by Larry Lagarde

Imagine that you're a 60 something living in a small community in the center of Wyoming. You're yearning for a big adventure; what would you do - traverse the Wind River Range by horseback, ride a bike to Yellowstone, climb Devil's Tower? How about build a boat and sail it to Argentina? That's what adventurer Spike Hampson is doing.

Spike built a flat bottomed boat, launched it on the Wind River and slowly has been motoring eastward across North America, using a folding bike to run errands and sightsee when docked.

Thus far, Spike has navigated his 20' flat boat 5500 miles through rapids, rivers, & reservoirs, across the Great Lakes and all the way down the St. Lawrence River. Now in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Spike's trip is a long way from completion but he's in no hurry. For Spike, the joy is the journey.

Before winter sets in, Spike will cross the Bay of Fundy (where tides range up to 60') and head south to New York or New Jersey. While there, he'll continue teaching geography online for the University of Utah. Sometime next year, he'll resume his southward journey via the Intracoastal Waterway.

Eventually, Spike will island hop the Kobuk through the Caribbean. When he reaches the mouth of the Orinoco, he'll head upriver and eventually transition into the Amazon drainage system. From the Madeira River, he'll portage once to the Pantanal and float the length of the Rio Paraguay, into the La Plata (the widest estuary in the world) and dock in Buenos Aires.

For more about Spike and his incredible journey, visit SpikeHampson.com. Spike's voyage logs are particularly interesting.

Photo Credits:
Wind River in Wyoming - James G. Howes
Kobuk in Halifax, Nova Scotia - Spike Hampson

Labels: Spike-Hampson