Hudson Bay Bound

Upcoming Presentations

2012-01-17T13:25:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

We just wanted to give you all a heads up about a few presentations we are giving:

Friday February 10th -- St. Olaf College -- Time: 3:30 PM

Saturday February 11th -- REI Bloomington, MN -- MN Canoe Association -- Time: 11:30 AM

Saturday February 11th -- Montevideo, MN -- CURE MN Annual Meeting -- Time: 5:30 at the library and a short version at 8:30 at the Hollywood Theater!

We will also present at Canoecopia this year on Saturday, March 10th

We are excited to see you all!

The Last Memories of Our Trip

2011-10-20T18:18:00.000-07:00

After 72 days, our adventure culminated in 13 days on the Hayes River. While at Oxford House, Ron ghost-blogged for us, so I'll start this entry on day 78. The day we left Oxford House.

The segment between Oxford Lake and Knee Lake is called Knife Rapids. We made it over the rapids pretty quickly and thought we had done a great job, but when we brought the canoe up on shore at our campsite that evening we discovered a large scratch and puncture on the stern.

The leak is right there by the skid plate. It only leaked about a 1/2 cup per hour.

The hole wasn't too big, but we decided to take advantage of North Star Resort, a five star fishing lodge on Knee Lake. We stayed for one day and one night repairing our stern with a fiberglass kit provided by Stone Harbor. It was actually really easy to fix. It also helped that we were in a lodge... We were playing it safe by fixing the crack and were glad later that we made the stop.

This is Mark the caretaker of the North Star Resort.

We camped one more night on Knee Lake reaching the last stretch of our journey. The rapids after Knee Lake are successional. At every corner, there were different white water challenges. We went along carefully and had so much fun running mostly fast CI and CII sets. The guidebook we followed is called "Wilderness Rivers of Manitoba" by Hap Wilson. He draws each set by hand and tells you what route he followed for each set as well. It's a very useful book, but he couldn't have possibly checked out all of these sets unless he would have stayed in this small area for a month. Anyway, eventually we strayed from his meticulously mapped out sets to the uncharted Wetiko Rapids. We were stuck in small channels that led to waterfalls that led to more small channels and more waterfalls. We did about twenty 10 foot portages and were losing steam fast! The sun was setting, so we decided to camp. Our campsite was on an island and was surrounded by five waterfalls. We thought we were lost, but it was the most beautiful campsite of the trip. So, beautiful we forgot to take a picture and I offered an entire granola bar to the Sasssquatch (I know not very L.N.T., but I was just so appreciative).

The next day we found our way back to the main channel right away! Off we went for a day full of portaging around big waterfalls and running fast rapid sets. We did really well, but all day we were thinking about the last three rapid sets. They are all CIIIs and aren't discussed in much detail by Hap, and they are the last sets before the calm descent to Hudson Bay. We'd been searching for camping until 9PM when we finally reached the first of these final rapid sets. We just had to stop, so we ended up camping in a very small area.

The next day we got up at the crack of dawn to get over the sets and have the rest of the day to float the Hayes. We thought we'd be alright without the spray skirt on the first set because we were planning on getting out of the wave train and not taking on any water. I wasn't paying attention to the water we were taking on in the bow while I was sterning. When we finished the set Natalie said in her calmest voice, "bail as fast as you can." I said, "what?" and looked down in horror at our completely filled boat. We had about 3 inches left, or we would have been under water. It took us about fifteen minutes to get all the water out. The next CIIIs gave us no trouble, and we arrived happily at Whitemud Falls.

Whitemud Falls!

This marks 200 km to York Factory. We were so pumped! After some portrait pictures at the falls, we hopped in the boat and started the float to the bay. This part of the river was by far my favorite. You could see all the way to the bottom, move fast and feel the presence of the steep banks that were covered in spruce trees or falling away. It was sunny and 80 all day. We made it to just before the junction of the Hayes River and God's River. Just 110 km away from York Factory! We had a brilliant idea: to stay up all night by a big fire and leave as soon as we could see the water. About 30 minutes after dinner, we both fell asleep... We agreed it was some of the best sleep either of us had had on the trip! We did wake up early and without breakfast started on our break for the bay. We knew we could move 10 km per hour, so we had 11 hours until York Factory if the weather didn't change. All of the stories we had heard about the last length of the Hayes were scary. Fog, rain, headwinds, polar bears. But, we had a perfect day! It was 70 something and sunny...too nice. We were both on edge all day and getting more anxious by the minute to just make it there already! Around mid day we were given encouragement from nature. The only cloud in the sky shook with thunder, and on the shore there were 5 wolves! Five minutes later there was a herd of caribou. We were ready to go! We saw seals and more caribou too!

Mud cliffs line the last flush of the Hayes.

Caribou

Wolves. Notice how dark it got all of the sudden.

