Dave and Amy Freeman, a married couple who have embarked on ambitious expeditions in the past, have announced their latest plan is to spend 365 days living in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
The pair plan to enter the BWCAW on the Fall Equinox (September 23) and spend the next 12 months camping in canoe country. They will travel by canoe during open-water season and by dogsled in the winter. They plan to travel about 3,000 miles and set up camp at about 120 different sites throughout the adventure.
Last year, the Freemans launched their first trip to promote wilderness protection with a 2,000-mile canoe and sailboat trip from Ely to Washington, D.C. They were previously named National Geographic’s Adventurers of the Year for their three-year “North American Odyssey,” an 11,700-mile trip from Washington to Alaska to Florida by kayak, dog team, and canoe.
Their plans for a year in the wilderness is also intended to call for protection of the wilderness from proposals to mine copper in its watershed. The expedition will support the Save the Boundary Waters campaign.
“This is not your typical expedition geared toward traveling from point A to point B in X amount of time; rather it is about bearing witness to the very land and water we are fighting to protect,” Amy Freeman wrote.
They plan to collect water quality data from every major lake in the wilderness, and share the adventure online with 100,000 school children and teachers.
The Freemans are currently seeking support in an online voting contest sponsored by Canoe & Kayak Magazine. If they receive the most votes, they will win $10,000 to support the expedition. The contest closes July 21 and the winner will be announced on August 5.