What's Next?

My best friend, Amy Lukas, and I dream of finishing what we started 3 years ago: we wish to circle the entirety of the Great Lakes. In 2012, we circumnavigated Lake Michigan in my handmade dugout sailing canoe in 93 days. We didn't know it then, but this was the beginning of something bigger. We started asking ourselves, "What if we kept going?"

We plan to complete this incredible journey in our usual fashion: using creativity, ingenuity, and humor to succeed on our own terms in unconventional ways. On our nonstop multi-modal journey, we’ll adapt to the vast array of conditions we encounter by paddling the dugout, kayaking, SUPing, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, rowing, and sailing with the seasons.

We would travel through 8 states, 2 Canadian provinces, and pass over 35,000 islands. There is a proposed plan to make this route into the longest continuous marked trail in the world. Consisting of more than 9,500mi of shoreline, the Great Lakes Trail would be 5 times longer than the AT and 4 times longer than the PCT. Traveling such a distance of freshwater coastline could amount to traveling 350-400 days in an ever-evolving environment.

This all started because I couldn't afford to buy a boat and things snowballed from there. We're 1/5 of the way to a new dream, but we know we can't finish on pennies and scraps. We still need to do a lot of planning and fundraising before taking off, but we know we can do this. Otherwise, this turns back into a whispered dream and we'll always wonder, "What if..."

Tentative take off is in one or two years from now. A huge thank you to everyone who's continued to support us along the way! This isn't going to be easy by any means, but nothing worthwhile ever is. - At least, that's what everyone tells me.

-Mary