Ann Raiho and Natalie Warren are attempting to become the first two women to paddle a canoe from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay, a trip of 2,250 miles. The Cook County News-Herald has periodically followed them on their journey. The two recent St. Olaf college graduates met at Camp Menogyn in 2007 where they became fast friends and learned the outdoor skills that have served them well on this trip. They began paddling upriver on the Minnesota on June 2. Here are some edited entries from their most recent blog, posted on June 29.
“We’re in the Fargo/ Moorhead area waiting for Natalie’s flight to Philadelphia tomorrow where she will be the maid of honor for her sister’s wedding on July 2nd. She flies back on July 5th and we’ll be departing at around 2 p.m. from Lindenwood Park in downtown Fargo.
“Downstream has been like floating on a cloud compared to upstream! We think we can average 45 miles a day and travel around 5 miles per hour. That’s 300% better than upstream on the Minnesota River. We had some big winds on the lakes we paddled to get to the downstream section. The lakes we passed through were Lac qui Parle, Marsh Lake, Big Stone Lake, Traverse Lake and Mud Lake. We paddled the 41-mile Bois de Sioux and have come 92 miles on the Red River of the North—all in 11 days since we left Montevideo!
“Along the way we got to spend a few days in Ortonville, Clinton and Graceville, Minnesota, meeting and pot lucking with participants of Big Stone County Farmer’s Market.
“Previous groups that paddled this route also experienced hospitality to the extreme. We have loved talking to folks along the river, hearing their stories, and learning about small town life in the Midwest. We have learned that small towns are disappearing. Their populations are steadily decreasing as people move to the cities or the suburbs for their occupations. Along with this exodus, family farms are being abandoned. We always talked about this phenomena in environmental studies classes at St Olaf, but I always thought it was a bunch of hippie hooie until this trip. Every night we pull over to ask the owners of the riverbanks if we can camp on their land and several times we’ve come across completely empty houses and barns. It’s spooky! We usually move way down river away from farmland and camp in the wilderness instead. When we were in Montevideo and in Clinton we spent a lot of time discussing farming issues about corn production, pollution, and the missing farm generation.
“Will there be a new era of agricultural revival? Or a takeover by big business?”
As one can see Natalie and Ann are learning a lot more about life than just about canoeing and portaging a canoe. They have already encountered flooded rivers, lots of wind, rain and plenty of cold and hot weather. Soon they will reach the long paddle Lake Winnipeg will present, and then it’s on to the fabled Hays River and the turbulent white water they will traverse before spilling out into Hudson Bay.
If you want to follow them, Google “Hudson Bay Bound.” The pictures they take are great and they even have two music videos that alone are worth viewing.
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