It was a normal day at the canoe base in Ely, Minnesota. It was sometime around mid-summer when I received a random email from a coworker in the neighboring office. It was highlighting this race called the Yukon 1000 (the longest paddle race in the world). The website he sent me displayed a paddle team traversing the awe-inspiring and intimidating Yukon river with its showstopping blue water and vast wilderness. A quick scroll down the page would reveal more information about the race as well as the one question that still rattles in my head today. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
The whole race seemed like one of those things that you might talk about with a buddy but never actually do. So the first thing I did was bring it up to my good friend Dan. We were sitting in the office working when I stopped to turn to him and said: "Wanna do this race?". His response was almost an immediate yes which of course I didn't take seriously because I also wasn't being serious at this point. After a brief discussion on the matter, we decided that it wouldn't hurt to put in an application. I don't think either of us expected the email we would receive a few weeks later.
We were in the race and they were waiting for us to accept the invitation. We were in disbelief. After a discussion about finance, training, and planning we decided to take the chance to do it. Are we nuts? Is this insane? (I think the correct answer is that we are a little insane) The moment we accepted our lives turned into a roller coaster throwing us into a giant spiral. About a month after accepting the invitation we got our first contact from the race director with the briefing containing all the information about the race: How to deal with grizzlies? Where to get maps? (spoiler alert there isn't a place) How to filter the river water? That was the moment we had to hit the ground running.
That pretty much brings us up to today. We have been training now for a little while prepping plans and gathering ideas on how we will handle race-related challenges. We are definitely still in the planning phase though and that brings us to the purpose of the blog. We decided it would be a great idea to share our experiences as we plan and prepare for the longest paddling race in the world.so that our friends and family can follow along. We have many challenges to overcome and problems to figure out that are unique to that part of the world, and we want to be able to take people along our journey of finding the way down the Yukon. So stick around, grab some GORP (good ole raisins and peanuts) and enjoy the sights as we hang on to this wild rollercoaster that's Fairbanks bound.
- Blake Ferree
The whole race seemed like one of those things that you might talk about with a buddy but never actually do. So the first thing I did was bring it up to my good friend Dan. We were sitting in the office working when I stopped to turn to him and said: "Wanna do this race?". His response was almost an immediate yes which of course I didn't take seriously because I also wasn't being serious at this point. After a brief discussion on the matter, we decided that it wouldn't hurt to put in an application. I don't think either of us expected the email we would receive a few weeks later.
We were in the race and they were waiting for us to accept the invitation. We were in disbelief. After a discussion about finance, training, and planning we decided to take the chance to do it. Are we nuts? Is this insane? (I think the correct answer is that we are a little insane) The moment we accepted our lives turned into a roller coaster throwing us into a giant spiral. About a month after accepting the invitation we got our first contact from the race director with the briefing containing all the information about the race: How to deal with grizzlies? Where to get maps? (spoiler alert there isn't a place) How to filter the river water? That was the moment we had to hit the ground running.
That pretty much brings us up to today. We have been training now for a little while prepping plans and gathering ideas on how we will handle race-related challenges. We are definitely still in the planning phase though and that brings us to the purpose of the blog. We decided it would be a great idea to share our experiences as we plan and prepare for the longest paddling race in the world.so that our friends and family can follow along. We have many challenges to overcome and problems to figure out that are unique to that part of the world, and we want to be able to take people along our journey of finding the way down the Yukon. So stick around, grab some GORP (good ole raisins and peanuts) and enjoy the sights as we hang on to this wild rollercoaster that's Fairbanks bound.
- Blake Ferree
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