Twin Bros From Cali Just Finished Paddling Boards 2,200 Miles, From Alaska To Mexico, All For A Great Cause

Twin brothers Casey and Ryan Higginbotham grew up surfing the coastlines of Central California and after college went on to become state lifeguards. While surfing might be their #1 passion their first love is the pristine beauty of the Pacific Coast’s awe-inspiring coastline.

Back on March 15th the twin bros left Ketchikan, Alaska and embarked on a 2,200-mile journey from Alaska to Mexico, paddled their boards THE ENTIRE WAY, all to raise awareness for greater coastal conservation.

Their journey ended just hours ago when Ryan and Casey paddled back to America after reaching their destination of Tijuana’s Border Field State Park earlier this week, and now they’re firmly back on dry land:

The things these twin bros witnessed on their epic journey are once-in-a-lifetime sights, and they spoke with FOX5 San Diego about them:

The 24-year-old brothers decided to put their lifeguard jobs on hold to paddle for seven months, completing a task never attempted.
“We’ve seen black bears… and once I was just about a quarter mile from a river mouth in Oregon and the board gets lifted up and I just see this body passing under me,” said Casey Higginbotham.
It was a great white shark, and one of just many encounters with the monster predators.

Their journey has been well documented over on Instagram, and they’d laid out a clear mission for this epic adventure on their website, NorthAmericanPaddle.com. If you’re looking for some motivation I highly suggest clicking over to see what these twin bros and their adventure was all about. Honestly, I’d LOVE to know what kinds of superfoods they were eating out there which allowed them to paddle miles and miles, day after day, from Alaska to Mexico.

As someone who grew up on the Gulf Coast of Florida (in SW Florida) this is a cause near and dear to my heart. My childhood Boy Scouts outings were spent cleaning up the local beaches, removing all the trash that might endanger sea turtles and birds. I used to think that picking up beach trash in 95-degree weather with 95% humidity was miserable but I cannot imagine paddling a surfboard from Alaska to Mexico. Hell, I get tired just paddling through the waves and out to the surf break.

…(h/t The Inertia)…