Ground Truth Trekkers
Andre Gagne : Oct 3.2007Some people simply have more ambition than I do. I’ve gone on a couple canoe trips - a few multi-day and one multi-week… but what Erin and Hig are up to shows a degree of commitment to outdoor adventure that I’m not sure I’ve encountered before. To travel from Puget Sound to the Bering Sea by foot, packraft and skis? That is what they are in the midst of at this time. That is indeed impressive, and they’re not doing it just to test their own tenacity. Their mission is to "explore, study, and communicate the key environmental issues facing this coast…" Browse their site (click here), and after you click on the ‘donate’ icon to help them out with costs both present and future, read their blog to see: what they’ve been up to, what they’ve found out, and their last known location.
It would appear they’re just north of Wrangell now. They left in June, and they hope to be done by March 2008. They’ll be somewhere on or along Alaska’s coastline throughout the winter - raft or skis.
A note about the website:
What strikes me about the site is the thoroughness with which Erin and Hig have invested time and energy developing a comprehensive ‘environmental issues’ web page and series of links describing the issues affecting the coastline in question. Wild salmon, forests, climate change and resource extraction are their issue headings. There are maps of mine sites, proposed and current, EPA statistics about toxins, an acid-mine drainage ‘101′ and information about the mega Pebble Mine proposal for Bristol Bay.
Erin and Hig are cordially invited to visit Whitehorse this spring to present their videos, photos and findings. In the meantime, listen to their podcasts.