|
|
On September 10th, 2022, Duluth paddler Mike Ward completed a 250-mile traverse of the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness from near International Falls, Minnesota eastward to Lake Superior via the Grand Portage in 5 days, 10 hours and 31 minutes.
Ward started at Sha Sha Resort outside of International Falls on the western edge of Voyageurs National Park on Sunday, September 4th at 6:23 a.m. and paddled on average 42 miles per day along the border of the US and Canada for six days, finishing with a 12-mile trip on the Pigeon River and 8.5-mile trail hike on the Grand Portage Trail by Friday, September 10th at 4:54 p.m. This time beat the existing stand-up paddleboard record from Scott Baste by 18 hours, about 6 later from when Baste’s time of 6 days, 5 hours was recorded earlier that same day. Florida stand-up paddleboard athlete Baste had set a time of 7 days, 10 hours in September 2020 and lowered his time in 2022.
Ward used a 14’ racing-style stand-up paddleboard along with lightweight camping gear and food to make the traverse. To train, he paddled on Lake Superior, portaging his gear from his East Hillside Duluth home to Leif Erickson Park. Ward also raced in two paddling events and made two shorter simulation trips to the BWCA over the summer.
During his trek Ward said he split his days between paddling and sleeping. “I paddled around 12-13 hours a day and was at camp cooking and sleeping 10-12 hours. So, I slept great!”
On Day 4 Mike traveled 49.5 miles from Basswood Lake to the Granite River. He started at 5:45 a.m. and finished at 7:11 p.m. to record the most miles he covered in any one day, although he had 46.4 and 45.6 milage days as well. On the last day Mike paddled and hiked 34.6 miles.
The route taken, known as the Border Route or Kruger-Waddell Challenge is a historic indigenous travel corridor used for centuries, and a well-traveled fur-trading route for voyageurs transporting furs from the North American wilderness.
In the modern day, a paddling team consisting of Verlen Kruger and Clint Waddell found a record of a historic speed attempt by fur trader Sir George Simpson and recreated the route in the 1970’s. Since then, many records on the same course have been set and broken by solo canoe paddlers, tandem canoe teams, and stand-up paddleboards. Canoe records are much faster than stand-up paddleboard, with most solo and team records under 70 hours.
When Mike isn’t paddleboarding he is busy inline skating. He is the inside account manager for DBS and former race director of the NorthShore Inline Marathon and former co-owner at Duluth Timing & Events. He is a multisport athlete and musician.
Leave a Reply