I hope you will enjoy hearing about a trip Joy and I did four years ago. This will be a reprise of the presentation that Bruce Monroe and I delivered at Canoecopia 2017.

In 2016, Joy and I, with solid paddling skills, decided to up our game and attempt a full-blown expedition. We teamed up with two friends, loaded two tandem sea kayaks, and headed off to paddle all the way around Isle Royale. 150 miles and 13 days later, we ended up with a successful trip – we were (and are) still talking to each other!

Isle Royale is known for its remote wilderness setting and its incredible beauty. This 70-mile long island, sitting 25 miles off the Minnesota/Canada border in Lake Superior, is also a great objective for a full-blown kayak expedition. Its remote location mandates that paddlers have decent wilderness skills and a clear-eyed assessment of their own strengths and weaknesses. The cold, open waters of Lake Superior brew their own weather, and we spent a lot of time studying weather patterns and navigation strategies. With no options for re-supply in mid-trip, we had to plan on “living out of our boats” for two weeks. That focused a lot of attention on good food planning and careful gear selection.

Don has been outdoors (especially in the Midwestern US) all his life. After a couple of decades in the outdoor industry (climber and mountaineer, photographer, skier, sea kayaker and author), he settled in as an energy analyst and green building specialist. Don now focuses his outdoor time on sea kayaking, and XC skiing during the few months when paddling is less convenient. His paddling journeys have taken him from Alaska to North Carolina. A native of Wisconsin, he is especially fond of the Apostle Islands, the Wisconsin River, and Pamlico Sound.

This will be a Zoom presentation, so please register for this show by Thursday, March 11.  A Zoom link will be forwarded to you on Friday, March 12.