“I have a pretty young grandfather, but he was starting to get old and knew he had one or two more big expeditions in him,” says Ethan Roebuck. “He wanted to put together a big trip, because he’s getting older, but also because I’m getting older, these are skills that he thinks are important, and he wants to make sure I have them too–a handing off of the baton, I suppose.”

So when Ethan’s grandfather proposed that they go on a two-month, five-hundred mile, tandem kayaking expedition along the Canadian coast the summer before Ethan’s senior year of high school, Ethan was onboard.

Producer Cordelia Zars brings you the story of a wild adventure, a passing of the torch, and the special bond that emerges and evades the constraints of words.

Music: If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto   •  A Language of It’s Own by Publish the Quest    • Kelp Grooves by Little Glass Men    • The Waltz by Jason Tyler Burton    • On the Road by Amy Stolzenbach    • Ghost Dance by Ken Christianson     • Firediary5 by Ken Christianson    • Daemons by Kai Engel    • The Next Ones to Come by Publish the Quest    • The Architect by Cleod9

Tracks provided by Free Music Archive and with permission from the artists.