Hudson Bay in the distance and a seal in the foreground.

We arrived at York Factory sometime in the afternoon. We had forgotten to eat all day, so our thoughts were not on our accomplishment or the completion of the trip but our stomachs. We made about 3 pounds of hashbrowns, eggs and black beans under the watch of Lenny the maintence guy because there was a young polar bear in the area. They were nice enough to let us stay with them in a bunkhouse. They cooked us sausages and told us stories from the summer. Teagan and Jason were the caretakers. They are a young couple and this was their first summer at York Factory. Lenny had spent three summers there. That evening we branded our paddles and introduced our dog to Lenny's huge, friendly German Shepherd, Jake. It was a beautiful night and we had a wonderful rest with full bellies in anticipation of getting home. In the morning, we woke to gunshots and Jake barking. We opened the door and about 100 meters away there was a polar bear walking on the boardwalk. Wow! I'm sorry I didn't Gopro it for you. That day, after a great tour of York Factory, we left on the float plane with Teagan and Jason.

Natalie and Lenny getting ready to brand some paddles. There's a polar bear siting right next to York Factory that you can't see in this picture.

Woo! We did it!

After the Menogyn Femmes Du Nord (a 50 day canoeing adventure), you brand your paddles with an "M" for Menogyn.

I can't really tell you how I feel about the trip right now. All I know is that it was fun and I learned a lot! I wouldn't trade this experience for anything, and I can't wait to reflect on all of our adventures over the next couple of months by talking to people and writing. For now, we're taking some time off from HBB. I will be living in Steamboat Springs for the next two months working at a luxury dog resort (yes Myhan will be coming with Lucky Dog!), skiing and waiting to start grad school in Fort Collins. Natalie is traveling the east coast visiting family and friends. She is still looking for a job and wants to do more speaking about our trip. Call her! 305 972 6564.

Here are some of our GoPro videos from the last stretch:

Natalie and I want to thank you all so much for all of your support. We will keep you involved in our presentation schedule and progress with writing a book.

Goodbye for now! Ann Raiho

PS. We raised $3000 for Menogyn! $1500 from the canoe auction and $1500 from your generous donations!!

AND sorry we don't have a song... We would have sung you this one...

Our Norway House Experience

2011-09-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

Once we got on the Nelson the only thing standing in between us and Norway House was the infamous maze of water known as Playgreen Lake. This is where Eric Sevareid and Walter Port missed the direct channel leading to Norway House, forcing them to paddle the long way into town. The journal we had from the Hudson Bay Expedition trip in 2005 also got lost on this lake and took several hours to find the right channel. We camped at an old fishing co-op building in the middle of Playgreen Lake and took off early the next morning to catch the end of York Boat Days that afternoon. We had a rough headwind as a looming death cloud sat over Norway House, mocking our efforts. We decided to wait said death cloud out until the skies cleared and rainbows appeared with leprechauns to escort us to the right channel. One of our mottos was “Good Decisions 2011: Never try too hard." After our morning coffee and a lovely game of ‘name the three people you would want to/never want to be stuck in a room with for 24 hours’ (you were probably mentioned at some point during this discussion…all good things, I’m sure!), we set off with clear skies. Rainbows and Leprechauns did not magically appear to lead us on our way like they will in my upcoming book Hudson Bay Bound: The Search for the Real Robot Unicorn. However, a motorboat appeared from the Northeast shore as a beacon of light streaming from the channel to Norway House. We followed the channel until houses started popping up along the shore. We were on the lookout for Mike Muswagon’s house with the red porch, which happened to be right across from ‘that other house with the red porch’, which no one told us about. After a comical series of downstream/upstream and this house/that house debates, during which a motorboat of tourists took pictures of us paddling in circles, Mike’s daughters eventually flagged us down. So began the Days of York Boat!

York Boat Days were awesome. Mike and Janice Muswagon have wonderful, down to earth kids (older than us) and grandkids (younger than us); the whole family was genuinely fun to hang out with. We sat around with Krystal (who is now pregnant – Congratulations!), watched movies and ate food. It was perfectly relaxing. Then we went to the shore to watch the York Boat races and to satisfy our ever-growing metabolisms with Moose Soup and bannock. That night Ann and I stayed up with Mike and Janice until 1:00am learning about the political and social issues present at Norway House and in many aboriginal communities in Manitoba. I was especially interested in food-access in the community. The local convenience store is called Northern Store and the prices are very high for healthy foods (ex: soda is cheaper than water, and a gallon of milk is $10+). Therefore, people ideally buy the cheaper, more processed foods that can cause diseases such as diabetes. This is just one of the many problems they face. Another hope of the Muswagon family is that the unemployment rate –currently at 85%-- improves within the community. We don’t know a lot about the specifics, only what we took away from conversations, but 85% unemployment is absolutely ridiculous and reflects an obvious injustice. It is our responsibility as educated citizens (which often involves sifting through some lies and stereotypes) to make political decisions out of understanding and not ignorance.

