Canoe Team Reaches Arctic Ocean

ST. CLOUD (AP) - A team from Minnesota and Iowa has completed a 5,200-mile canoe journey from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic.

The six-member Rediscovering North America crew finished their 244-day expedition at noon Tuesday in the town of Kugluktuk, Nunavut, Canada.

Cathedral High School graduate Winchell Delano says they're in good health and plan to return to Minnesota on Saturday.

Winchell says they finished the last stretch - a 12-mile length of the Coppermine River that rounded a peninsula and entered Coronation Gulf, a finger of the Arctic Ocean that reaches into Nunavut - in rain, cold and 20-to-25 mph winds.

The crew was ready to paddle through Sept. 30 if necessary. They launched Jan. 2. Delano says they paddled 199 of the 244 days.