Well hello there! Here, finally, is that conclusion post I promised months ago. Sorry about that….
First of all I want to say thank you for all the support we received while on the river. We couldn’t have made it as far as we did without all of the words of encouragement and friendly and helpful people we met along the way. Not to mention, this blog has received over 3,200 hits which has absolutely blown us away! We are truly touched by all of the support!
Now, since I, Megan, am the author of this blog, I cannot speak for Adam, Alyssa, and Lori. Some of my opinions and sentiments they share, others they do not. But I think that we can all agree on the fact that we are so happy we attempted the Mississippi! It was the journey of a lifetime and several lessons were learned.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the trip over the last couple of months and wondering what I could’ve done better or differently to have made it the whole way down. Adam and I wondered if we had had a more relaxed schedule and took the time to stop and visit more of the little towns we paddled through, maybe we wouldn’t have been so physically exhausted. We barely took the time to tour any of the towns we visited, excluding Minneapolis. And towards the end, as an agreed goal, we were trying to make it to Dubuque in time for the 4th of July which meant 40-50 mile paddle days in 100+ degree heat indexes, big wind, and open water. Had we set ourselves up for failure?
But had we followed that more relaxed schedule, would we ever have finished?!? The river is 2,350 miles long and none of us had the endless cash flow that that would require!
During the trip, I had been the promoter for more planning. In fact, I was a little unsettled as to how unprepared we were starting the trip and during it. We didn’t have the right gear or really studied the maps or knew what we were getting ourselves into. Having guided for different kayak companies, our lack of preparation, I think, caused a lot of stress for me.
But again, on the flip side, I think this is one of those trips that had we really planned out every detail, would we really have gone? Also, planning out every detail would have been impossible. At some point, you just have to get out and do it and give it your best.
Haha, I think it’s actually a little impressive that we made it as long as we did with what we had! Especially during the beginning, remote part of the trip, there was no cellphone reception for several day stretches. And when we did have reception, most of the time our phones weren’t charged because it was cloudy most of the time and our solar charger didn’t work. Also, none of us had the fancy iphone or an equivalent. So we never had internet, could never check the weather, could never look up any helpful information. We packed pretty minimally, sustaining 4 people on one cooler for the first 2 weeks and we opted to only bring “necessary” gear and leave out any “luxury” gear that might have made the trip a little more enjoyable. Stupid? Hardcore? Realistic? Or impressive? I think it’s a little of all!
For me, personally, I wish I had trained a little more for it. Anyone reading this, please learn from my mistake! Canoeing is not just a leisure activity! Especially when you’re planning on doing it all day, everyday! It is a real sport and should be taken seriously! Especially on the Mississippi, you’re not just going to sit there with your feet kicked up, listening to banjo music, and floating down a moving current. Nope. Not even close! Not to mention the hauling of gear, portaging, setting up and tearing down camp, etc. It is quite a bit of work!
Also, I think I learned a little something about myself this summer. I love the outdoors and will always be an avid hiker and camper. But as far as roughing it for a month or more? Yeah, I don’t know about that. Let alone the whole 100 days I had initially planned to go for. I don’t think it was something I could’ve realized about myself without actually doing it. Unfortunately in this modern world I live in, I have grown somewhat attached to beds, showers, air condition, heat, and other amenities. I’m not afraid to admit it now, I do have limits. It’s kind of cool to have learned that about myself, though, and that I got the chance to put it to the test this summer!
The Mississippi seemed to kick our butts the whole time we were on it and for me, it hasn’t let up yet! Maybe due to overuse, lack of training, overexertion, or paddling wrong, or all of the above, I came off the river with costochondritis, a rib popped out of place, and high pectoral strain. Guess that explains why I wasn’t having as much fun as I should’ve been. Costochondritis is a wonderful little injury where the cartilage between your ribs becomes inflamed and painful. Since cartilage doesn’t receive a lot of blood flow for healing and you use your chest in just about everything you do, it is a ridiculously hard injury to heal. It’s just my left side of my rib cage that is affected which is awesome since symptoms of costochondritis sometimes mimic those of a heart attack: squeezing, tightness, sharp pain, and pain radiating into your neck and arm (due to the nerves in your chest that extend out which are affected by the inflammation of rib cartilage). Most of the time though, it just feels like I’ve been kicked in the ribs over and over. Thank you Mississippi.
That above is a picture of us in La Crosse, WI where Adam’s parents drove up from Des Moines to rescue us from the river. Even though we didn’t make it all the way to the Gulf, we still made it 650 miles. I don’t regret a single thing. Would I maybe have done some things a little differently? Perhaps. But never have gone on the trip? No way. Despite all the things that went wrong and the injury I am still dealing with, it was a great trip. I had never been to Minnesota before and I got the chance to see a side of it, a side forgotten about by most as they spend more of their time on the 10,000 lakes than the longest river in America, a side so rural and peaceful, a side that is a wildlife haven to bald eagles, deer, owls, beavers, etc. I got to know a part of the river that most Americans don’t imagine when they think of the Mississippi. And I got to know it more intimately than most people ever will. I pushed myself to my limits and beyond. I learned more about myself than I ever knew. I’ve always jumped into things in life head first without looking and this is the first time it really didn’t work out. But it wasn’t a failure. It was a learning experience and a great story and I’m ok with that!
And I spent a month with 3 great people. Adam with his adventurous spirit and generosity, Alyssa with her kind heart and love for the earth, and Lori with her sense of humor and confidence in others. I couldn’t have asked for better paddling companions.
And with that, I leave you all with a video from our trip! Unfortunately during our whole month of travel we only took about 20 minutes of footage. But here is a little clip of what we did! Thanks again for all of your support!
Hello hello! Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written. Let me catch you up! Bare with me, it’s going to be a long one.
So last time we left you, we were just leaving Minneapolis. The day we took off, we were pretty late getting on the water. We said our goodbyes and set off paddling through downtown. It was quite an awesome paddle going through the city, watching people stare at us and wonder what the hell we were doing.
Not long after getting on the water, we approached our fist lock system, the Upper St. Anthony’s Falls Lock. We were a little bit nervous because none of us knew what to expect. We had the list of phone numbers to call the locks ahead of time, but none of us really knew what to picture, especially from the vantage point of a canoe on the water.
Turns out it was a piece of cake! We handled it like champs. And that first lock would be our largest drop on the Mississippi River-55 feet! It was incredible!
Paddle in and hang on!
After the drop as the gates open up
Shortly after that we hit the Lower St. Anthony’s Falls lock and then we paddled on through St. Paul. St. Paul was really cool with all of the activity on the water. Lots of yacht clubs, marinas, and walking paths.
Adam paddling through St. Paul
It was getting pretty late so we decided to start looking for a camp spot. In south St. Paul, the river turned really industrial-the most we had seen on the trip so far. It was less than pleasant. Instead of beautiful scenery and wildlife, there were tons of barges parked on the river banks, industrial yards, and awful smells.
We finally came up to our intended campsite, a sweet watercraft only location on an island….and it was flooded. All of the trees were submerged and we couldn’t even find the sign. So we continued on to the next boat ramp. We had already camped at a few of those so far on the trip. We were actually preferring them at that point as the grass was cut short and there were hardly any bugs compared to some of the DNR sites we’d seen.
We pulled up to the boat ramp and it was the most popular one we had been to yet. Tons of people were fishing from the flooded parking lot and river banks. Running out of daylight, we decided to just go for it. Everyone was real friendly and told us we wouldn’t have a problem. So we set up on a small patch of grass, had dinner, and even caught another fireworks show from a neighboring reservation. It was great!
Random dude with a homemade hover craft at the boat ramp
Alyssa cooking. Notice the water flooding the park?
We went to bed and I remember having a pretty great dream. But then there were headlights. And then a honking horn. What the heck?! Suddenly voices were at the tent telling us to come outside. It was 5am! Turns out it was the cops! Adam volunteered to go out and was surprisingly cordial with them! He must’ve still been half asleep! Apparently that sign right by our campsite that read “No Camping” was really true! The cops were friendly and understanding but rules are rules and we had to leave. What a wake up call!