The night before we left, we enjoyed a delicious BBQ dinner with the Muswagon family. They decided that we needed a dog to protect us from the polar bears that had been checking our gps location online every night, anxiously awaiting our arrival to the Hayes River (In the soon-to-be hit novel, Hudson Bay Bound: The Search for the Real Robot Unicorn, these tech-savvy polar bears will aid me in my search and, extremely turned off by my dance moves, agree not to eat me). Anyway, Krystal shows up at the BBQ with a small, sad looking puppy. It was light grey with one blue eye and a limp that says, “I’m cute but useless." The jokes ensued; we had to get a different dog. This dog was given to a grandchild. Nothing I write now will effectively describe how hilarious the search for our dog was, but here is the story anyway.

We hopped in the car with Krystal and two of her friends to go dog shopping. Everyone knows that the best time to shop for stray dogs is late at night while driving slowly through neighborhoods in the reservation, calling for applicants out of the car window. One time while we were rolling along I actually saw a woman in the house we were passing look worriedly out her window then shut the blinds. We looked sketchy, and it was awesome. We cracked jokes at the dogs we saw that ‘weren’t good enough’ and jokes about stealing dogs from houses (all in good fun, nothing serious). After rolling around for a while we decided to check back at the multiplex where there was a high school dance going on. We figured that the smell of sweaty hormones protruding from the building must have attracted the stray dogs lingering in the parking lot. And there we saw her, the silhouette of a good-sized puppy with the sexiest lack-of-a-limp I’ve ever seen. She was licking old ketchup packets off of the parking lot floor like it was her job, and I admired her determination with the task at hand; this was the one. Ann hopped out of the car and chased her down while everyone was yelling as if we were carrying out some sort of military mission. I ran outside, picked her butt-dreaded self up from the concrete and threw her in the back seat of the car. We zoomed off as if we had just done something illegal (which we hadn’t – the puppy may have starved to death during the winter). We named her Myhan, which means wolf in Cree. Ironically, she kind of looks like a fox. Whatever the name, the broad has character. She sleeps and sleeps and sleeps and “Ann do you think it’s weird that all she does is sleep?” We soon discovered that she was sleeping so much because she was underfed and very tired from the res-dog life. After about 2 days of eating real food (she still had a special place for ketchup packets in her heart) she finally perked up and started acting like a puppy. “mmmmm Chacos are delicious” and “if I eat a little bit of the tent every night then Ann and Natalie will have to sleep outside with meeeee!” But really, she slept in the canoe most of the day and hunted at night. We once found a beaver hand in front of our tent in the morning. Good job, Myhan, you badass.

We paddled away from Mike’s House on an overcast afternoon… stay tuned for the blog about the last section of our trip!

Norway House is a wonderful place with very kind people and we hope to return someday soon to visit the awesome Muswagon family.

This is the Fisherman's CO-OP on Playgreen Lake that we camped next to after exiting Lake Winnipeg

Flour packing at York Boat Days. We should have entered...

Some of the beautiful Muswagons. From left to right Ann Raiho, Wally Muswagon, Janice Muswagon, Mike Muswagon, Krystal Muswagon, Natalie Warren.

Myhan's first five minutes with us

Presentation Information and a Video from the Big Lake!

2011-09-09T11:08:00.000-07:00

We're here in Grand Marais today preparing for our first presentation. If you are in town, join us at Stone Harbor tonight at 7:00 PM. We will be showing pictures/video and telling some good stories. If you aren't in town or can't make it tonight, listen to The Roadhouse on WTIP tonight (September 9th) around 5:00 PM. We'll be over there chatting with Buck and Bob about our adventure. Above is a montage from our experience on Lake Winnipeg! We will be blogging about the Hayes and the return to MN in the coming days.

Minneapolis Presentation!

Save the date: Thursday September 22nd
Place: REI Bloomington, MN
Time: 7:00 PM

Besides telling stories and showing sick GoPro videos from the Hayes River, we will also be auctioning off a brand new Langford Canoe with all proceeds going to YMCA Camp Menogyn. Our dog, Myhan, will also be present and available for petting and treats.

Bring anyone and everyone you know who is interested! We really would like to share our story with as many people as possible.

Hudson Bay Found

2011-08-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

WE MADE IT!

After paddling 200 km in two days, we arrived at York Factory at around 4pm on August 25th. There was a young polar bear frequenting the estate, so we slept inside after branding our paddles and eating sausages. Yesterday we flew out in the afternoon with Teagan and Jason the York Factory caretakers. Good thing we got there when we did because after September 4th everyone will leave for the winter. Now, we are in Gillam, Manitoba waiting for the train which will take us to Winnipeg where we will be picked up by our friends, Megan McClanahan and Austin Danicic.

