Just for fun: What should the purpose of the expedition be?

Today I had to decline a birthday invite from a friend of mine, as his party fell in the middle of the upcoming expedition.  Since we are both nerds and value creativity on facebook, I glibly replied that I was "leading an expedition to search for sasquatch and spirit bear chimeras"  This has gotten me thinking, though.  What should the purported purpose of this expedition actually be?  I've come up with some ideas:

• To investigate rumors of a community of octopus-people living along the coast
• To search for flotsam from part of an ancient city that floated from the arctic in an iceberg and melted off the coast.
• To look for glowing bento boxes carried across the ocean after the Fukushima Tsunami
• To survey the coast and claim it for the Austro-Hungarian Empire
• To find evidence of Hawaiian occupation of Vancouver Island that predates European discovery
• To find the Island of Misfit Toys
• To search for giant atomic robot warriors (using a metal detector)
• To find the entrance to the underground empire of Zork
• To find the wreckage of the TCS Concordia
• To find Captain Jack Sparrow's Compass
• To investigate reports of a dimensional rift
• To find a rumored alien crash site
• To secure a treaty with the forest elf kingdom

Let me know what you think in comments or on Facebook.

Expedition Update: August 27th 2013

I'm back!

I took a couple weeks to spend some family vacation time. I went to Whistler, where I hiked and biked and climbed and had a great time.  I also took in the International Federation of Sport Climbers Youth World Championships, which was here on Vancouver Island this year.  Great times.  But, the departure date for this year's expedition is fast approaching, and it's time to get serious.

I spent Sunday morning purchasing all of the camp fuel and freeze-dried dinners that I will need for the trip.  I still need a little food, namely some more oatmeal for breakfasts, and lunches (which will be comprised mainly of Jerky, trail mix, and chocolate).

I still don't have a good hat.  The weather is cooling, however, so I may just pack a ball cap.

Speaking of weather...it's looking iffy.  I new from the beginning that rain was almost certainly going to fall during my hike, but the weather this summer has been spectacularly good, and I was kind of hoping that it would extend into the fall.  Recently there has been a cooling trend, however, and some showers.  Nothing too terribly worrying, and in any case I'm going even if it pours the whole time, but enough that I'm keeping a close eye on it as departure date approaches.

Transportation to and from the trail has been settled.  George and I are positioning his car at the southern end of the trail the day before we leave, Saturday Sept 8 (we're also doing the trail orientation that day so we don't have to wait for it on departure date) and our friend Darren Carlyle has agreed to drive us up to the Bamfield end of the trail on the 9th, for which we are very grateful.

My training is plateaued for the moment.  I'm continuing to swim for the next week, ending Thursday Sept 5.  Climbing is probably off, mainly because camp food is expensive.

The next week will see the darwinian process of packing:  assembling all my stuff, weighing it, and then seeing what I can get rid of to make it weigh less.  Ideally, I'd like a pack weight of 35 pounds, but we'll see how much it ends up weighing.  Unfortunately, encumbrance in the real world doesn't work like Skyrim, where you're fine right up to your max weight, and then you can't run any more.

All in all, getting really stoked for the expedition:  I can't wait!