Four guys, two canoes, a movie camera and big dreams to paddle 2,600 miles across Canada from the Pacific Ocean to Hudson Bay. That’s a challenge.

But that’s what Minnesota paddler Peter Marshall has in mind. He and his three expedition-mates plan to set off from Skagway, Alaska soon and paddle to the Hudson Bay.  Marshall has an English Literature degree and plans to write a book. He’s done long trips before. It took 122 days for he and his brother, Andrew, to paddle 2,700 miles from Minnesota to the Arctic Ocean in 2005.

Marshall will team up with three veteran wilderness paddlers for this expedition: Matt Harren, Winchell Delano, and Steve Keaveny. Harren is planning to produce a documentary film about the trip.

“Exploring makes us human,” said Marshall in a story today in Canoe and Kayak Magazine online. “It brings us back to the fundamental aspects of being people.  When you’re out on a canoe trip, you’re not bombarded by innumerable distractions, you can be more present, and you have very simple goals every day – you wake up, you eat, you canoe, you set up camp, you go to bed.”

Their adventure will be one to follow. Their website: canoe2012.com