One-thousand cool kilometres to celebrate 100 hardy years.

Equipped with traditional dog sleds, snowshoes and sporting 1920s-style wool uniforms, a duo of Ontario Provincial Police officers embarked Sunday on a rugged journey through the frigid north in tribute to the force's centenary birthday.

Constables Guy Higgott and Erik Howells, who became fast-friends 10 years ago over their shared love of the outdoors, are trekking a remote snow-covered route over three weeks, bringing policing of the past to several communities along the way.

"We wanted to try and put something together that would honour the hardships and resourcefulness of the officers that have gone before us and created the foundation (for) what the OPP is today," said 14-year veteran Higgott, who's based at the OPP Academy in Orillia, Ont.

"We're really looking forward to the launch and getting on the trail."

Pulled by teams of seven dogs each, eighteen-year veteran Howells, 40, who's based in Thunder Bay, Ont., Higgott, 41, and their guide rode out of the town of Hearst, Ont., towards their first destination of Kapuskasing.

During the three-legged trip, the men will discover for themselves the physical and mental endurance exerted by law-enforcers who patrolled the opening northern frontier at the turn of the century.

They'll carry canvas tents, food, hay and supplies with them, sleeping only by the warmth of a small wooden stove in temperatures than can drop well below -40 C (although the latest long-term forecast predicted relatively balmy temperatures of -10 C to -20 C).

When the teams face uphill stretches or snow drifts too soft, they'll throw on their snowshoes to pad down the snow for the dogs, or simply make the climb themselves.

"We can expect very long hours. Six in the morning, dogs need to be fed by 7 a.m., and we probably wouldn't be finished and back in camp by 10:30, 11 o'clock at night," Higgott said.

The group will head from Kapuskasing to Timmins-South Porcupine and Cochrane before pushing through a nine-day sprint to Moosonee, buoyed by food drops along the Ontario Northland Railway track.

During the stops, they'll give survival and bush skills demonstrations to the locals, before heading back to Cochrane by rail on Feb. 20.

The need for policing in the north surged as mining, forestry and construction camps brought hordes of workers to the region to eke out a living. Neither roads nor railroads were complete in those days, and so officers used whatever transport available -- such as dog teams, toboggans and snowshoes -- to investigate trouble.

"It's a unique opportunity for both (Howells) and I -- although in a much easier environment -- to walk in the boots of the officers who've gone before us," Higgott said.

"Any hardships we will face on the trail are probably minuscule to what a lone OPP officer up in the frontier north was policing. It's definitely a step back in time for us."

The pair boast ample wilderness training and spent five days in December learning to mush. Though the expedition is likely to be long and hard, the officers have faith it'll go smoothly -- they hatched the idea for this trip while descending a mountain together in Bolivia in 2006.

Historical research for the expedition was undertaken by the OPP museum in Orillia.

"It's great to bring the 100th anniversary celebrations up to the north," Higgott said.

"(We're) excited and nervous and want to see that we can actually complete the journey, make it through to the end."

The Ontario Provincial Police was first considered an active organization on Oct. 13, 1909. At the time, it included a superintendent, senior inspector, two inspectors of criminal investigation, two divisional inspectors and 45 provincial constables.

The officers will provide updates of their trip on the commemorative website OPP100.ca.