Alumni Canoe Journey Subject of Documentary Film

In 1974, brothers Alan '74 and Andy Dappen '76 embarked on an 800-mile canoe trip from Vancouver, Washington, to Ketchikan, Alaska, with three handmade canoes and a handful of friends.

The canoes were crafted in the basement of the old student union building at Whitman College. Along for the ride were fellow Whitties, brothers Mark '79 and Rick Colwell '77 and Lucy Hellier '76, and Alan's future wife Sara Scheer and friend Bill Cook.

In 2017, the brothers, along with Alan's sons Ben and Nathan, traversed the last 300 miles of the inland passage, from Ketchikan to Juneau, using two of the original canoes. The 1,100 mile total journey and the more than four decades in between are now the subject of a short documentary film, "The Passage," created by Nathan Dappen and A Day's Edge Productions.

Read more about the journey in the September issue of Whitman Magazine.