THE ENDEAVOR will span four months. On May 15, we'll depart from San Francisco, California, with our kayaks, satellite communication gear, photography and camping equipment, and passports! Flying with Aeroflot airline, we'll make our way to Moscow where we'll be in the hands of our good friend Sergey Chaykin. Three or four days on the trans-Siberian Railway should land us in the river-front city of Irkutsk, where we'll meet our local team member and master coordinator Hank Birnbaum!. Another couple hours by truck to the village of Bolshoye Goloustnoye, Hank's home, and we'll be within a stone's throw of Lake Baikal.

On June 1, conditions permitting, we’ll begin paddling north, clockwise around the long, narrow lake. We’ll be self-contained in between towns, where we'll depend on local merchants to re-stock our food supply. We'll rely on small solar panels to keep our electronic gear charged and functioning--especially our communications gear to keep you informed of our progress! For three months we’ll explore Baikal’s every inch of coastline, some 1245 miles in total. By September 1, with Baikal’s grace, we’ll return to the town we started from. And we’ll celebrate.

       Despite its isolation and sacred status, Lake Baikal isn’t immune to the impact of industry and exploitation. The Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Plant continues to spew toxins into the air and water at a daily rate in the thousands of gallons. Potentially worse is a proposed network of gas, oil and fresh water pipelines to export Siberia’s natural resources to points in China. Local populations will see little profit from this project, as skilled workers will be imported for construction and maintenance, and Russian and Chinese governments will reap nearly all the profits from sales.

One alternative to these destructive endeavors, and a way to preserve the lake and its surroundings, is through eco-tourism: hiking and sailing, skiing and dog-sledding, and most perfectly, SEA KAYAKING.

We are committed to helping promote eco-tourism within the region on three levels:  

1) By spreading the word of Baikal through our media campaign, presenting the Siberian wilderness as a world-class outdoor-travel destination. 

2) By assisting in development of the ‘Great Baikal Trail’ - an around-the-lake network of hiking and paddling trails. The GBT is thought to be Baikal’s greatest hope for its future eco-tourism industry, and because our expedition will cover terrain yet un-paddled, we’ll provide valuable data for selecting appropriate areas for hiking-to-paddling transitions, huts, etc. Read more about the 'Great Baikal Trail' on www.earthisland.org

3) At the end of Around Baikal 2003, we’ll present our boats and all our paddling gear to the lakeside village of Bolshoye Goloustnoye, for use in developing paddling and guiding skills and enjoyment, youth outreach and research trips around the lake.

Media Plan

Today's technology makes it possible to share even the most remote expeditions with followers across the globe. Our experiences throughout ‘Around Baikal 2003’ will be broadcast on the internet through satellite data transmissions every three days or so, and will be available to mailing lists and individual websites.

Click here to join our update list!

Click here to read updates from "Canada to Cabo 2000!"

Our post-expedition media plan includes a book project, for which we are currently authoring a proposal, a video documentary, lectures and slide presentations, and a gaggle of magazine and newspaper articles.