Malkolm's elegant photo of Elegant Terns.
Please visit the following pages for detailed information about our schedule and events for each region of the continent that we'll be visiting:
Yukon—British Columbia
Pacific Northwest
California
Southwest
Texas—Louisiana
Southeast
Below is a an outline of our full schedule. It is a work in progress:
What route will maximize our chances to find interesting birds?
More importantly, which route will enable us to learn about bird conservation?
Please send us any suggestions you have. We hope to meet many people along the way!
Cycling with Bugs… June 22nd to June 26th, 2007
Watson Lake, Yukon to Dease Lake, BC (234 km, 147 miles)
We’ll cycle from the Alaska Highway to the Stewart-Cassiar Highway, then turn south. Hopefully we’ll be able to see birds in the boreal forest through the clouds of mosquitoes. After four days of cycling, Wendy and Ken get to rest while Malkolm writes his final exams at the Dease Lake School.
Working out the bugs… June 27th to July 6th
Dease Lake, BC to New Hazelton, BC (555 km, 347 miles)
We’re hoping for dry weather for this section of the highway. We’re not sure how many miles of dirt road there are, but it could be a long haul pushing bicycles through a gluey, muddy morass. A Great Gray or Hawk Owl on a spruce would ease the pain. I wonder how many bears we’ll see before we make it to New Hazelton?
Four a.m. starts… July 7th to July 13th
New Hazelton, BC to Prince George, BC (439 km, 274 miles)
We drove along this section of the Yellowhead Highway last summer – Wendy is worried about some of the highway corners – blind, with skinny shoulders. Maybe if we cycle at 4 am we’ll beat the traffic (it should be light then in early July). Last summer we heard the beautiful songs of White-throated Sparrows, something we never hear at home in Whitehorse.
Not floating down the river (too bad)… July 14th to July 22nd
Prince George, BC to Lillooet, BC ( 508 km, 318 miles)
We have paddled many rivers (Ken is the author of Paddling in the Yukon) but we knew very little about the mighty/muddy Fraser. We had hoped to float down the Fraser from Prince George to Lillooet, but we just heard that there are difficult rapids above Lillooet — so our cycling backsides won't get a rest! Watch for us on Highway 97.
Over forested mountains to salt water… July 23rd to July 27th
Lillooet, BC to West Vancouver, BC (293 km, 183 miles)
We’ll climb out of the Fraser Valley and sweat over the mountains on Highway 99 to West Vancouver. We get to spend a day with our old friend Rachel Shephard (she’s not actually that old) in Brackendale of Bald Eagle fame. Then two whole days with Wendy’s family in West Vancouver. Hopefully we won’t wear out our welcome by staying that long.
Getting used to traffic — and a long-boat ride… July 30th to August 2nd
West Vancouver, BC to Port Townsend, WA (237 km, 148 miles)
We wanted to cycle through the Olympic Peninsula, but we couldn’t figure out how to get across Admiralty Inlet without fossil fuels. We thought of kayaking, but the inlet is a busy shipping lane. Now we hope that Sea Scouts will row a “long-boat” across to pick us up. The long-boats are replicas of inshore exploration boats used by Captain Vancouver (http://www.woodenboat.org). Malkolm is hoping to see some interesting alcids as we cross the inlet.
The 2nd most beautiful hike in the universe… August 3rd to August 9th
Port Townsend, WA to the Hoh River Trail, WA (175 miles, 280 km)
After three days of cycling along the northern coast of the Olympic Peninsula, we'll swap our bikes for boots. According to Bob Morse’s “A Birder’s Guide to Coastal Washington,” a magazine named Olympic National Park’s Hoh River Trail the 2nd most beautiful trail in the world. The hike will also allow us to look for birds at higher elevations.
Glaciers to shorebirds… August 10th to August 14th
Hoh River Trail to Ocean Shores, WA (119 miles, 190 km)
After hiking down from the high country, we’ll cycle south to Ocean Shores, said to be “arguably the best spot in Washingon to watch birds” (Bob Morse). We’re hoping to meet up with arguably the most friendly Audubon members in North America (although we’re sure many others will vie for that title).
