During the middle of winter 2007, Robin Parker decided it would be fun to end his yearlong exchange at the University with a trip up the Canadian coastline.
So he chose to travel more than 900 miles up the Canadian Inside Passage, almost all by sea kayak.
Parker’s journey, which began July 17 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada will conclude in Juneau, Alaska in a little over two weeks, making the trip roughly a month total. Parker, 20, will be accompanied by only one other person: His brother Ben, 18, a student in England. Robin is a geography major at the University of Aberdeen, while Ben plans on studying the same subject when he enrolls at Nottingham University in September 2008.
This won’t be the first time, however, that Robin has taken such an extreme journey. He discovered the current route while bicycling from San Francisco to Anchorage, Alaska on the Alaskan Highway over the course of 40 days in 2004. On the return trip via ferry, the water passage, which is sheltered from the brutal Pacific Ocean by thousands of inlets and islands, piqued his current interest.
“I was amazed by some of the narrow channels this car ferry followed and that it carried a National Parks naturalist on board to announce to passengers when whales or other animals were sighted from the boat. In some ways it overshadowed the bike trip, which was also an amazing trip. So I wanted to go back and re-experience it and take a closer look at the coast,” said Robin via e-mail from the brothers’ latest stop, in Prince Rupert, British Columbia.
To prepare for the trip, the brothers relied heavily on the University’s Outdoor Program, which lent guide books and maps and rented necessary equipment for the trip. The brothers also rented equipment from Whitewater Designs, a whitewater accessory company in Eugene. Ken Rodgers runs the company and has known Robin since he arrived in September 2006. Even with a relative lack of experience in kayaking and boating, Robin was still able to make a mark on an experienced boater such as Rodgers.
“You could tell he didn’t have that much experience but he put everyone at ease. I was amazingly impressed by his demeanor and by how he communicated with everyone else in the raft,” said Rodgers.
“Officially the OP is a sponsor of the trip, but there also like a friend, making sure you’ve considered all the risks, offering advice from very experienced people and helping you get a hold of everything you need,” Robin said.
Dave Villalobos, the director of the University Outdoor Program, described Robin as “a solid presence,” and noted that Robin became a valued program initiator during his stay.
So far during the journey, the brothers have tried to paddle 20 nautical miles a day, though they reported that they haven’t covered as much ground as expected. At night they usually make a simple camp on the water’s edge. When the opportunity arises to head into a local town, the brothers dutifully update their personal blog of their journey, found at http://kayaking-inside-passage.wikispaces.com.
For the next leg of the trip they will take a ferry, but only to allow them more time to spend in and around Juneau at the end of the trip.
Still, the question remains: Why kayak the Inner Passage?
“It’s a new and different challenge to me as I’m more experienced with bikes and backpacking, although a lot of the skills and common sense transfer,” Robin said.
“I’d say that the best features of this trip, for me, are that it is so self-contained, you support yourself; that the real focus of what is essentially a vacation is on the journey rather than the destination; and that you are really fully exposing yourself (through all your senses) and integrating yourself with the landscape.”
To that end, the adventure’s landscapes and wildlife have been plentiful. The brothers have spied bald eagles (“too many to count”), seals (“there’s only been one day go by when we haven’t seen one”) and dolphins (“one of the most amazing things was hearing them breathe,”) Robin said.
After this trip is completed, don’t expect the brothers to slow down at all. Robin’s future aspirations include a horse trip in either Mongolia or Ethiopia, swimming the English Channel, cross country skiing through Scandinavia and adventure road racing.
Ben will leave for India during the fall for a meditation course and to volunteer at a “neo-humanist school,” and is currently contemplating a bike excursion through overland Europe from India to England. On a rickshaw. For those scoring at home, that’s a roughly 4,000 mile ride. The brothers’ future plans surprise no one.
“I’ve been here for 30 years and Robin’s been here for about seven months and he got himself up to the top of Mt. Hood and I’ve yet to be there,” Rodgers said. “So the aspirations he has, I don’t think he’ll have a bit of trouble achieving his goals.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him if maybe Robin or maybe his brother want to circumnavigate the globe doing outdoor trips,” said Villalobos.
Something about these brothers says they wouldn’t think twice about the journey.