The end of the Hayes was a magical experience, and we will make sure to give you all the play by play with lots of pictures and video when we get back to the states. Thanks for all of your support!! We are so happy that we accomplished our goal and can't wait to tell everyone all about our adventures!!!!!

Day 76: Calling from Oxford House, Manitoba

2011-08-16T20:32:00.000-07:00

Meet the newest member of our crew--Myhan the puppy!

We are calling in from Oxford House at the home of Chief Irvine St. Clair and from our best estimates, there are about eight to 12 days left in our journey. It’s Ann’s trail birthday tomorrow and Natalie’s was on the 11th. We celebrated and made brownies for no reason other than to celebrate our trail birthday.

At the end of this blog entry, we’ll give details on what’s still to come for us. We are estimating about two weeks or less left of the trip but it’s the most dangerous. Thanks for the donations that have been coming in and we hope to get more. We also would like to invite all of you to our after parties in Grand Marais and then in Minneapolis where we’ll auction off our canoe. If you are in Grand Marais this Friday we’ll be calling in on our satellite phone to the Road House on WTIP. That will be at 5:25 p.m. central standard time.

So the last time we posted was at the York Boat Days in Norway House, which was a lot of fun. We hung out there for a bit and before we left, we managed to get a dog. Mike Muswagon is a Councillor with the Norway House Cree Nation and was our host during our time in Norway House. We were talking one night and they told us that we should have a dog for protection once we got into polar bear country. There are a lot of stray dogs around Norway House so his daughter Crystal took us out driving that night with the windows down in search of a dog. We found one licking up old ketchup packets so we ran over, picked it up and put it in the truck. We named it Myhan, similar to the Cree word for wolf. She’s part German Shepherd we think and a few other things. We made a little leash out of rope for her and she’s still a puppy so she just loves us.

After our dog catching adventure, we waited out a rainy morning and left Norway House. That first night as we were setting up camp we realized we left our lunch bag back in Norway House. It has cheese, salami and tortillas in it but it would be over 10 hours to go back and get it so we decided to live without it. That means we are eating lots of granola now.

We camped on the Nelson River that night and it was very relaxing. This stretch of our trip is like our spring break. It’s after the tough paddling on Lake Winnipeg and before polar bear country where the river also flows very fast. In the past week, we’ve taken two layover days and have spent some time enjoying the end of our trip. We have fishing poles that we obtained in Norway House and we’ve caught some nice fish.

We paddled the Nelson into the Echimamish River which is really cool. The name means a river that flows two ways and it’s very appropriately named. We started out paddling upstream where it meets the Nelson. Oh, this is a really cool place because where the Nelson and Echimamish meet the water has a neat transition zone. The Nelson is a muddier river that flows brown while the Echimamish is very clear and it runs almost black because of the dark rocks underneath.

After going upstream on the Echimamish we dragged our canoe over a big epic beaver dam that was two or three feet up. We’re getting good at avoiding portages and this was no exception. We stayed on the Echimamish for two days.

Our next area of interest was the Painted Stone Portage which is where a lot of native people hang out. Apparently, white settlers blew it up to keep the natives out of there long ago but it didn’t work. This is a place where the river dives 27 meters over this rock and the river just stops and flows downstream. On the downstream side the river is very narrow. It’s so cool in some parts because the river is about the same width as the canoe.

From there we paddled into the Hayes River which is quite a bit larger and really beautiful. The Hayes River baptized us back into the world of whitewater and that first set on the Hayes was the largest set we’ve run ever. This was at the Oskatukaw Rapids and it’s a Class II run. We looked at it and talked about doing this and that through the run but when we got started we set the angle a little off and ended up getting sucked into a recycler current. We shot right out of that and got a little broadside before we got out of it. After going over that rapid set we figure we can go over anything without thinking about it. Thanks to all that and the adrenaline rush, all the other rapids since then we maneuvered really good.

So after that, the river narrowed and huge granite canyons surrounded us. It is so beautiful as you twist and turn through small rapid sets. When Natalie called her dad earlier today, she told him that if Disney were to make a fantastic river ride they would model it after the Hayes.

Our next landmark was known as Hell’s Gate and we went through a few rapids but it wasn’t as big of a thing as it was supposed to be. It’s very beautiful and it’s a continuation of the granite canyon. The gorge runs narrow and fast and the area around it is covered with soft mosses and trees. In another part of it there were big rocks and blueberries. We saw two moose around here and some small waterfalls trickling down—it was a very magical place.