We took our time packing up and hit the river a little before 7am. Our earliest paddle yet. It was a hazy, partly overcast day but still better than the dark clouds we had been paddling under for most of our trip. The morning was pretty boring and uneventful. I think we only passed 2 barges. Still paddling through a lot of industrial areas. Things only got interesting when we approached Lock and Dam 2. We called ahead and they couldn’t care less. Then when we got there, the pull cord for us was under water. What the heck?! We called them again and found the new pull cord much closer to the gates to the lock. We had been told to always stay far back from the gates for safety in case a barge were to come out. This cord was almost right up there!
Maybe someone should fix that?
We went through the lock and they only dropped us only about 18 inches. We couldn’t believe it. Turns out the water is so high, that’s all they could do. They usually drop about 9 feet they said. This would be the case at the other locks we would go through as well.
After that lock, we came to the town of Hastings, MN where we hopped out for lunch. Adam decided to change it up from his usual tuna and instead eat a whole can of mackeral. It was disgusting. It had 84g of protein and looked like they basically just cut up the fish and shoved it in the can. He occasionally had to pull out a few bones. So gross.
Where’s Adam?!
I was again worn out both physically and mentally. I started questioning if I could go on again at this point. Let me take this time to say that I realize the stories in this blog have been hilarious. And they really are. We all laugh at them now no problem. But the stories are easy to write about days after they have happened. At the time, some of the problems we have encountered have been extremely difficult and hard to handle. We’ve had a good time and have had great group dynamics but mother nature, fatigue, and just plain bad luck over and over again can really wear on you.
But rallying yet again, we pressed on. Alyssa and I were fortunate enough to find a station on the weather radio that played the same 15 pop songs over and over again. Sometimes in different orders, sometimes in the same. Our favorite song on the trip was definitely Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass”. I was also a fan of Katy Perry’s “TGIF”. What? I’m not afraid to admit it!
Again after a full day of paddling, a crazy, mini lake crossing, Lock and Dam 3, we pulled into the town of Red Wing, MN at sunset. It was an adorable town with really high bluffs on the river towards the edge of town. We ended up pulling up on the eastern side of the river though putting us in Hager City, WI. That’s right, we finally hit another state! Now the river was a border and we were paddling between Minnesota (still) and Wisconsin. How about that?!
We pulled up exhausted into a marina and were immediately offered yet more incredible hospitality. A summer long resident of the RV park offered for us to camp right on his plot. And he couldn’t have been any sweeter. He kept offering us all sorts of amenities out of his deluxe trailer and gave us priceless advice on Lake Pepin. That’s right, another lake crossing for the next day.
At the bar that night, we really talked about what it would be like if I dropped out of the trip. I was in way over my head and I knew it. I’ve always jumped into things in my life head first without looking, but this was the first time it wasn’t working out. Everyday was such a physical toll on my body. I hadn’t trained at all. In fact, I was barely a step above a couch potato when I left for the trip. In Portland, I ran in the rain occasionally (and I stress “occasionally”) and I played basketball on Thursdays. That’s it. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking. I severely underestimated what it would take to canoe all day everyday. The Mississippi was really sucking it out of me. Everyone we heard from cautioned us that the first 60 miles, or the first 100 miles were the hardest but I think the 3 of us would beg to differ. Everyday was getting harder and harder (as you’ll continue to see below). It seemed like we could never catch a break.
Plus I was concerned for my mental health. We joked around about what it would be like if Alyssa and Adam woke up to find me outside the tent going crazy. Like lighting the canoes on fire or chunking our gear in the river or even running around biting the heads off loons. Haha I don’t know.
But yet again, we pressed on. That morning we woke up and were really slow going. We all had studied the maps the night before and knew what lie in front of us. We had to cross giant Lake Pepin. And when I say giant, I mean giant. This time there wouldn’t be a tow around it. It was shaped in such a way that sticking close enough to the shore wouldn’t tack on too much extra mileage. But even so, we were looking at a 21 mile open water crossing. And the start was 5 miles from the campsite we were currently at. Morale was low.
The beginning of Lake Pepin
21 mile long Lake Pepin
We began paddling and you know what, the Mississippi actually cut us a break. We couldn’t have asked for better weather all day. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and we even had a light tailwind. Not enough to blow us off course and make it difficult, but just enough to help push us along. That said though it was still choppy and in the late afternoon the heat index was hovering around 100, right when we were becoming exhausted. I had my GPS out and clocked us at just under an average of 3mph, so it took over 7 hours just to cross the lake.
We had a celebratory beer at the end but were still just beat. We still had another 2 miles to paddle to the next town of Wabasha, MN where, guess what, another city park was waiting for us. And we camped there anyways. Take that law enforcement!
Wabasha was adorable! We didn’t really do any sightseeing but we did find out that the bar in Grumpy Old Men was there and we also came across an eagle sanctuary the next day on the way out.
Wabasha to Winona was excruciating. We battled a gnarly headwind all day. It was especially painful during a 4 mile open water crossing before approaching Lock and Dam 5a. This time I wasn’t the only one struggling. Poor Adam, who had been paddling a canoe by himself this whole time by using the third seat method, had a horrendous time in headwind. The wind would turn his boat sideways and it was near impossible for him to right it when that happened. Not to mention paddling in a headwind like that is like being on a treadmill. You work and work but you go nowhere.
When Adam, who normally keeps up with us or is in front, finally caught up to Alyssa and I at the lock, he informed us that he had almost quit. He pulled over at one point, got out and almost called Debbie, Alyssa’s mom. That had been our running joke the entire trip when things got really hard. “That’s it, I’m calling Debbie,” we would say, she being the closest relative to us at that point. But that time Adam had been serious, like I had before.
Well, you know what happens next, we pressed on. After making a pit stop at some sand dunes so Adam could flip down them, we came to the town of Winona, MN. Again, the sun was beginning to set. This time, campsites weren’t readily available and we were determined to camp on a sandbar or island for once. After inspecting a few sites, we found one across the river from town. It was a small island that was connected to a bigger island by way of sketchy floating bridge. And what was on that bigger island you wonder? Why a traveling circus! Apparently the circus had happened the night before but we were just in time for the after party! We set up camp, paddled to town for food, got lost paddling back to our site in the dark, and then hiked over to the party. It was pretty awesome. They played some cool music and we got to see some fire dancers. All in all, not a bad night!
The next morning we woke up really late. We didn’t want to leave our site! It was the first time we had really been able to sleep without the rain fly and it was amazing to wake up to the sight of beautiful green branches hanging overhead. Plus we knew we were on an awesome island that we had virtually to ourselves.
So we got another late start in a heat index well over 100. It was terrible. Despite constantly squirting ourselves with the water guns, exerting ourselves in that heat was ridiculous. Not far from Winona we approached Lock and Dam 6. A barge was behind us and slowly making ground but we figured we could beat it. We had stopped calling the locks at this point because they either didn’t care or they saw us beforehand and already had it filled for us.
This time, as we approached the lock, the barge had nearly caught up to us but was still a safe distance behind. It seemed to slow and be waiting for us. We didn’t know what to do. After some debate and trying to read what it was doing, we decided we had the right of way since we approached the lock first, despite the fact I had the feeling that big industry had the right of way over leisurely paddlers. Alyssa and I started to paddle in front of it but honked at us! Yikes! We figured that meant to get out of the way and we did so immediately. We were still a little distance from the lock and the barge seemed to just be sitting there. So we kept paddling on the side. After awhile and it continued to do nothing, we decided to duck in front of it again. It honked again! What the hell? So Alyssa called the lock. The lockmaster told us to get the hell out of the way. The barge had the right of way since it called way in advance. Shit. It was a huge one and we knew it would take forever because they had to take it apart and send it through the lock in pieces. It was already so late in the day.
