More than just the thrill of adventure, the mission was to film and produce a documentary, raising awareness of the beauty and fragility of the area, and to highlight the plans for future mining.
The Peel watershed drains an area larger than Scotland - an immense wilderness where there are still large, intact predator-prey ecosystems. It is home to a diverse range of species, from grizzly bears, wolves, moose, caribou and lynx, to falcons and eagles.
The "Paddle for the North" expedition was completed in September, and the documentary out later this year is coming at a crucial time. In January a lawsuit was filed in Yukon Supreme Court - a coalition of First Nations and conservation groups suing the Yukon government over its decision to open up 71 per cent of the Peel watershed region to mining.
The government's decree was a shock to the community who had unanimously supported a 2011 plan developed over seven years under Yukon land claims treaties that would have protected the wilderness character of 80 per cent of the Peel watershed region.
"For First Nation families, the river is their street," explains Simon Lucas, who was the designated chef on the 1500km voyage. About three weeks in, while hauling their canoes onto a river bank, they were greeted by a Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in child holding a shotgun. The boy's father welcomed the paddlers into his fish camp beside a log cabin which he shared with his wife, sister-in-law and two children.
"They gave us fresh fruit, fish and caribou (reindeer) that the boy had just shot. It was his first hunt, but he sounded like such a pro," says Lucas.
"He had been taught to hunt only for survival and always show respect for animals and the land... First Nation people are not against mining, they just don't want mining in the Peel. That land and water is considered sacred and should be preserved for future generations."
Sixty-three days on a river was just long enough to experience both the ecstasy and the agony of a wild frontier. The agony came first.
"Aberdeen Canyon was the worst part of the journey," says Lucas. "It's impassable Class 6 rapids, which are basically death rapids, so you have to go around them. But it's surrounded by a swamp and we had to carry over 2000 pounds of gear, plus drag our canoes."
It took the six of them five trips; a total of 25 kilometres of swamp bashing with camera gear on their heads and food supplies on their backs, dragging the canoes through thorn bushes, every inch of their bodies attacked by mosquitoes.
Only a couple of groups a year do this particularly gruelling route, but the Hart is the most western of the great rivers, and it meant they were able to do almost all of the Peel River.
After the swamp saga, the team paddled 13 days upstream for 140 kilometres along the Rat River, on the way meeting a five-foot flood which resulted in the loss of six paddles.
But all the hardships were soon forgotten when they arrived at Summit Lake. The majestic landscape opened up and caribou came out in abundance, big mountain scenery reflected like mirrors on water, and huge flocks of ptarmigan greeted them at the campsite.
It was all downstream from this point and much easier going. What was left was 24 days of extraordinary splendour - and from that moment on they knew it was all worth it.
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