We paddled a little further past Hell’s Gate and it was nine or 10 when we got to Opiminegoka Lake. The moonrise was high that night and the sunset was beautiful as we found a cabin on the end of the lake that used to be an outpost site. We checked it out and stayed in it for the night. Most cabins up there are so remote that they are kept unlocked because otherwise they’d get broken into. Staying in the cabin was nice because we had a table to play cribbage on, we could cook standing up and there was some shore lunch left there so we caught some fish and enjoyed that. It was so nice we decided to have a layover day to continue our spring break. We set up the hammock, fished, played cribbage, played with the dog, tried to train her a little and just relax.

Our dog is so great, by the way. During the day she sleeps under the stern seat or on the packs. Sometimes she crawls back and forth on the packs but she’s really chill. At night she sleeps in the vestibule of the tent or goes out and hunts. One morning she brought back the hand of a beaver or something that she’d found scavenging around.

We left Opiminegoka the next morning and headed into Oxford Lake. There were more rapids in the middle but they were easy compared to that first set. When we got to Oxford Lake we camped. The sun was going down and we found the perfect campground with five-star parking for our canoe. The little bay worked with the wind just right to hold our canoe in place while the waves blew around everything else around us. The island featured soft, spongy mosses between big trees and it was pretty comfortable.

Then, yesterday, we paddled Oxford Lake and became a little turned around. We lost our compass near Lake Winnipeg but it’s usually fine. We went into a bay on the southeast side of Oxford Lake instead of the bay on the northeast side of the lake. It took us 15 kilometers out of our way but found a cool island with a beach with colorful pebbles and sand. We ate lots of gorp that day. Eventually, we made it to Oxford House last night where we met up with Chief Irvine St. Clair who we met at York Boat days. We called him and he picked us up. Chief Irvine St. Clair is a great guy and we’re staying with his family tonight.

He took us to meet his council tonight and hang out with them. We went to the conservation house and they showed us cool maps and pictures. They also gave us mugs with the Hayes River engraved on it and surveyed us about our use of the river. The scenery around here is very beautiful and very different from the area around Lake Winnipeg.

Something we noticed about Oxford House is that as we approached the town, there were a lot of people on the river. They were practicing York Boat racing, fishing and there were people along the river bank barbecuing and hanging out. It was a stark contrast to the total lack of people along the rivers of Minnesota and North Dakota. It was nice to see that the people up here in Manitoba are still spending time alongside these historic trade routes.

What’s next?

We will be leaving tomorrow morning and our spring break is over. Now we are entering some really difficult rapids, about 26 left to go, and we are also getting into polar bear country. We talked to somebody who was at Churchill the other day and there were 57 polar bear sightings in one day alone. We are really excited but also really nervous.

We’ve practiced shooting the gun and using the flares. We also have the dog. Everything we’ve read said that once you make this stretch of river, it’s normally so foggy you wouldn’t know if a polar bear was near anyways.

From here, we go into Knee Lake which can be difficult during windy conditions. The lake is 65 kilometers long and will take us three days to get across. From there, we go all the way to the White Blood Falls and then after that it’s a straight shot to York Factory. That stretch of river is really moving and can get you going 10 miles an hour in some stretches.

Another concern we have is that we won’t know what the tide will be like once we get near Hudson Bay so we could still get wind bound near our endpoint. It’s going to be interesting for sure.

Windy Daze on Lake Winnipeg

2011-08-06T22:39:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

We finally made it to Norway House after 18 days on Lake Winnipeg. We decided to give you a day-by-day run down of the latest section of our adventure. Thanks to Ron Hustvedt for updating our blog from Gull Harbor. A lot has happened since then:

July 22
Ann and I woke up early to beat the wind. We figured it should have calmed down by now because the wind and waves had been raging for days. We looked out at the harbor in dismay -- the waves were huge and the wind was still howling. We loaded the boat and set off anyway. After about 5 minutes of paddling in the Harbor we turned back around and decided it was careless of us to try to cross back to the East shore in such weather. We pulled the canoe up and walked to the northern-most point on Hecla Island. The waves were crashing in, even larger than the ones in the harbor. Alas, we were stuck for our third day in Gull Harbor. We returned to our boat to find that the waves had increased and water was crashing in through the spray skirt. We quickly took everything out and pulled the canoe on shore. It was around 6 am by this point and we sulked back to sleep. We woke up around 9 and hung around the harbor while we dried our things out. An elderly German couple, Jens and Barbara, were taking their motorboat out to a bay on the South side of Black Island, where we had been days before. We told them our situation and they said they could take us back to the East shore. Huzzah! We loaded their boat and set off in the rough weather. Once we got over to Black Island we ate dinner on their boat and set off once again. They were very loving and hospitable! That night we camped on the Kasakeemeemisekak Islands, North of Black Island. We were ecstatic to paddle after several days of sitting and waiting. We were beginning to learn a thing or two about patience on this big lake.