Lucky for us there was a marina and bar right next to the lock. So we pulled over and had a beer and chatted with some really nice people while we waited. It was a little disheartening to hear the distances some of the people there had traveled that day by motor boat. We would be lucky if we made 20mi. Our moods were already dwindling because we knew just how difficult we were making it on ourselves. We were wanting to reach Dubuque, IA by July 3rd for the beginning of their festivities and to see Alyssa’s family. We had been making horrible mileage the last couple of days, some of it our fault, and some of it couldn’t be helped.
We saw the barge going through and figured it’d be our turn soon. I decided to go use the restroom before we went back to our canoes. When I exited the building and started walking back to the bar, I looked out at the river and saw another barge in the distance approaching the lock! No way! I sprinted back in the bar and told Adam and Alyssa we had to go now! We chugged our beers and grabbed our phone chargers and began to run out when Alyssa stopped us. She said we should call the lockmaster and see if were able to get in before the other lock. To our dismay, the lockmaster told her that again, the next barge had the right of way. We couldn’t believe it.
We spent 3 hours at that damn bar drinking $4 beers. It. Was. Horrible. By the time we got through the lock, the sun was setting. We were desperate for mileage at that point. We began talking about paddling at night. It had been a goal of ours on the trip to do a full moon paddle but it wasn’t a full moon. The next town was La Crosse, WI but it was 12 miles away. We didn’t know what lights we would encounter, if any. There were lights occasionally on the barge mile markers but they were extremely small. The Mississippi was also extremely wide at this point with many channels and offshoots. All in all, it just seemed like a bad idea. Especially because every blog we had read advised against paddling at night. We were inexperienced and didn’t even know if the tiny red or white lights we had bought for the boats went on the bow or stern. There’s a fine line between risk taking and being just plain stupid. After much consideration, we looked up at the sky to see clouds rolling in. We decided against it.
Ticked after wasting 3 hours. The smoke in the background is from the last barge.
At near sundown, we began looking for a place to camp. There were no campsites or boat ramps on the map. Earlier we had paddled by lots of sandy beaches where fishermen had pulled up and set up camps. They looked really nice. None were to be found. At sundown we did locate a miniature version of the sandy beaches we had seen earlier. We crossed the wide river and pulled up to see it was an uphill from the water with just enough of a cleared plateau at the top for our tent. We’ll take it.
Last sunset on the Mississippi
We began setting up and were immediately swarmed by bugs. After dinner and miserable, we jumped into the tent. We had sand everywhere. And every time we would move during the night, sand would fly off into our sleeping bags, all over the tent. It was incredibly hot and there was no wind. Again, we had hit a new low.
I convinced Adam and Alyssa that we should shoot for an extremely early wake up call. I reasoned that we could beat the heat and perhaps the wind and more importantly have ample time to make up mileage. They agreed.
My alarm went off at 4:45am. The sky was just beginning to lighten. I stepped out of the tent to find it already windy. I couldn’t believe it. I was expecting the water to be, for the most part, flat as glass. And it was already hot. But looking at the river, the chop wasn’t too bad and it was cooler than it would be at 3pm. So we decided to hit it.
We got on the river and were absolutely blasted. Some of the worst wind we had encountered yet on the trip. We paddled so hard but felt like we were going nowhere. And the temperature continued to rise as early as 6am and higher still at 7am. We felt so defeated. If we get up that early and still can’t get good conditions, what are we supposed to do??? We approached Lock and Dam 7 and none of us spoke. The lockmaster confirmed that the wind was blowing well over 20mph, no telling what some of the gusts were.
We knew that La Crosse would be coming up soon so we left the lock and paddled towards the next landmark: a bridge not too far away. We paddled and paddled and paddled. It never got any closer. Finally after what seemed like forever, we got to the bridge and immediately pulled over under it. Broken yet again.
We pressed on. We reached the town of La Crosse, WI around 10am or so. The paddle from the bridge had been slightly easier as the wind seemed to let up. But consequently that meant the heat rose. It was suffocating and bearing down on us. When we pulled over on some rocks in La Crosse, we didn’t know what to do. Dubuque was still impossibly far away. I had wanted to quit for so long now. Every time it seemed like the last straw, we pushed on. I was running out of “giving it another shot”s.
We got out to grab some coffee as we had already been awake and overexerting ourselves for a number of hours already. When we walked back to the boats, we just couldn’t seem to get in them. We had hit a wall. And this time we couldn’t get around it.
***
I’m going to have to go ahead and stop there. This post is extremely long and I’ll be amazed if you’ve made it this far. Especially without entertaining pictures to break it up. I’ll have to try and post them later as my grandparents’ computer is running slowly.
Most of you already know what happened. We quit. We just couldn’t do it anymore. 28 days and 650 miles, La Crosse was our ending point. The Mississippi River got the best of us.
But don’t worry, I won’t leave you hanging. In a few days I’ll try again to upload the photos and provide a conclusion post. I’ll let you know what happened that last day, because of course there’s always a story, how we wound up the trip, and how we’re feeling now after collectively electing to end our dream.
Thank you so much for reading and we’ll see you again in a few days….
Greetings fans of 3 totally unprepared paddlers attempting 2350 miles of the Mississippi river! This post, like all the others, will not disappoint. Last we left you we were being spoiled to death by Alyssa’s wonderful family in St. Cloud, MN. Her uncle Lee made a really great point. Cities fail to utilize America’s longest river. At least this far north. Every town we have paddled through has it’s back to the water. There are no restaurants on the river, there are hardly any public parks on the water or river access points, rarely any houses. Lee summed it up well by saying he lives 2 miles from the river and can’t even get wet. It’s the oddest thing! Also, the weather hasn’t helped. We heard today that year to date, Minneapolis has a higher rainfall total than Seattle. Um, that sucks. Needless to say, we are more than pumped to finally be headed due south.
But, back a few days to catch you up. Day 18 we were still in St. Cloud. When Lee picked us up the night before, he picked us up just north of a major portage at the paper dam. There was a 6 mile paddle after the dam to the next one with quite a few rapids in between. At this point though, we were a little pressed for time. We really wanted to make Minneapolis in time for the weekend, and more importantly, make Dubuque in time for the 4th of July. Alyssa and I thought it’d be a good idea to be dropped off past the 2nd dam and continue paddling from there. But Adam and Lee really wanted to tackle the rapids. So they went early that morning and had an absolute blast. It was great.
Awesome put in at St. Cloud
Despite the forecast, which has been wrong the whole trip anyways, we decided to meet them on the south side of the second dam and hit the river from there. Around 2pm we got the boats loaded up and began our paddle. Only 3 miles in, the sky turned black. None of us had our rain gear on. When it started raining hard, we pulled over at a campsite and huddled under a tree. It only rained for a little bit though so we jumped right back on the water.
After just a few more minutes of paddling, it began to rain again. We were appropriately dressed now so we continued paddling. But then the sky opened up. It began raining so hard our visibility quickly diminished and the rain was stinging our faces. We decided to pull over. The bank of the river was already muddy and full of puddles. So we sat in our canoes clinging to branches and logs in the river. It was raining so hard we were sure it would clear up in a few minutes so we just sat and waited. And waited. And waited. There was no letting up. And now the boats were filling with water. Adam and I grabbed sponges and cups and began bailing the water out. It became a vicious cycle. Bail water, make progress, wait a few minutes, repeat. After what may have been 45 minutes, Alyssa suggested we pull the canoes up on land and get under one of our tarps. At this point we were starting to freeze so this was a great idea. The 3 of us huddled under the tarp in Adam’s canoe and continued to wait. Finally 2 hours later, the rain let up. We couldn’t get over it. We were only 5 miles from town but nowhere near a boat access. We felt like such idiots for having left St. Cloud.
