The purpose

In these lean times, when travel to far-flung corners of the earth makes a deep dent in the wallet, it makes sense to look for adventure closer to home. As active parents with successful careers who embark on occasional adventures, life is a balance. We feel fortunate to live in the Pacific Northwest, where our next grand adventure can be found virtually in our own backyard.

Our new pioneering route, in combination with our ultralight method of multisport travel, make a compelling argument for the idea that adventure is what you make it.

The trip will include these firsts:

· A new pioneering route across Idaho’s wildernesses

· The first known packraft descent of the Bruneau River

· The first known connection of the Middle Fork drainage with the Selway drainage

· The first known mountain bike traverse of the Stateline National Recreation Trail

· The first known multisport traverse of Idaho

The Timeline

The team will depart in June of 2011.

A significant logistical hurdle will be obtaining river permits from the U.S. Forest Service to run the Middle Fork of the Salmon and Selway rivers within our proposed expedition window. The rivers are tightly regulated, and permits are granted through a lottery application; we require two permits, one for each river. Our team is working with the Forest Service to obtain special permits to run both rivers outside the lottery while respecting this precious Wild and Scenic River treasure. Should we not lottery river permits, the team will depart September 1^st, immediately after river season closes and we can paddle with Forest Service permission.

In addition to the typical logistical preparations required for any expedition (travel logistics, packaging food, gear), the nature of this enterprise requires a significant amount of physical (and mental) training. In order to cover the proposed mileage in the allotted time, the team will need to be prepared to move an average of 60 miles a day without a break, and so will build the physical and mental calluses required to continue when it’s no longer fun. In preparation, the team will undertake several training trips noteworthy in their own right, including several non-stop, 48-hour mini-expeditions throughout Idaho, to hone skills under physical stress in the expected terrain.

Over the next few months, the Idaho Traverse team will also will grow an expedition social network presence on Twitter, Facebook and through our expedition blog. This will allow the team to continually push information out to our followers about our expedition, including stories and multimedia content about training trips, gear, expedition nutrition and our multisport ultralight method of travel.