Dear friends and family,

By this point, perhaps news, or whisperings of news, has reached your ears of my coming adventure. If not, here it is!

After spending the fall, winter and spring at Wilderness Canoe Base, I have been invited to be a part of an expedition. This summer I will be paddling with a group of three other men from Lake Superior to the Hudson Bay - an 80 day, over 1400 mile canoe trip. We will be embarking on the morning of May 23 from Grand Portage National Monument with the destination of reaching York Factory on the mouth of the Hayes River. Both of these sites were fur trading headquarters and bear great historical significance to the exploration and development of North America.

Our route will take us over rivers and swamps, small lakes and really big ones (Lake Winnipeg). We will be travelling through areas marked by varied land use: government sanctioned wilderness with restricted-access, towns developed around dams for hydro-electricity and paper mills, and places left remote simply by geographic distance.

I hope to learn a great many things: area history, geography and ecology. Most importantly though, I am excited for the personal growth and intense teamwork that I will get to experience. 

The website for the expedition is http://voyageurhudsonbayexpedition.com/. It is in conjunction with Voyaguer Canoe Outfitter's 50th anniversary of establishment as we seek to celebrate their many years of operation and call attention to the adventure to be had on canoe trips. Once we begin, you will be able to chart our progress and review updates from the trip throughout the summer. There is an opportunity to support our expedition financially, but I will stress that most importantly, I desire your prayers and well wishes for a safe and successful journey. Thank you much. Check back here occasionally through the summer, and possibly find some words from the field. 

If you have any questions, feel free to email me. We are currently hashing out the final details and it is a very exciting time. After May 20 I will most likely no longer be checking email regularily, but if something pressing comes up, you can email Sue Prom (<sue@canoeit.com>) and the message will be somehow relayed to us in the field. 

And a final bit of news - This fall I have been accepted into the naturalist training program at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center near Finland, MN. I will be teaching visiting middle school and high school youth while taking graduate credits for the first year in a masters of environmental education. This will carry me through to spring 2012, so it will be another year in the North Woods! Visitors welcome!

Happy trails,

Will