July 23
Paddling today was really beautiful! Once we passed Loon Straights the shore changed from beaches to large granite outcroppings and islands. We stopped at a granite quarry and explored for a bit but set off in a frenzy due to a looming dark cloud.

July 24
We spent most of the day crossing Bloodvein Bay. We had a West wind and so we quartered the waves for the crossing. The waves picked up once we passed one of the islands blocking the wind; and we were forced to go into the bay with the flow. These were some of the largest waves we had paddled yet and Ann and I were both tense as we paddled hard to an island for protection. I was in the stern and when I looked back I saw huge crashing waves chasing us from the open water. We finally got to an island and pulled in to escape the conditions. We lounged and made biscuits until things calmed down. It was later in the evening when we departed the island for Princess Harbor, the point after Bloodvein Bay. A storm rolled in when we were almost there and the thick rain temporarily hid the shore from sight. Cold and wet, we finally pulled into the harbor as the sun slid beneath the horizon. There were several buildings dispersed along the shore and we split up to see if it was okay if we camped there for the night. The lady I talked to said we could camp anywhere and by the time Ann talked to a couple on the other side of town they already knew of our arrival. Word sure travels fast in small communities! We set up camp by the dock, put on dry clothes, and went to sleep to the sound of water hitting the dock.

July 25
Today we got up to a rough wind and a curious dog sniffing at our tent. We got up and walked to the point to see if the waves were as rough as bad as the winds. They were. Just as we were beginning to feel hopeless about the weather conditions an ATV pulled up with an elderly man named Frank on board. He informed us that breakfast was ready whenever we wanted it and drove off. Awesome. We walked up to Frank and Myrtle's house where we indulged in eggs, bacon, and fresh bread. Our weather worries faded when we realized that we get to spend the day with warm and interesting people. We basically ate the day away with Frank, Myrtle, Cindy (a new resident at Princess Harbor), Myrtle's brother ED and his wife Brenda. We played cribbage, music, and had lively conversation. The younger generation at Princess Harbor was out of town but we explored their beautiful vegetable gardens and new homes. It truly is a magical place. After dinner we noticed that the lake had calmed we knew we had to take advantage of the window of good weather. We left Princess Harbor just before the sunset to attempt another night paddle.

The Night Paddle
The water was glass. The sunset reflected pink and yellow on the surface of the lake, only disturbed by the ripples from our canoe trail. It was gorgeous. It got later and later until we realized that the moon had not come out; we were in the dark. The stars and planets shone just enough for us to see the black wall of the shoreline, which we followed Northwest. Soon the northern lights began to flicker in the sky as we paddled our way up the East shore. At one point Ann turned her headlamp on to see how far away we were from the shoreline and we saw two large green eyes watching us from the trees -- our first moose sighting! It was very eerie and we paddled on in awe. Around 3 am some storm clouds blew in from the West, blocking out the starry sky. It was time to camp. We found a beach and set up camp in the dark after a whimsical night of paddling.

July 26
We woke up early to get a head start but the wind was howling from the SW. We went back to sleep to see if things would calm down by the early afternoon. They didn't. The weather sparked anxious questions: Will we ever get off this lake? Will we get wind bound for several days just like Eric and Walt did in the 30s? Are we just not trying hard enough? We decided to try anyway to see if we could brave the waves. We paddled for about an hour until we both voiced our concern. We felt unsafe in the boat as we battled the side wind and so we turned into a bay and waited. And waited. I felt young and impatient so I decided to embrace the weather and the power of the wind over the lake. Like I mentioned before, we learned to be patient on the lake and to work around the weather rather than curse it. We set up camp, ate food, played cribbage (this happened a lot on Lake Winnipeg). That night a storm brought strong winds, rain, and lightning. We woke up because the lightning lit up our whole tent as if someone had flipped on and off a light switch. We stayed up admiring the storm as it blew over us and finally went to sleep so we could get rest before our early morning start.

July 27
We awoke to find the wind was even stronger than the day before so we slept in and made a leisurely breakfast. During breakfast Ann let out a yell and I turned around to see a snake slithering our way. We scared it off and then sat back down to laugh at our reaction to the snake encounter. Just then a different snake slithered up and this time Ann threw a stick at it to scare it off. Instead of scaring it off, the stick trapped the snake. It clearly didn't like that because it turned and hissed unhappily in our direction. We set it free and it, too, slithered off. Then we saw the third snake by our canoe. We took it as a sign from Mother Nature to try harder to paddle the waves so we packed up quickly and loaded the boat (we later discovered that there are several snake nests in this area). We looked out at the crashing waves at an on-coming storm and decided it would be foolish to try to paddle today. We set up camp again and waited for the storm to pass. A little later we decided to try. We pushed off and when I hopped into the bow two huge waves crashed into our boat. We pulled out and ate lunch and tried again an hour later. This time we entered slightly broadside and we made it passed the crashing waves! We paddled hard to get around the next point but the bow was dipping below the water and the spray skirt, though comforting, was getting drenched. We pulled into the next beach and gladly set up camp knowing that we were truly wind bound and snake free.

