Above: (L-R) Ryan Ritter, Jake Bendel, and Adam Maxwell spent their summer traversing waterways 1,800 miles from Jasper, Alberta, Canada to the Hudson Bay in Churchill, Manitoba. They took a train from Winnipeg to their starting point and a train from Hudson Bay back to Winnipeg. Bendel and Maxwell have been on staff with Voyageur Canoe Outfitters.
Voyageur Canoe Outfitters (VCO) must be an inspiring place to work. Two of its employees, Adam Maxwell, 24, and Jake Bendel, 21, and a third friend, Ryan Ritter, 23, spent their summer paddling over 1,800 miles from Jasper, Alberta, Canada to the Hudson Bay in Churchill, Manitoba. This was not the first long paddling trip for one of them.
Adam was one of four young men (three of them VCO employees) who traveled from the mouth of the Pigeon River to York Factory on Hudson Bay last summer, a trip sponsored by Voyageur Canoe Outfitters in honor of its 50th anniversary.
On this summer’s trip, Adam and Ryan took turns at the front and back of a canoe, while Jake paddled a kayak. Their trip began May 13 from the base of the Rocky Mountains and ended August 7, 87 days later.
To start their trip, Adam, from Crystal Lake, Illinois; Jake, from Lakeville, Minnesota; and Ryan, from Owatonna, Minnesota, drove from Duluth to Winnipeg, Manitoba where they boarded a train that took them to Jasper National Park in Jasper, Alberta.
Above: The expedition covered a lot of scenic areas ranging from boreal forest to Arctic tundra. Left: The young adventurers saw a lot of wildlife along the way. The highlight was being escorted to the end of their journey by hundreds of beluga whales.
They paddled and portaged the Athabasca, LaBiche, Beaver, and Churchill rivers, a route followed by early fur traders. They had spent all winter planning this challenge, which they called the “Rails to Whales 2012 Expedition.”
Their trip took them through some very remote areas, but their families kept track of their progress through a SPOT satellite tracking device.
The crew paddled or portaged past rushing rapids, hydroelectric dams, limestone cliffs, boreal forests, sandy beaches, and Arctic tundra. They caught smallmouth bass, walleye, northern pike, and trout along the way and saw more animals than last year’s group saw. They were disappointed, however, to see no polar bears near the end of their trip as Adam and last year’s crew had seen.
After they arrived in Churchill, the three men took a 46-hour train ride back to Winnipeg and drove from there back to Duluth.
Deciding to go
Adam’s love for the outdoors began in 2006 when he went to the BWCA with his uncle. “I just wanted to fish. I hated paddling and complained most of the time,” he recalled on the website that documented this summer’s expedition. He has obviously changed his mind. His extended experience in the wilderness last summer, particularly “the sense of timelessness, sense of simplicity and wonder, and just the idea of constantly going from place to place” inspired him to plan another trip.
Ryan met Adam while they were both attending college in Duluth. He started the trip with far less experience paddling, although he had been on a few backpacking and camping trips. “Adam was telling me about his trip last summer and that he wanted to do another and I immediately said I was down to go.”
Jake’s camping and canoeing experiences began in the Boundary Waters at age 13. “The longest trip I ever did was a week, which was way too short,” he said. At Voyageur, his days off “were usually devoted to travel. I came to like watching the sun rise and set in new places more than fishing. I decided I could fish the rest of my life, but weekly access to the BWCA wouldn’t last forever. I got hooked on seeing new lakes and places and trying to cover as much water as I could on my days off. I was impressed with how far I could go on a day off. How far could I go in a whole summer?” Jake jumped on board a few days after he met Adam and found out about the trip Adam and Ryan were planning.
The trip
When asked what he did better this year because of what he learned from last year, Adam said, “I think the biggest thing was planning and preparation.” Having three crewmembers instead of four created a different dynamic, also, making decisions easier because votes never ended in a tie. Tasks were divided up more evenly, he said, with the three of them regularly switching chores.
Comparing this year to last, Adam said this year involved more upriver paddling. “That was more challenging,” he said.
When asked what the trip’s bigger challenges were, Ryan said they hit a spot between Lac La Biche and the Beaver River that could once be traversed with two “reasonable” portages but now involves a 10-mile overland trek. They met a couple of avid paddlers who lived in Lac La Biche who took them in for the night and gave them a ride the next day to the Sand River, which dumps into the Beaver River. “We couldn’t have met any better people to help us with the transition,” he said.
Ryan said the lower Churchill River was both a highlight and a challenge. “The whitewater was big and plentiful,” he said. “The remoteness and challenging water was awesome.” That stretch had no developed portages and they didn’t see anyone else for 20 days.
Adam said this year involved a lot more whitewater paddling than last, “and we had a lot of fun with that.” He said it makes paddling a whole lot easier.
“Deciding what to do at some of the rapids was tough,” Ryan said. “Bushwhacking a portage sucks, but so does losing a boat or gear if you tip.”
“The wildlife was definitely a highlight,” Ryan said. “We saw bighorn sheep, mountain goats, elk, deer, grouse, otters, seals, a huge variety of waterfowl, and plenty of bears and moose. Paddling with the whales as we approached the bay was also amazing. It’s tough to describe what it feels like when there is a dozen of them following you and rubbing against your boat.”
“Our favorite highlight was the beluga whales at the end,” Adam said. “We were surrounded by hundreds of whales.” He called them their “welcome party.”
The future
How did this trip affect their perspective on life and their goals for the future? “ definitely see a big importance on getting out and experiencing nature,” Adam said. “ think that especially my generation and most of the generation coming after us are lacking that.” Adam is a junior at the University of Minnesota- Duluth (UMD) and said he changed his major to outdoor education so that he can help young people develop an appreciation for nature.
Jake is a materials science major at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. “After working at Voyageur last summer,” he said, “I felt like wanted to work outside the rest of my life. This trip reassured me of that. My current major doesn’t really allow me to do that, so we’ll see what happens after this year in school.
“If you told me I was going to do this trip a few years ago, I don’t know that I would have believed you,” Jake said. “ knew I would enjoy a trip like this but didn’t think I would run into the right people to make it happen. Voyageur seems to hire some adventurous staff. If you find the right crew of people who want something bad enough you can make it happen.”
When asked if they have plans for another trip, Adam said, “We’d all like to do another one. It’s just a matter of finding the time and the resources. …I’d like to go further north.” Jake said they have also talked about paddling the Amazon.
Ryan is a senior at UMD, majoring in environmental studies and minoring in geography. He is also getting a GIS certificate.
For photos and more information on the trip, visit canoe2012.wix.com/jaspertowww.chuchill.
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