Follow Rob Kesselring and Montana adventurer Pete Lenmark on an ambitious 910-mile arctic canoe trip. The trip began with a bush plane flight to Nonacho Lake in the Northwest Territories. Rob has a canoe stashed on this remote lake 160 miles from the nearest road. From there, things get really remote!
Paddling 290 miles Upstream
Their route takes them 290 miles upstream on the Taltson River and then up an unnamed river to the Arctic Divide. Here they will portage across the divide to the Hudson Bay drainage. They will pick up the Elk River and follow the Elk to the Thelon River and then downstream the Thelon for hundreds of miles and through three giant lakes: Beverly, Aberdeen and Schultz before ending their journey at the small, Inuit settlement of Baker Lake.
Finding the Caribou
The expedition will span the entire range of the Beverly Caribou Herd. This herd has suffered a massive population decline. At one time the herd contained an estimated 450,000 animals, but recent surveys indicate a remarkable and tragic decline of over 90%. Cause of this decline remains a mystery and one of the objectives of this expedition is to study the range for clues and to look for remnant populations.
Documenting Untouched Wilderness
Rob and Pete intend to increase global awareness of one of the last giant and truly pristine tracts of wilderness left in the world. They will travel across an area the size of Minnesota and the Dakotas combined that contains not a single permanent human resident. This transitional boreal forest tundra ecosystem is one of the least studied environments in the world, but it may be short-lived, due to aggressive plans for development in the coming years.
Find out More About the Expedition >
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Click to see a real-time Google Map with notes from the expedition in progress now!
The Arctic is home to big water, Inuit communities and the Beverly Caribou Herd, photo courtesy http://www.arctic-caribou.com
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