We got back in our boats and with the better visibility now, realized we were less than a quarter mile from a neighborhood. Couldn’t believe it as we had just spent the last 2 hours clinging to logs and hanging out on a muddy shore. Awesome. It was still raining and we were still 8 miles up river (just under a 2 hour paddle) from a highway overpass, what we figured would be our best bet for shelter. Mentally beat down from the last 2 hours, we decided to pull up in someone’s backyard and ask if we could wait out the rain under their porch. Alyssa volunteered and tried 2 houses but no one answered. I then hopped out and we found a lady across the street who pulled up a radar for us on her iphone. None of us on the trip have a smart phone. Something that would surely make the trip so much easier! The radar showed storm basically stalled out on the river. If it was moving at all, it wasn’t moving east or west, but instead just following the river. It was so frustrating. Totally dejected, we decided to hang out under the random house’s porch anyways and just hope for the best if the homeowner happened to drive up.
After just 20 minutes and no sign of the homeowner, the rain finally stopped and the sky actually parted a little bit to reveal a little blue sky. That was it. Just the window we needed to paddle 8 miles. We jumped in our canoes and began a dead sprint for the town of Clearwater. We ended up paddling our fastest time yet, making 9 minute miles according to my GPS.
We expected the overpass to be like all the other ones we’ve seen on the trip so far. Concrete ramps sloping down to the water with a nice ledge towards the top where we envisioned ourselves setting up the stove, having a nice dinner, and drying our soaking wet clothes and belongings. Haha, silly us. We rounded a bend in the river to find a giant overpass. The largest one yet we’ve encountered on the trip. It was only a 2 lane bridge, but it must’ve been about 100 feet over the water. And there was no nice concrete ramp up from the bank. Only a muddy, steep slope on the eastern side. We couldn’t get over it. We had hit a new low point on the trip.
Long story short, we pulled the canoes up, explored the tiny town which seemed to be the historic downtown area under the overpass and the newer more modern amenities near I-94 up on top of the hill, and set up our tent under the bridge. As Adam so eloquently put it as we left the town’s bar, “I guess we should go home, and by home I mean the pathetic tent underneath the bridge”.
And what a night it was. It was the loudest and busiest bridge we’ve encountered so far on the trip. If a smart car drove over it, it sounded like a semi-truck. And when a semi drove over, it was so loud it sounded like thunder and it actually shook the ground we were sleeping on. It was great.
The next morning we awoke to find out that the day’s forecast called for a 100% chance of rain. We couldn’t believe it. I don’t think I’ve ever heard that in my life. The sky actually didn’t look that threatening but since everything we owned was already wet and we felt like such fools for ignoring the forecast the day before, we decided to spring for our first hotel on the trip. Day 19? Not too shabby.
We stayed at America’s Best Value Inn, connected to the Flinstone Bar. It was the best thing we ever did. We dried our clothes, enjoyed cable TV, and our hotel even had a hot tub. It was a glorious day!
Day 20, we had to cover a lot of mileage. Our goal for the day was to paddle 50 miles and reach the Minneapolis vicinity so we would have minimal paddling to do on Friday. We hit the river and without even trying hard, we were really cruising. At a few points, I actually clocked us between 7 and 8mph. Thank you flood water! The day was rather uneventful until we reached the Coon Rapids Dam. The DNR maps had just stopped caring at this point and failed to tell us what to expect. So Lori looked it up online for us and found out that it was only a 50yd portage on the left side. Piece of cake compared to our last portage at the Blanchard Dam.
When we reached the dam, Adam got out to survey the task at hand. It was not 50yd. It was more like 100yd. And we had already paddled 40mi at this point and were feeling pretty tired. So Adam found an alternative. He said if we wanted to be “ballsy”, we could paddle up to the side of the dam, hop out and pull our canoes through a tiny hole, hop down a small ledge, and walk our gear and boats down a tiny concrete ramp to the water. It was a no brainer. We paddled up and executed an illegal portage of the Coon Rapids Dam. It was awesome. The whole experience took us less than 20 minutes. And better yet? Once we were on the water, we realized we were in north Minneapolis. The Mississippi river is kind of like a twilight zone. Distances seem shorter or longer than they should be, time goes faster or slower. That, or we aren’t able to do simple math after spending 3 weeks on the water. Whatever the reason, we were ecstatic.
Seeing the Minneapolis skyline on the water was so moving. This represented so much. It was our first major accomplishment of the trip. And I had never seen the city, excluding the time 3 weeks before when I had driven through half asleep on the Greyhound with Adam. We were so proud. At this point in the trip we had seen quite a bit of wildlife. But passing through a particularly industrial part of the river, we saw our first deer with antlers and then 4 foxes! Go figure! We couldn’t believe it took getting to downtown Minneapolis to see that! Oh, and then we passed an island that had been absolutely demolished. Trees had been ripped in half thrown all over the place. Turns out it was from the tornado that had ripped through about a month earlier, right on the Mississippi! That was….comforting.
We found a dock that belonged to the owner of the Sample Room Bar. We locked up our canoes and Lori came to pick us up. She took us to Alyssa’s friends’, Kyle and Maggie, apartment in uptown where we would stay the duration of our time in Minneapolis. Kyle and Maggie have been absolutely fantastic giving us a great place to shower and sleep and they have provided a great time for us in the city!
Yesterday we walked around uptown and ate a delicious vegan restaurant. Also they took us to a lake where we got to hang out and enjoy the water from a sandy beach instead of a canoe, and then we went out for a night on the town.
Today we decided to go and check out all of the Pride festivities going on in the park. After that, Lori picked us up and took us to her sister’s party where we had some awesome food and met some great people. To wrap up our time in Minneapolis, we climbed up onto the roof of the apartment and caught the fireworks from Pride. Needless to say, Minneapolis has been amazing and we are sad to leave.
Toddlers and Tiaras at the TLC booth at Pride!
View from rooftop
Tomorrow we are taking off super early and will encounter our first locks and barges. Actually we will go through 3 locks in downtown. We can’t wait because neither of us know what to expect. The next 7 days, we will be trying for 40 miles a day and hope to arrive in Dubuque, Iowa on July 3rd, just in time for more fireworks! It’ll be a tough week, but we are so excited for what’s coming up!
You how when you come to a challenge in life and after you push through it you think, “Now that that’s over, it should be smooth sailing from here.”? That is not the case on the Mississippi River. At all. There is no such thing as smooth sailing, or canoeing, whatever. It is one thing after the next.
So, the last time we left you, we were being spoiled to death at Alyssa’s grandpa’s house in St. Cloud. So we didn’t miss an inch of river, Alyssa’s mom drove us back up to Brainerd where we could put in at the exact same location and head out from there.
But hold on, let me back up. Remember how we were being incredibly stupid and only putting alcohol and carbs into our bodies? Alyssa and I decided to turn over a new leaf and modify our diet. Yes, this required an extra cooler. But now we have balanced, well-rounded, and tasty meal plans for the rest of the trip. Makes sense right? Not to Adam. He thinks he can survive on cans of tuna, Starburst, and Cliff bars. We’ll keep you updated on that. Anyway, he proceeded to pout the entire time at the grocery store the night before and well into the next day.
We took off from Brainerd, Adam silent and sulking, and headed down river. It was rather uneventful until we saw a huge tree suddenly and randomly rip in half and fall into the river. I know right? What the hell? There was no wind, no beavers in sight. It just fell over. 2 fisherman nearby seemed unphased but one made the comment “I guess they do make a sound when no one’s around”, referring to the large crashing noise.
Next we came upon Ft. Ripley on the right bank. It stretched on forever. At first there were just signs that said no trespassing and that it was a wildlife refuge. We saw tons of deer drinking from the water. It was quite amazing actually. They didn’t care at all about us passing by and we soon found out why. Are quiet canoes slipping along the glassy water made relatively no noise compared to what we heard next. Must’ve been training day as all the sudden we heard gunshots rip through the air. And not just rifles and such, but heavy artillery, possibly cannons, maybe a tank or 2? Machine guns? I don’t know. Whatever it was it was so loud and we were scared for our lives. Adam was terrified. Actually that’s a lie. He was still pouting at this point.
