hulbert Outdoor Center in Vermont. It rained all weekend but no one seemed to mind much as we huddled indoors watching slideshows and talking rivers. I was especially taken with some of Al Stirt and Wendy Scott's pictures of Richmond Gulf on the Ungava Peninsula. Maybe Al and Wendy only take the camera out when it's sunny but it sure looked idyllic. Maybe in 2009...

Good luck to everyone on the rivers this summer and special thanks to Deb Williams for inviting me, to George Luste for river advice, to Mike Robinson for sharing his maps of the Snare, Emile and Parent Rivers and to Kendall, Zand, Naomi & Co. for staying up late looking at maps with us.