By Joe O'Blenis
May 5, 2004
|
|
 |
Joe O’Blenis
Click on photo to check
out Joe's photogallery! |
|
I launched on May 5th from northern British Columbia in a Clipper Sea 1 canoe supplied by clipper Canoes for my epic six-seven month canoe expedition across Canada. I expect to reach my destination sometime in November.
This idea has been on my mind for a number of years now and finally, after many months of planning, I’m set to go! Many thanks got to my sponsors, without whom this trip would not be happening. Please check out their respective websites as they are the ones helping make this possible.
My route will consist of coastal paddling along the world-famous BC Inside Passage before heading inland on a 50-kilometer portage to an immense series of rivers north of Tweedsmuir Provincial Park. By way of the Nechako River, I’ll eventually come out on the Fraser River for some UPRIVER paddling enroute to Williston Lake and eventually the small town of Hudson Hope. This is the beginning of the Peace River, which I will paddle down all the way to Lake Athabasca in northeast Alberta, just below the Northwest Territories!
From here, I’ll head up the Athabasca River, turning onto the Clearwater River at Fort McMurray for more upriver paddling enroute to the 19 kilometer Methye Portage. This will take me into the waters of the mighty Churchill River that I will follow for over 1000 kilometers all the way across Saskatchewan. Another portage will take me over a watershed and onto the Saskatchewan River as I head into the province of Manitoba.
In Manitoba, I’ll paddle the length of Lake Winnipeg, the 8th largest freshwater Lake in the world before heading up the Winnipeg River into the province of Ontario. Eventually I’ll paddle the north shore of Lake Superior, the largest lake in the world by surface area. After Superior, it is onto Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay. Up the French River, across Lake Nippissing, down the Mattawa River, down the Ottawa River and into the St. Lawrence River on my way to the waters of the North Atlantic.
Along the way I expect to take on between 125 and 150 portages, ranging from less than a hundred meters to a whopping 50 kilometers! I’ll be running up to class 3 whitewater and portaging around rapids of class 5!
I will have food drops across Canada in intervals of between two and five weeks for pickup along the way through friends, family, canoe & kayak outfitters etc.
I will be keeping a journal during the trip on my laptop computer, powered by a Brunton Solaris 25 which Heather and Brandon Nelson of Bellingham Washington have generously loaned to me for my expedition. Just last year, Heather and Brandon circumnavigated Siberia’s Lake Baikal…the largest lake in the world by total volume…Baikal being much, much deeper than Lake Superior. Check out their Expedition Authority page on WetDawg.com
Many, many thanks to all my family and friends as well…you know who you are!
Cheers…Joe O’Blenis
Editor's Note: Do you have a question you want to ask? Go to Joe's Ask the Pro page on WetDawg.com.
Back to Cross Canada Index
| 