More paddling, yada yada, then we reached the town of Little Falls. It was adorable. Until we reached the dam. The map said it would be a 300yd portage to the left. This time, the DNR was dead on. We got out and surveyed the path and it seemed to stretch on forever. At least it was on concrete though. But still, 100s of pounds of gear and 2 canoes to be carried after canoeing 38 miles was a death sentence. Oh, and the put in didn’t look like a piece of cake either. Far enough from the dam, the water was still churning. Fun.
We sat with our heads down while mentally preparing for the task at hand. Not wanting to leave our gear unattended for so long downtown, we decided to go in shifts, carrying gear. Adam went first. Just as he got far enough away to be out of earshot, an angel appeared.
Darrell the Can Man pulled up with his ATV and trailer and offered to take all of our gear and give us a ride. Words can not express how relieved we felt. Alyssa says she saw a ray of sparkling sunshine behind the man. Turns out, he was driving around because they were tearing down tents from a festival they just had. It was a dam opening party. How about that?
Little Falls Dam
Long story short, we got to the put in with ease. Still tired but ecstatic, we made it the next 2 miles to our illegal campsite on a boat ramp near the Charles Lindbergh State Park.
That’s right, turns out the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic grew up on the banks of the Mississippi! Alyssa and I went and checked it out the next morning before hitting the river. Pretty cool.
But first, we were all exhausted and passed out around 10pm, me on my stomach reading with my head in hand and headlamp still on. We were that tired.
We knew that we would probably go insane at some point on this trip. Probably somewhere in the south after months of being on the water. But no. Around 3am or so, only on Day 16 keep in mind, Alyssa and I awoke to Adam suddenly jumping up and diving out of the tent. He started screaming: “Guys! Get up! We’re under water! The tent is floating away! You’ve gotta help me!” and with that he started pulling on the poles of the tent, trying to move us. Alyssa and I still laying there, were baffled. There was no water anywhere! “What the hell?!” I shouted. Slowly, the yanking on the tent subsided as Adam woke up. He had been having a nightmare. He dreamt that water had crept into the tent and was threatening to drown us. When he went outside, stepping in the dewey grass and seeing the reflection of the moon right there on the water just heightened his panic. I blame the cans of tuna. With that, we all passed out again, safe and dry in our tent.
Day 17, we already knew was going to suck. It was only a 7 mile paddle to the biggest dam on the upper Mississippi out of town where awesome people like Darrell the Can Man probably wouldn’t come and save us. We thought we’d make it there in no time. But oh no. The Mississippi, already pretty wide, opened up even more and it was like paddling in a lake. No flow and a pretty vicious headwind at times. It took forever.
When we reached the dam, it looked nasty from the get go. But that turned out to be an understatement. When we got out and climbed the bank, it immediately dropped steeply down the other side and back up again. We sent Adam to scout the portage. He must’ve been gone for 20min. When he returned, he had a look on his face that said it all. We were in trouble. Basically we would be climbing hills, going down their steep backsides, winding through forests, going up and down stairs, and across a skinny wooden bridge. Here are some photos from the trek but they don’t do it any justice. We took some video and when I get the time, I will upload it to the site:
First hill from the river bank
Down the other side
First set of stairs
Through the woods, across a bridge
Across a parking lot
To the rocky put in
We hate you Blanchard Paper Company!!!
Listening to music to stay sane
2 1/2 hours later and 4-5 trips each, we did it. We were so pumped to be done with it until we realized we still had around 30 miles to paddle to St. Cloud. And it was nearly 3pm.
The 30 miles stretched on forever but we finally reached the parking lot where Alyssa’s Uncle Lee picked us up around 9pm. Knowing there was warm food, cold beer, and comfy beds waiting, the 30 miles didn’t seem that bad anymore. We loaded up and rushed to fill our bellies. We should’ve taken pictures of the spread of food Lee had waiting for us but we were all so ravenous we quickly inhaled it all. Lee spoiled us with salad, steak, potatoes, french bread, lentils and rice. We ate like kings. We are so thankful for their wonderful hospitality.
So that’s about it so far. If the weather gets nicer, we hope to make the cities by Thursday. So far it’s pretty gloomy today but we’re hoping to make an afternoon departure and get at least 20 miles downstream.
Hey there! Ok, this is going to be just a quick update as we have to get to bed soon! Also, not sure if wordpress sends you an update that I edited previous posts, but we finally were able to upload some photos! So scroll down and check them out!
Mississippi River at 5am in Jacobson
Day 9 started out just like any other day: hungover, too cold to get out of bed, and too many mosquitos biting us. Our goal for the day was to make it to Scotts Rapids campsite but after a few beers on the river, lack of determination, and discovering that the DNR campsites were rapidly deteriorating in quality, we decided to head for the Army Corps of Engineers campsite at Big Sandy Lake, a few miles short of our intended destination.
Before arriving there though, we hit the 10% mark of our trip! 235 river miles in!
Alyssa what are you doing?! Trying to scare us or show us 10%?!
Our 10% photos. We were pretty stoked.
We walked up to the park office to pay the fee and see if they had any showers, which we so desperately needed. But most importantly, we had to see if there was a bar nearby. Turns out there were not only hot showers, electricity, a Zorbaz (famous lakeside bar chain in northern Minnesota) nearby, and a park ranger (who happened to be super good looking) offered to give us a ride to Zorbaz when her shift was over.
At 8:30pm, we piled into Megan’s car and headed to Zorbaz. Long story short: lots of pitchers, shots, stories shared with the locals later, we were there at bar close with no ride home. Since no taxi would come out to McGregor to get us, the bartender had the 18 year old cook give us a ride back to our campsite. Thank goodness for help from strangers. We are so grateful.
Day 10, we didn’t leave until noon. Everyone, at some point, felt like they were going to puke. Despite our awesome 30mi/day average, we decided to only paddle 20 to the town of Palisade. Pretty uneventful except for Adam climbing the railroad bridge. Also, if you ever find yourself in that tiny town, get the Philly Cheesesteak at Kelly’s Kitchen.
Day 11 was quite the nature paddle. We saw tons of eagles, including one nest that was absolutely gigantic. We saw some osprey, deer, muskrat, kingfishers, woodpeckers, etc. 31 miles later, we wound up in the town of Aitkin. We camped illegally up on the bank of the campground near the boat ramp. We cooked dinner as quickly as possible in the bugs so we could get to the local Dairy Queen. Blizzards were in order.
Alyssa and Adam dealing with flies
After attaining a massive sugar rush, Megan proceeded spew the word “snacks” a myriad of times in just 30 seconds, when trying to find out if we needed to go shopping for more before leaving Aitkin. Alyssa and Adam were speechless. I blame the Oreo Blizzard.
Next we decided to hike to the local Family Dollar for supplies and, well, snacks. The local gas station clerk told us it would be exactly an 11 minute walk….and she was right. We did time it.
Then we wound up at the Riverside Pub where we put at least $10 in the juke box. Not the first time, the locals thought we were absolutely insane for what we were doing and then proceeded to offer random, useless advice. We still took it. Again, at the end of the night, we needed a ride home. We weren’t that far from the campsite but it had started pouring rain and no one had brought their rain gear like I had advised. A dude at the bar said he knew of a guy who ran a “taxi” service. We went out in the parking lot and found a 1991 Plymouth Voyager Mini-Van, exactly like the one Adam used to have. He got a bit nostalgic. The middle seat was taken out and there was a sleeping bag on the floor. Turns out the taxi service was the driver’s home. He said it’s the only way to live, and seeing as we’re spending our summer on the river, we had to agree with him.
Harvey, our traveling bull, having a drink at the Riverside Pub
Day 12 we woke up to pouring rain. We decided not to paddle and went into town and updated that last blog entry. Adam wanted to go to the local movie theater for their once a day showing of Pirates of the Caribbean. But, go big or go to a movie, Adam decided not to wuss out and joined us at, where else?, the bar. We went into the first one we could find and it was the American Legion. After a few pitchers and watching the seniors play Bean Bags, we decided to migrate over to the next bar. The 40 Club.