July 28
WIND BOUND?! The morning looked worse than the day before. It is truly amazing how the wind can blow consistently for days at a time. Before this part of the trip I didn't take notice to the strength of the wind or even what direction it was blowing from but on the lake those are the factors that can make or break your day. We waited. And played cribbage. I started whittling a recorder from the driftwood and Ann started picking up trash along the shore. While we were immersed in our different projects the wind simmered and we looked up to find that the waves were just low enough for us to take off. HUZZAH! We made it all the way to Patterson Bay, just outside of the Berens. I basically expected to be wind bound every other day with all the luck we'd been having...

July 29
We are officially pros at packing up camp. It only took 25 minutes to pack everything up and load the boat this morning. We had a pseudo tailwind and traveled 50k in 12 hours. It felt good to really get out there again!

July 30th
WIND BOUND. Um Ya Ya for cribbage, reading, and nutella pancakes.

July 31st
The wind was so strong that the tent was dancing through all hours of the night. We were afraid that the poles were getting bent so we moved the tent behind a bush for shelter. We awoke to find that the storms had blown through, leaving the ever-calming waves behind to flicker in the sun. As we looked out at the beautiful sight we saw an intense flickering in the distance. It was a canoe! Coming this way! We were pumped to see someone so we waved the man down and he paddled toward us. Once he came ashore we realized that he was Bear from Midwest Mountaineering in Minneapolis. He was on a solo trip from the Poplar River to the Berens. It turns out he only camped around the bend, too bad we didn't meet up the day before! We left for Poplar River and camped right outside. We needed to refill on water so we camped and waited until the morning to go into the reserve.

August 1
We went into the reserve this morning. I walked around and didn't see anyone. It was an unfamiliar ghost town. I knocked on the door of Richard, the Northern Store Manager and he let me refill water there and generously lent us his water filter (we managed to forget the filter for ours). This was the strangest day of paddling we've ever had. The wind was FINALLY from the SE, which was awesome but it also brought over smoke from the Ontario fires. Visibility was about 5k at best. We were cruising around clusters of islands that appeared out of nowhere, out of the clouds. We thought we were further than we were; In fact, we even believed we were at the mouth of the Nelson at one point. Despite our disillusionment, we sang, laughed, and had a glorious day. At the end of the day, after 14 hours of paddling, we realized that we were still about 30k away from the mouth of the Nelson.

August 2
WIND BOUND

August 3
WE DID IT!!!!!!!! We made it to Playgreen Lake today. When we saw the opening to the Nelson tears came to our eyes. Celebrations galore! Raw cookie dough for dessert!

August 4
We were warned about the confusing maze of islands that is Playgreen Lake, but we lucked out. We found the Jack River (that goes into Norway House) without any trouble. Too easy! We had a warm welcome at Mike Muswagon's house. We are here just in time for the York Boat Days Festival. Let the fun begin!

We are in a hurry to get to sleep and back out on the river tomorrow morning. We will dedicate a whole block to the York Boat and Norway House adventures when we get off trail, probably in 3 weeks. Thanks for following our blog!

Let the white water adventure begin.

Sorry this blog doesn't have pictures or videos... We have really great images of Lake Winnipeg that we'll post when we get back!

Waiting on Winnipeg for wind and weather to clear

2011-07-20T14:45:00.000-07:00

Transcribed by phone on Wednesday, July 20 at 3 p.m.

It’s Day 49 of our trip and we are waiting out the weather in Gull Harbour on the west side of Lake Winnipeg. This is a big body of water (10th or 11th largest in the world) and there is still a lot of lake to go. We have four maps for Lake Winnipeg and we are on the first quarter of the second map. The north basin is still ahead of us and that’s where it’s the most dangerous because of so much big water.

View from Gull Harbour on Wednesday evening. Gale warnings are still posted on the lake

What’s the weather? It’s very windy right now. There was a thunderstorm watch for all of Lake Winnipeg this morning and we had a big thunderstorm go through that actually struck a tree only 20 feet from our tent was staked out. The lightning split through the tree and sent pieces of wood flying all over. None of the big boats that are normally on the lake are out there today so we aren’t going out either. The forecast calls for more of the same tomorrow but maybe it will be a little better and then maybe we’ll go.

The red dot is Gull Harbour

Here’s how we got this far.

