Henry Cordeal
- Age: 26
- Hometown: St. Louis, MO
- Current Location: St. Louis, MO
- Occupation: Camp counselor
- Years at Camp Kooch-i-Ching: 14
- Low of the Expedition: A few times when I was physically exhausted or injured. I felt like I was not pulling my weight. Being in pain was rough, but it was compounded by feelings that I wasn't able to be myself and that I was preventing the group from being its best. I'm still regretful of those times. I also vomited all over on our flight from the delta. That turned what could have been a fun time into a really gross time.
- High of the Expedition: Upper Garry Lake about three-fourths of the way through the trip. We awoke to promising winds from the south and quickly got on the water. The last rapids of the Morse river were a bit rocky but not too bad. As the river opened up into Upper Garry, and with a rippin' wind at our backs, I couldn't help but think that we were going to have a 30+ mile day. We popped up the sails and sat back to watch the waves and the glorious Arctic tundra. Everything was going smoothly until the lake seemed to get pretty shallow. We kept sailing, but we had to alter our course to stay in deep water. Soon the sails had to be taken down because the lake was so shallow in every direction. It wasn't long until we couldn't paddle at all - we had to hop out of the boats and actually drag them across the lake. We stopped for lunch and tried to figure out the best way to tackle this unexpected obstacle. After some PB&Js and deliberation, we chose a course and started to get back to it. But before we did, Chris and Kyle engaged in an Upper Garry Lake Chest Bump, which truly symbolized our ability to happily take challenges in stride. This could have been an extremely frustrating situation: not only were we unable to take advantage of a glorious sailing opportunity, but we had to literally portage on a lake. Their chest bump made me so happy and proud to be out there with such a great group of guys.
Jess Hernandez
- Age: 27
- Hometown: Bryan, Texas
- Current Location: Crested Butte, CO
- Occupation: Professional adventure guide
- Years at Camp Kooch-i-Ching: 11
- Low of the Expedition: As experiences in life go, I would treat some situations differently in retrospect, only there is nothing to be done after such a unique adventure is over.
- High of the Expedition: The awareness, appreciation, and reverence gleaned from paddling that remote region has spilled over into my life in different ways. My favorite is the peace it has provided, that is now available to tap into anytime it is necessary.
Andrew Hubb
- Age: 23
- Hometown: St. Louis, MO
- Current Location: Tulsa, OK
- Occupation: Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering
- Years at Camp Kooch-i-Ching: 12
- Low of the Expedition: One of the features that set our trip apart from other journeys of similar length is the fact that we carried all of our food and received no resupply. We had to be hyper-conscious of rationing food because we packed just enough food to last us 70 days. While I think that it was probably a good thing that we had pre-planned meals to maintain order at meal times in our continually-ravenous state of mind, the fact of the matter was we were not ingesting enough calories to sustain ourselves. While I think that one of the most important aspects of any wilderness expedition is to challenge one's own mental fortitude, we were, quite literally, slowly withering away out there. Each of us lost between 20 and 30 pounds on the expedition.
- High of the Expedition: As hard as it was to be isolated from the rest of the world for two months, the isolation catalyzed our growth together as a group. We each became really close to one another from sharing daily challenges of living and traveling together in such a harsh environment. Because the team was so small, any one person's emotions and attitude really affected the emotions and attitudes of the entire group, so we had to be very conscious of taking care of one another out there. We developed a sense of absolute trust in one another that allowed us to not only accomplish our goals but to have a hell of a good time doing it, too.
Chris Martella
- Age: 25
- Hometown: Washington, DC
- Current Location: Alta, UT
- Occupation: Manager of Moosilauke Ravine Lodge—New Hampshire; Handy at the Alta Lodge—Utah; Semi-professional Euchre player
- Years at Camp Kooch-i-Ching: 14
- Low of the Expedition: Dragging our boats through the sand in Upper Garry Lake was my most definitive "What the hell are we doing?" moment. After Dubawnt Lake I never thought I'd find myself wishing for more ice.
- High of the Expedition: The elation of reaching the Arctic Ocean, and that awesome night on the point there reflecting, playing frisbee, taking ridiculous selfies, stalking a caribou, and generally enjoying and savoring my last night on the trip of a lifetime with such fine gentlemen as much as possible, was just one peak out of so many more. But I do think it's a pretty fitting one.
Kyle Terry
- Age: 26
- Hometown: Eureka, CA
- Current Location: Chicago, IL
- Occupation: Research assistant, semi-professional cribbage player
- Years at Camp Kooch-i-Ching: 10
- Low of the Expedition: The few times when exhaustion led me to say things to other guys that I normally would never say in another setting. It was these times when we were so exhausted and had to still be productive members of the team, with no rest, that I really grew and learned about myself. This is definitely something that I bring into my non-trip life: added patience, especially when the chips are down.
- High of the Expedition: The last week or so of the trip, where after 50+ days, we were reminded just how lucky we were to be out there in that setting with those guys. We stayed up late, we shot sketchy rapids, we played Frisbee, we laughed, we enjoyed each others company. We also had long stretches of silence, observing the rock formations, musk oxen, birds, ground squirrels, flowers and grass in such depth and with such reverence knowing that most likely we will never be in that setting again. The junction of respecting where we were and enjoying each others company was such an amazing time for me. I will never forget that week.
Ben Woods
- Age: 26
- Hometown: St. Louis, MO
- Current Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
- Occupation: Photojournalist
- Years at Camp Kooch-i-Ching: 15
- Low of the Expedition: Portaging along the Dubawnt Canyon. Although we had completed several long portages by this stage in the trip, the two-and-a-half miler parallel to an unrunnable stretch of the Dubawnt River was the toughest for me. I ended up carrying three loads of gear to our campsite, which was located about three-quarters of the way to our eventual put-in at Grant Lake. By the end of the portage, I was angry that I no longer had the energy to explore and photograph the canyon, which I had being looking forward to all day.
- High of the Expedition: Flying to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, in Captain Bill's de Havilland Beaver, having reached the Arctic Ocean after 58 days of paddling, dragging and portaging. While the expedition was filled with daily joys, the sense of accomplishment I felt upon reaching the ocean was incomparable. I started silently bawling every time I looked out the window during that two-hour plane ride, gazing at the icebergs bobbing in that salty alien expanse, thinking about how far we had come, the uncountable obstacles we had overcome. Cheesy for sure, but very real.