A mile walk out of downtown, we were hoping to meet up with Megan from Big Sandy. However she wasn’t in town so she sent her father, Wynn, to drink with us. And boy was that a treat. Turns out Wynn had canoed the Mississippi 20 years earlier, by himself, paddling 40 miles before breakfast, and portaging 2 canoes on each shoulder…just because he could. Wynn is pretty much the John Wayne of canoeing. Wynn was amazing and we’re so glad to have met him! Since then, we have adopted the phrase: What Would Wynn Do?
After Wynn left, we had the pleasure or displeasure of meeting the Lonely Island Boys. Not the real ones, but Aitkin locals who dressed up in honor of their latest album debuting that day. They were young dudes dressed up in turtlenecks and thin ass chains. Strange night, but what else is new? They tried to drink our booze or convince us to order some for them. Not gonna happen.
Day 13, we woke up and got packed and ready to go, only to discover that Alyssa’s wallet was missing. After searching the site and nearby roadways and calling the bar, it was nowhere to be found. While she went back towards the bar to search for it, Lori and I went into town while Adam napped. On the way to get some righteous McDonald’s breakfast sandwiches, park ranger Megan happened to be driving to work! She picked us up and drove Lori and I to get our breakfast and then back to our campsite where Alyssa had returned. She had found her wallet on the side of the road close to the bar. Thank goodness.
Day 13 was not fun by any means. We were hungover and paddled 40 miles to Trommald Landing. There were no interesting landmarks along the way. It was insanely boring. We didn’t see much wildlife and the few river houses we passed had been clearly uninhabited for some time. The only cool thing we saw were some owls. We saw one horned owl and then two others we’ve yet to identify.
The last 12 or so miles were such a mental struggle. At one point we had stopped for a “lift your spirits” beer north of Crosby. Upon returning to our canoes we had left not locked up and with all gear still in tact, I shouted frustrated, “Damn it, they’re still here!”. Back on the river it was nearing 8pm and the sun was beginning to set behind the trees and we weren’t quite sure how much further we had to paddle. At one point we stopped on a private dock where a really sweet lady came out and assured us we only had 2.5 miles to go to our destination.
When we got to the landing, I was sicker than a dog. Turns out drinking a bunch, not hydrating, and not eating well (our diet 2 weeks into the trip has pretty much just consisted of pasta, chili, and chips) is really bad for your body. I completely lost my appetite, hadn’t eaten all day except for McDonalds breakfast nor could eat dinner, got the shakes, couldn’t regulate my body temperature, and was pretty much just in really bad shape.
After spending the night in Trommald, I woke up feeling better but not 100%. Drinking some electrolytes helped somewhat but our food supply had dwindled and there was no protein or dairy to be had. My body had hit the wall. Still, there were only 16 river miles to Brainerd so I decided to go for it. About halfway, I hit my breaking point. I was in serious need of nutrients and could not go on. Talk about learning your lesson. I couldn’t believe I had been that stupid. Despite just sitting and only using our arms, we’re burning anywhere from 200-300 calories an hour. And our diet has absolutely sucked. We thought we were being smart by packing light, but truth is, you can’t skimp on the nutrition.
Realizing I was a burden to the group, I opted to take a cab to Brainerd where I could recover. I chugged gatorade and force fed myself sandwiches despite not having an appetite. 24 hours later I fully recovered. But it was still pretty scary.
Unfortunately, Adam, Alyssa, and Lori weren’t left in the best conditions. They hit some open water, got the first major crosswinds of the trip, had to make a pretty insane portage around the dam in Brainerd, and then to top it all off, got rained on. Adam got to paddle a canoe for the first time on his own. This was important to see if he could do it since Lori was leaving us that night to return to her parents’ place in Minneapolis. It had been planned all along. We have been so happy to have her on the trip thus far.
In Brainerd we met up with Alyssa’s mom. She had driven to town to bring us needed supplies. We said goodbye to Lori, loaded up the gear, and drove an hour south to St. Cloud, MN to stay with Alyssa’s grandpa and uncle. It would be the first time in 14 days we had a personal shower, climate controlled environment, and warm bed to sleep in. It was glorious. Not gonna lie, I was kind of ready to call it quits. This trip might be a little bit bigger than I ever imagined. But after some awesome hospitality and reassurance from Alyssa and Adam, I think I’m ready to hit the river again.
So much for being a short post, but we had to fill you in! We’re driving back up to Brainerd tomorrow to put in so we don’t miss any river miles. Hopefully the next post will follow soon! Thanks for reading!
Yikes! We have so much to fill you in on! A lot has happened since we last left you in Bemidji!
After the last update, the weather was still good and the waves on the lake calmed down so we decided to go ahead and cross Lake Bemidji. Except for some headwinds, the crossing and paddle in the channel afterwards was rather uneventful and we made it to the Stump Lake campsite no problem. Across the water from us was a giant beaver dam and all night we got to listen to them jumping into the water and slapping it with their tails. It was pretty cool. The wind that night was pretty crazy so we ended up having to move the tent into the shelter area. Turns out a $45 tent from Wal-mart is meant for backyard camping and not 2300 mile journeys.
We woke up the next morning and portaged a dam in really good time. There was a little drizzle, but other than that, everything was great. Until we realized we had accidentally paddled halfway down Wolf Lake the wrong way, missing the Mississippi channel. Thank God I decided to check my compass 15 minutes into it instead of waiting until we reached the wrong shore. Oops.
Next was Lake Andrusia. What a suck fest. At first the wind was calm and we decided to cross it. Turns out it wasn’t calm. At all. Halfway across the white caps start spilling into our boats, soaking us and throwing us way off course. Adam was terrified.
After a half an hour of heavy paddling, we made it across and stopped on some random dock for lunch to fuel up for Allen’s Bay and Cass Lake crossings. While scarfing peanut butter tortillas, Adam raved about his $20 rain gear and how we were all fools for spending more than that on ours.
Midway across Allen’s Bay, which was another hell hole, Alyssa burst out laughing and urged us to paddle up behind them. Adam’s amazing $20 rain pants had split wide open at the crotch. Turns out the seam of the pants was not sewn, but glued together. Morale of the story is, splurge on your rain gear or your crotch gets wet.
Next was Cass Lake. Again the open water deceived us. The water looked decent but as soon as we got far enough from shore to have issues, hurricane force winds picked up. The 2 fishing boats out on the water looked at us like we were insane. Lori and I made a beeline for shore and looked to our right to see Adam and Alyssa just bobbing in the white caps. Again, Adam was terrified.
After an hour of absolute torture, we made it the two miles across the first bay of Cass Lake, with another 3 miles to go. After all the hell we had endured that day, ripped crotch and all, we wisely opted to paddle an extra 4 miles along the shore and avoid another terrifying experience of white caps. I almost passed out.
We pulled in to the Knutson Dam campground and decided to stop for the day. We built a fire and had dinner and then sent Adam into “town” for beer and snacks and insect repellant. The campground host said it should be about 2 miles. Well, 2 hours later, Adam returns with no beer, no snacks, no insect repellant, but with a friendly farm dog he had named Linguini. Not exactly what we had expected. Although tick infested and missing fur, Linguini was super friendly and a joy to have at the campsite.
Until the next morning. When Alyssa (ultimate animal lover to the extreme) decided she wouldn’t leave until she found the dog’s owner (ridiculous). The dog was fat and happy and in no way in danger of not surviving. But unbeknownst to us, she took off into “town” with Adam’s dead cellphone and the dog. 2 hours later, she waltzed back into camp having found the dog’s home and she had snacks to make up for it. All was forgiven.
Day 6’s paddling quickly turned from an easy channel into hellacious marshland again. Our only 2 landmarks to go by for the day were two campsites. Neither of which exist, it turns out. We paddled for 10 miles without any sense of direction and wound up at Becker’s Resort, a half mile from Lake Winnie.
A word on Lake Winnie: it is enormous. People have died trying to canoe it. Motor boats are wary of the 14 mile open water crossing. Not exactly where a group of under prepared, physically inept, novice canoers should paddle.
