Twin brothers Ryan and Casey Higginbotham planned to paddle from Alaska to the U.S.-Mexico border, but when they got there, they decided to keep going
By Andrew Lewis | Outside
Our tents are breaking down, the plastic racks that we strap the bags onto are damaged from a number of shore-break landings, and the bodies need a few days out of the water to heal up,” Ryan and Casey Higginbotham wrote on Instagram on New Year’s Eve. “Regardless, it feels damn good to be so close.”
The dispatch came from somewhere along the southwest coast of Baja California Sur, accompanied by an image of Casey leaning against his paddleboard, earbuds in, looking relaxed but spent. And rightfully so—it was nearly the end of a three-month, 1,100-mile prone-paddling odyssey that began at the U.S.-Mexico border and was set to finish in the shadow of the iconic rock arch of Cabo San Lucas on New Year’s Day. “We always say, ‘Algún día.Someday,’” Casey had told me on December 18 from a pay phone in San Juanico, a fishing village just over 300 miles north of Cabo. “You’ll be there someday. Keep going.”
This he knew from experience.
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By Andrew Lewis | Outside