The Oregon coast… August 15th to August 31st
Ocean Shores, WA to Crescent City, CA (468 miles, 749 km)
We’re looking forward to birding down the west coast. Wendy will be looking for whales while Malkolm is scanning for seabirds. Hopefully there’ll be space in the campgrounds.
The Northern California coast… September 1st to September 22nd
Crescent City, CA to Monterey, CA (530 miles, 848 km)
The hardest part of this trip will be realizing that we can’t go everywhere. We’ll do our best, subject to tired legs. Malkolm is looking forward to finding a way to look for pelagic seabirds from a sailboat or a rowboat when we’re in Monterey. Any ideas?
Surf City, here we come… September 23rd to October 10th
Monterey, CA to Salton Sea, CA (619 miles, 990 km)
After a quick check near the Pinnacles for California Condors, we’ll cycle south to San Luis Obispo, through Los Angeles and east to the Salton Sea
We’ve been in the desert on a bike with no name… October 11th to Oct 20th
Salton Sea, Ca to Tucson, AZ (375 miles, 600 km)
It looks as though our route goes through an Air Force Gunnery Range. If the roadrunners survive it, hopefully we will too.
Sky Islands and Owls… October 21st to November 9th
Tucson, AZ to Silver City, NM (295 miles, 472 km)
Malkolm is looking forward to this part of the trip (although he’d rather be here in May). He’s hoping to find Spotted Owls, Whiskered Screech Owls, Ferruginous Pygmy Owls… the list goes on. We hope the owls are still calling in October.
Cranes, cranes and more geese… November 10th to November 17th
Silver City, NM to Bosque del Apache NWR, NM (148 miles, 236 km)
We will be at Bosque del Apache right in time for the annual Crane Festival. We’re excited by all the cool activities in New Mexico – check our Southwest page for details.
Birds but no bats… November 18th to November 26th
Bosque del Apache to Carlsbad, NM (243 miles, 388 km)
A quick trip to Bitter Lake NWR and on to Carlsbad. We think that it will be too late in the year to watch bats and cave swallows, but hopefully there will be interesting winter residents in the desert.
THE FOLLOWING ARE STILL VERY ROUGH! WE'D LOVE INPUT!
November 27th to January 3rd, 2008
Carlsbad to McAllen, TX (1288 km, 806 miles)
We'll cycle across Texas to the Lower Rio Grande Valley, hoping to take part in Christmas Bird Counts and meet lots of birders in this famous birding area.
January 3rd to February 1st, 2008
MCAllen, TX to Mississippi (1343 km, 840 miles)
From the Lower Rio Grande, we plan to poke our way along the Texas coast, checking out the many wildlife refuges and hoping to see Whooping Cranes. Then we'll cycle across Louisiana to Mississippi.
February 2 to March 29th, 2008
Mississippi to High Island, TX (1600 km, 1000 miles — a wild guess!)
Our first priority during this phase of our journey is to explore Ivory-billed Woodpecker habitat. We plan to take a week-long trip to experience the land where Ivory-bills once flew - and we hope they still do! We then hope to look for many of the unique birds that winter in this region such as Henslow's Sparrows. We've met many friendly people in cyberspace from the Southeast - and we're looking forward to meeting them in person. Malkolm is also interested in looping back into the hill country of Texas in the hopes of seeing two endangered species: Golden-cheeked Warblers and Black-capped Vireos.
March 30th to June 22nd, 2008
High Island, TX to Florida and the Dry Tortugas (2300 km, 1438 miles)
We're all looking forward to the spring migration along the Gulf Coast. We've heard stories of songbirds falling from the sky like a summer rainstorm. We'll then cycle into Florida — even though we've been warned about the heat and the mosquitoes. We'll end our birding year by a sailing trip to the Dry Tortugas.
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