We asked the owners of Becker’s Resort what to do, and it turns out they give trailer rides once a week to people like us. For $40, we loaded up our supplies and were driven around the lake. ITS NOT CHEATING! We could’ve died!
Onward. Nanna, do not read this paragraph. After the dam, we canoed another 20 miles into sketchy trailer territory. After every turn we came upon dilapidated trailers posted up next to the river with obvious evidence of inhabitation. We asked a fisherman if we were on course for Gambler’s Point (which is a campground on the river). He confirmed that we were. 15 minutes later, a creepy white Ford Escape with a plethora of antenna, pulled up along side of us and stopped twice, staring at us. The movie Deliverance immediately came to mind.
The situation became worse once we reached Gamblers Point. It was overgrown and absolutely infested with bugs. Not to mention several odd things such as bleach bottles tied to tree branches and a creepy makeshift toilet. The campsite just screamed danger: weird people camp here. But there was less than an hour of sunlight left and the next campsite was 20 miles away. So, I texted a few loved ones where we were and where to send the search party to, had a few shots of vodka, finished our beer supply, listened to Adam’s horrible jokes about sodomy, and then hit the hay.
Hooray! We survived to paddle day 7! I think that morning was the fastest we have ever packed up our campsite and got the hell out of Dodge. This day was relatively uneventful until we got to flooded Blackwater Lake just before the town of Cohasset. Turns out “lake” in Minnesota can also mean a body of water that is just a flooded marsh land, full of weeds and 2 foot deep water that make crossing just as slow as when trying to paddle through white caps.
We had traveled 24 miles and hadn’t been in a town in 3 days so a beer was definitely in order. We arrived in Cohasset, tied our canoes up under a railroad bridge, and walked into the first bar we saw. A local seated next to us at the bar asked us where we were paddling to and proceeded to laugh in our faces when we told him the Gulf of Mexico. This seems to be a reoccurring theme. We’re not sure why.
He did buy us a round of beer before leaving without saying goodbye. 4 or 5 drinks later, our drinking tolerance diminished by lack of nutrition, extreme sun exposure, and fatigue, we decided it was time to head out and do some more paddling. We only had 2 miles to get to the campsite near Grand Rapids. Needless to say, it took awhile and there was plenty of drunken debauchery. At one point, Lori and I were belting out the lyrics to Eddie Money’s “Take Me Home Tonight”. Ridiculous.
We arrived at the Pokegama Dam and set up camp and showered for the first time in 8 days. It was glorious. Lori wussed out and went to bed, while the rest of us rallied, called a cab, and went to the Eagle, Grand Rapid’s finest local bar. The cab driver told us to go in the back door. We walked in, and you know that scene where the whole bar comes to a screeching halt and turns and looks at you? That happened.
We ordered drinks, played some pool and then Adam and I were ready to go. Alyssa was not. No one really knows what happened, but we know it involved finding a Zorbaz and getting back to the campsite at 4:30am. And something about a fight between a mom and her baby’s daddy.
The next morning, we woke up at 7:15am and called to ask for a ride around the two dams that the paper mill supplies for paddlers. Just as I got off the phone at 7:40am, a trailer pulled up behind me. He was supposed to arrive at 8:15am. We roused still drunk Alyssa from the tent, packed up, and headed out.
Our driver Mark was one of the nicest people we’ve met so far. He took us to the grocery store and then to the local coffee shop. He also gave us lots of helpful advice at the put in before we shoved off. Come to find out, Mark is an avid canoe paddler himself and participates in historical French Canadian fur trade reenactments. Here is his website if you’d like to check it out: www.portalsintimeinc.com
On day 8, we were really moving. We were clocking about 5mph with little wind and a strong current, and of course, our strong paddling ability. Ha. This was the first day the Mississippi began to look like what we had all imagined it to be. Blue skies with puffy white clouds, wide open river, pine trees lining the shore, and flat glassy water. It was heaven. It made the previous 7 days all worth while. When we took our lunch break, we realized that instead of getting out of the boats and walking around in mosquito infested campsites and boat ramps, we could instead raft up and relax in the canoes, drink beer, and still make progress floating down the river. Genius! It only took 7 days to figure that out. That and that our weather radio doubles as an FM radio. Holler!
We made unbelievable time and arrived at a campsite near Jacobson, MN about an hour earlier than we expected to. To try and confirm where we were, we asked people camping along the shore what campsite it was. The response was less than helpful. They weren’t sure where they were. Awesome. We decided to press on and paddled the next 3 miles into the Jacobson wayside rest area, where camping was not allowed. We set up camp anyways and went straight to the bar.
On the way to the bar, we passed a giant park full of random sculptures and patio furniture. Come to find out from Becky the bartender at the Forestry Station, the owner of the property is an angry old hermit who doesn’t like people trespassing. That would explain the 2 locked outhouses that we tried to use.
Again, reoccurring theme, the entire bar, which consisted of 6 drunk, elderly men, swiveled around in their chairs to stare at us when we walked in. Only one beer on tap, turkey gizzards in a bucket, and an interesting local man named Hank who fell out of the bar on his way out to smoke a cigarette, only to return and give us his address and phone number and life story. After Adam spilled a pitcher on Alyssa, Hank asked for all three girls for our numbers. And then he asked Adam for his too. That was our cue to exit and return to our illegal campsite.
Alright, going to have to stop there. This post is getting way too long and we need to figure out how to get to Brainerd. Hope you guys are finding this as entertaining as we are! Thanks for reading!
This post is coming from a library in good old Bemidji, MN-home of a giant Paul Bunyan and Babe statue (yes, we got our photo in front of it), some of the friendliest people we’ve ever met, and the most expensive pint of PBR I’ve ever had. So far, we’ve paddled for 2.5 days and have covered around 60 river miles. By car, the distance between the headwaters and where we are now is only 37 miles. Just to give you an idea of how curvy this river is. It sure has been interesting!
We started the trip at the headwaters at Lake Itasca. We did the ceremonial crossing of the stones and the obligatory photo with the headwaters monument. And then we were off! The first 5 miles were pretty boring but then we reached our first portage of the trip. No biggy, didn’t take long, but it did smell like sewage.
And then the fun part. We hit the first rapids of our trip! It was a 4 mile stretch through a wooded area with boulders, down trees, and tight corners. Exhilirating and terrifying all at the same time! Lori and Alyssa looked like pros while Adam and I made it through with accidentally hopping only one rock! Piece of cake!
Adam so happy after our first section of rapids
Then we made it to the wetlands where our maps are definitely not detailed enough! We accidentally took one wrong channel that ended up costing us an hour and a half, but we got on track and made it to our first remote campsite with 3 hrs of daylight left. We’re so far north that at 10:15p there’s still a little light on the horizon from sunset and we’ve been told there’s a chance we could see the northern lights, but we haven’t yet!
Portage, rapids, wetland navigating, and that was just the first day! Talk about throwing us into it!
Day 2 was a lot smoother. We were pumped for the rapids section again but they were really tame compared to Day 1’s ordeal. We also made ridiculous time the first half of the day, moving at around 4mph-much faster than we expected so far up north.
We made really good time and decided to shoot for 30 miles. However, we came to a particularly confusing part of the wetlands and got lost. We ended up having to turn around and camp at only 22 miles for the day. We were disappointed but we ended up meeting a couple who kayak the area all the time and they were able to give us amazing directions that really helped out yesterday. They told us that everyone gets lost at that part. We felt better once we learned that!
Day 2 was nature day. Alyssa got 2 leeches on her feet and all of us had ticks. Needless to say, tweezers may be just about one of the best things we brought on this trip. That, and Adam’s skinny jeans. Ha!
Alyssa pulling a tick off of Adam’s foot
Day 3 was yesterday. We surprised ourselves again by paddling around 4mph and making it through the confusing wetlands with only getting lost twice! Again, the river changed to a twisty, flowing chute through a forrested area. It was really scenic and fun navigating around all the trees. We also had our first lake crossing, Lake Irving right before the town of Bemidji.
