Page 75 - 2022-08-01 Paddling Magazine

DRONES IN ACTION

444 Expedition Watch
SHORTS

Confirmed drone-assisted rescues worldwide Two epic canoe journeys to follow this summer by conor mihell

776

People saved by drone-assisted rescues

36

Countries where
drones are used
in search and FRANK WOLF HAS COVERED 25,000 MILES ON
rescue missions 26 SELF-PROPELLED WILDERNESS EXPEDITIONS.
PHOTO: FRANK WOLF

SYMBIOSIS: TO THE ARCTIC COAST
Vancouver-based adventurer Frank Wolf has of Great Bear Lake. Finally, Wolf will follow a
an impressive resume of long, self-propelled traditional route to the Coppermine River and
journeys in the Canadian wilderness. Sticking continue downstream to the Arctic coast. Like
with his tradition of never repeating the same always, Wolf’s vision is audacious. But he has
3-6 MPH 4-5 LBS route, Wolf is plotting a challenging northern no doubt the 800-mile route has been done
canoe route for the summer of 2022. Wolf’s
before. “I don’t think any canoeists can claim
Typical flight Weight of a Symbiosis expedition will start at the head- a first,” he says. “People have been traveling
waters of the Tsichu River near the border of
these waterways for thousands of years. They
speed of a drone typical search the Yukon and Northwest Territories. He’ll were just doing it to live back then with no
in a search and rescue drone descend the Tsichu to the Peel and Macken- thought of hedonistic adventure—and they
mission zie rivers, before ascending the Great Bear were just plain hardier than we are because
River and tracing the vast, treeless shoreline the times were harder.” fwolf.ca

$ 82 BILLION

Drones’ contribution to the U.S. economy ACROSS THE AMERICAS
between 2015 and 2025
The final leg of a multi-year, human-powered expedi-
tion spanning the Americas ends this summer with
a canoe trip. Bethany “Fidgit” Hughes and Lauren
2.7 MILLION “Neon” Reed’s seven-year, 20,000-mile expedition,
aptly named Her Odyssey, will end in early September,
Commercial drones in use last year in the U.S. after the duo paddle a 17-foot Venture canoe from
Jasper, Alberta, to the Arctic Ocean. The two women
ILLUSTRATION: ISTOCKPHOTO.COM BETHANY “FIDGIT” HUGHES AND and became the first women to walk the length of
started walking north from the Beagle Channel in 2015
South America when they arrived in Turbo, Colombia,
three years later. The pair then biked, kayaked and
hiked through Central America, Mexico and the United
LAUREN “NEON” REED’S SEVEN-YEAR
ODYSSEY FINISHES THIS FALL.
States, publishing stories connecting the land and its
PHOTO: COURTESY HERODYSSEY.COM

75 people along the way. her-odyssey.org
P A D D L IN G M A G A Z IN E