Six Young Explorers Embark on 900-Mile Canoe Expedition to the Arctic – Gear Packing List

Ben Woods and five friends are embarking on a 70-day expedition to the Arctic Ocean through Canada’s Barren Lands. With the aim of connecting three rivers—the Dubawnt, the Morse and the Armark—via a never-before-attempted upstream haul into the Morse, the team will travel more than 900 miles from Black Lake, Saskatchewan, to the Queen Maude Gulf.

With a grant from the Camping & Education Foundation, and a National Geographic Young Explorers Grant, the team of experienced whitewater canoeists will also collect water samples for the International Arctic Research Institute at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. These will be used to create isotopic landscapes, or “isoscapes,” which are used to track animal migration among other natural phenomena. Learn more at www.3provincecanoe.com.

When Kyle, Henry, Andrew, Chris, Jess, and I converged on Deer Island—the home of Camp Kooch-I-Ching in northern Minnesota—in late May, months of frantic planning gave way to two weeks of focused packing. A dream years in the making was about to become reality. As we began thinking about how best to thwart bear attacks, rig our life jackets for ice crossings, and organize ten weeks worth of food and gear, our collective anxiety began to dissolve. But on the morning of our departure, the nerves returned in full force. I kept asking myself: “Are we really about to do this?” And: “Are we ready?”

Of course, we are. Having spent the past 15 years canoeing the scenic lakes and wild rivers of Ontario and Manitoba with my five teammates, an Arctic expedition seemed inevitable in retrospect. As campers, and later as counselors, at Camp Kooch-I-Ching, or “Kooch,” we’d regularly talked about doing a trip that was longer, harder, and more remote than what we’d done previously.

When Kyle approached me with the idea of an Arctic expedition two winters ago, I said yes so fast he assumed I wasn’t taking him seriously. Henry, Andrew, Chris, and Jess also signed on without hesitation. Although we’d scattered across the globe in the years since college (I was working as reporter for The Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh), no one could pass up the opportunity for genuine exploration, a real adventure in one of the world’s most hostile and beautiful wildernesses.

Last week, we loaded our three canoes, ten packs (some weighing as much as 150 pounds), paddles, life jackets and fishing rods onto a trailer, in preparation for a 40-hour drive to Black Lake starting at midnight. As we tarp the gear and cinch down the boats, everyone’s quieter than usual. I can’t help but shake my head and smile: “We’re really about to do this.”

Arctic Trip Gear List

Transport:

3 canoes (2 Nova Craft, 1 Old Town)

6 Bending Branches Black Pearl bent-shaft paddles (for flat water)

6 Bending Branches Expedition Plus straight-shaft paddles (for whitewater)

6 Extrasport Pro Creeker PFDs

3 Wind Paddle sails

Shelter:

3 Eureka! Tents K2-XT tents

Nemo Bugout shelter

Storage:

3 Frost River Lewis & Clark packs (for tents & personal gear)

2 #4 Duluth packs (for tents & personal gear)

1 “tin” wanigan (for pots & pans)

4 SealLine 115L dry bags (for food & white gas)

Kitchen:

2 MSR Whisperlite stoves

5 gallons of white gas

Set of pots and pans

3 spinning rods

Fly rod

Tackle box

Navigation:

3 sets of 1:250,000 & 1:50,000 maps

3 NRS map cases

3 Silva compasses

Garmin GPSMAP62s

Garmin eTrex C

Leitz binoculars

Photo & Video:

Nikon D800 DSLR

Fuji X100s rangefinder

GoPro Hero3

Nikon 70-200mm f/4 telephoto lens

Nikon 24 mm f/1.4 wide-angle lens

Nikon 16mm f/2.8 fisheye lens

GoalZero solar battery, inverter & solar panel

LowePro camera and lens cases

Watershed backpack

Health & Safety:

Iridium 9555 satellite phone

DeLorme inReach SE satellite communicator