So here we are! We got into town late afternoon and immediately showered in the lake and then went straight to a bar to celebrate-since this is the first town we have hit. We decided against making our second lake crossing and looked for a place to camp. The woman who took our picture in front of the Paul Bunyan statue offered us her house, but she lived pretty far away and with all of our gear it would’ve been impossible.
So we did the next best thing and illegally squatted on a patch of land on the lake that belongs to Bemidji State University. Campus security did come by a few times but they never said anything to us so I guess it was alright! We got to watch a pretty intense storm build over the lake and roll our way. Not really windy, but tons of thunder and lightning and some rain and hail.
This morning we got up at 6:30am with hopes of being able to paddle the little over a mile of a lake crossing we had to do today before the wind picked up. However the lake was already pretty choppy and the weather radio stated that a storm with damaging winds and hail would roll in around noon. Rather be safe than sorry, we opted to stay in town for our first unintentional layover.
And it is now 12:15p and there is not a cloud in the sky. Thank you weather radio. Still windy though. Anyways, we are getting to do necessary things in town like update this blog, buy Adam cold weather clothes since he doesn’t even have a sleeping bag, and thoroughly check ourselves for ticks! Good times!
Our next stretch will be pretty remote as well. It should be much easier though with less river hazards so we can cover more ground, but it will be about 100 river miles before we reach Grand Rapids. We’re shooting to make it in 3 days.
Hopefully then there will be another blog post about our adventure! Thanks for reading and for all of the support! We really appreciate it!!!
Hello from Moorhead, Minnesota! The crew and I are all packed up and ready to hit the road tomorrow morning! We’re leaving at 7am to drive to Lake Itasca, the headwaters of the Mississippi, and be on the water by 10am for our first day of paddling!
The last couple of days sure have been interesting. My trip started with a 30 hour bus ride on the Greyhound from Dallas to Moorhead. On the way though, my bus picked up Adam in Des Moines and it was definitely nice to have him for the last 12 hours of the journey! It was great catching up with him as we hadn’t seen each other in over a year. We actually didn’t have too many crazy stories from the bus, except there was one lady, who hopped on the bus in Minneapolis, who kept proudly announcing that she had just gotten out of prison that day. Um, good for her.
Once in Moorhead we met up with Alyssa and then went over to Fargo to celebrate in style! I was pumped because it was my first time ever in North Dakota!
The rest of the time has pretty much been just prepping for the trip. Lori caught a ride up here today and is all set to go! We have all of our gear packed, food for the next few days purchased, and canoes rigged up on top of the car. And that’s pretty much it! Alyssa’s mom grilled burgers for us tonight and we’re all enjoying our last hot shower for a long time! In fact, Alyssa just microwaved a burger right now, a luxury we will surely miss on the trip!
Seeing how everything fits in the canoes in Debbie’s garage!
Lori packing the van
Adam and Alex loading the canoes on the van
Well that’s all from Moorhead! Next time we write it will be somewhere along the Mississippi!
Hello friends! Thanks for checking out my blog! A few notes on it: first of all, I recommend you subscribe to my blog so you can be notified by email when I make a new post. Seems to be the most efficient way of staying in touch. Since we’re not bringing a laptop on the trip, I don’t know how often I’ll be able to update the blog. But my goal is to contribute as often as I can and that the posts should be as interesting and concise as possible. This will surely be a very entertaining adventure!
Also, I bought a ton of postcard stamps. Let me know if you’d like me to send you some postcards along the way! If I haven’t already for some reason collected your address recently, please email me!
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As I spend my last night in Texas tonight with my family, I can’t help but reflect on my preparation for the trip. I…. didn’t really do much.
I had planned on being as close to the peak of my collegiate athlete fitness level as possible. That didn’t happen. I blame the rain in Portland and my laziness for not training hard enough. Oh well, I will be sitting a majority of the trip anyways.
I had also planned on meticulously examining every blog and website I could find on the river and people who have traveled it. Meh, I sort of did. I glanced over a few.
I had also planned on taking a few canoe lessons to sharpen my skills. That I did try to follow through on. However, the Wilamette and Columbia rivers in Portland were flooded up until the time I left so shops weren’t renting. And then apparently the Dallas area doesn’t believe in canoeing. Only wakeboarding and some kayaking.
So subscribe to this blog. You aren’t gonna want to miss the hilarity sure to ensue!
(All jokes aside, do not be concerned for our safety. We are reasonable, mature, adults who take safety seriously. We’ll be paddling the river bank the entire way and will not put ourselves into any precarious situations. I got over risk taking and looking cool long ago and as you can see in the picture of my pack in a post below, I am probably way over-prepared.)
And have no fear: we have the first 200 miles of the trip to get our bearings. I’ve read that the river begins as a tiny stream. Slow moving and sometimes so shallow we may have to walk our canoes. We’ll also have to portage a few times due to locks and possible beaver dams. We’ll get the hang of it, no doubt.
I still can’t believe the trip is happening this week though. Like I really can’t. When I told people in Portland what my plans were for the summer, I didn’t really believe them myself. I was supposed to have a month between when I quit my job in Portland to this very day. Where did the time go?!
I spent a week moving from Portland down to Texas (that’s where), hitting up Crater Lake National Park, Yosemite National Park, and Moab, Utah. That was incredible.
And then the three weeks at home with my family were eventful, to say the very least. It was always something. My dog bit my cat’s face, a family event gone awry, a tornado touching down one town over, among many, many other things.
Oh yeah, and they thought I had skin cancer. What appropriate timing, two weeks before I go spend close to four months on the water. And I’m only 26! I have been somewhat diligent about protecting myself from the sun, but on the other hand I have spent a majority of my life outdoors. And the blonde hair and blue eyes count against me. Oops.
I got a spot on my ear and a spot on my back biopsied and after an unreasonable 8 day waiting period for the results, they came back negative. Thank goodness. The one on my back is pre-cancerous though and I need to monitor it along the trip.
So yeah, busy busy. I have loved my time at home, but geez, the Mississippi river is going to seem like a cake walk after this!
Alright, time for my prepping and family time. Thanks for reading! Next post to hopefully follow in a few days!
It actually wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. Combined with my knowledge from kayak tour guiding and my thorough research of blogs and websites of other people who have canoed the Mississippi river and just plain common sense, I think I’ve got it.
Since it’s a group of us going, we divided up what supplies we would be responsible for. For instance, Alyssa is responsible for all cookware. Adam has secured most group supplies. And I am in charge of our tent and most medical supplies. And of course there are various other things.
Lucky for us, this isn’t as backcountry of a trip as it sounds. The first 200 miles before Minneapolis will be as remote as it gets, but, conversely, Adam predicts where we’ll see the most paddlers and campers. After Minneapolis, the river opens up into a bustling center of commerce and life. Depending on our paddle speed, we should pass through a town nearly every or every other day. So we don’t really need to stock up much. Any time we need some provisions, we can just pull over and get them.
That said though, I still have to pack for 100 days from home. I am notorious for over-packing so this has been quite the learning experience. I bought an 80L pack and hoped to fit all of my belongings in there for 2 reasons: I’m first traveling by bus and need to be easily mobile and also I figure the less room I can take up in our two canoes, the better.
Yikes! Is that all going to fit?! That’s 2.5 days worth of shopping. Being an outdoor enthusiast, I had a few supplies already. But I didn’t want to bring any of my really nice stuff because there’s a good chance it could get lost or damaged on this trip. Also, I went shopping for small and really compact stuff.
Ta-Da! I can’t believe it, but it all fit! My PFD is in there and everything! I even have a little extra space left over in the green pack. The red pack is my Camelbak pack that I will use as carry-on for the bus with essentials like personal items, books, and Sudoku. The brown, rectangular shape is the tent. It has nice carrying straps so it shouldn’t be a problem. The pack weighs a lot but I’ll basically just be carrying it to and from the bus and then it’ll rest in a canoe.
And that’s about it! Mississippi river, here I come!
FloodedWithAnticipation 