After we left the city of Winnipeg, it took a day paddling down the river to get to Breezy Point at the Netley marsh near the beginning of Lake Winnipeg. The next day it was perfectly calm and the sky blended with the water it was so perfectly calm. We paddled all the way to the Beaconia and there we met a woman named Penny Johnston and her husband Brian. They are outdoors enthusiasts and have a cool house on the lake. They e-mailed us earlier and invited us to stop by when we were in the area. We went to their house and hung out with them and their neighbors. Then we napped in preparation for a night paddle. At 10 p.m. we left and paddled up to Grand Beach on the east side of the lake.

As we took the turn around the peninsula that is Grand Beach, the wind picked up and it became very rocky. We had the bright moonlight to guide us so we avoided the rocks and landed at the beach. Two security officers allowed us to sleep on the beach which we did, hoping to wake up at 3 a.m. and continue paddling.

Wind conditions became calm again so we paddled up to Victoria Beach. The sky was smoky from the wildfires in Ontario and visibility was super low. It took two hours to paddle across Traverse Bay and it was really spooky because we couldn’t see any land. As we paddled north, we ran into a kayker named Terry Bolland who is a world famous paddler and runs a website called www.canoeingdownunder.com.au. He was in his kayak paddling from Saskatchewan to Montreal when we ran across him.

For our second night on Lake Winnipeg we camped on the eastern side just north of the Little Black River. We got a call from a Menogyn group saying that they were going to be on Lake Winnipeg and so we wanted to connect with them and see them. The plan was to paddle through the night to meet them but we paddled along and waited until sunset. Around midnight, the wind picked up again and the moon wasn’t out so it was completely dark. We went to this beach and as we got closer, we saw hordes of fish flies. They were swarming above the trees making a black cloud. We pitched the tent anyways and went inside to get away from them. The wind continued to build through the night and we got up to reposition the canoe away from the water.

An hour later, something hit the top of our tent. Natalie woke up right away and yelled, “Get the bear spray.” Sure enough, all our commotion caused it to run off into the woods. We figured it was just checking us out, but it pawed at our tent and we found some scat nearby later on confirming our suspicions. We put fuel cans on our food so that it would make noise if it returned. Just to be safe, we whistled, banged pots and pans and blew an air horn to create enough noise to drive it further away. We went back to sleep only to be woken up a little while later at 5 a.m. by this huge storm that blew up.

The beach that we were camping on was right next to the lake and across the lake it was covered in lightning. We could see a gale force wind and waves coming right at us so we went into the woods to get into lightning position. The wind blew over the tent and so we brought the poles into the woods with us and stayed in lightning position until the storm blew over. Thirty minutes later it was over so we set up the tent again. A few hours later, another storm came in from the north and we witnessed a total shift in conditions. Within 30 seconds, the winds shifted from southwest to northwest and it was the coolest thing to see. That second storm only lasted a few minutes but it stayed windy afterwards and made us windbound so we stomped out a spot in the woods and camped there.

After lunch that day, the conditions improved again and went to flat water. We packed up and got into the canoe. Our location was just south of Observation Point and near the point by Black Island and Hecla Island. As we paddled closer to Black Island point, we picked up a current and a west wind making the water conditions change rapidly. It was choppy in the channel and the wind then shifted straight south bringing four-foot waves with it. The wind and current was pushing it into Hecla Island and we ended up not being able to cross so we pulled up on it and ended up portaging in the harbor rather than going back on the water around the peninsula.

We spent two hours in the area looking for our friends and found out they were wind bound at the Berens River and were flying out. While we were in the area, we chatted with David Square from the Winnipeg Free Press and then went to the restaurant in the area. The people in the restaurant said there were big ships out on the water where we were and that they were spooked by the same waves as we dealt with. The big boats felt like they were close to capsizing and came in.

Today, we went into the restaurant and talked with the owner who is also a sailor on the lake. He said nobody is going out today and said probably not tomorrow either. We’re just going to lay low in town and hope that this wind and weather system gives us a break and allows us to continue. Watch for another blog update to post as soon as we are able to call another one in.

Here's an excerpt of an interview we did with Ron Hustvedt for the Outdoor News and Star Tribune. He has more of this interview and will publish it soon.

100 Miles in 28 Hours

2011-07-15T13:51:00.000-07:00

Sunrise on the Red River with motivational quotes we love so dearly...

We love Canada! We're in Winnipeg, Manitoba hanging out at Starbucks writing this blog and preparing to launch into the Canadian wilderness. Lake Winnipeg awaits. Hopefully with gentle south winds and blue skies.

Out to eat with Christine, Nick
and my parents in Fargo!

The night after our last blog was one for the books. We went out with Riverkeepers, Christine and Nick. We had some good discussions about Riverkeepers role in involving the people of Fargo in watershed protection. They have tons of cool programs and love helping people get out on the water. Check them out! www.riverkeepers.org.

The Menogyn group headed to the Coppermine River
and Hudson Bay Bound.

After dinner, we were so lucky to meet up with a Menogyn group headed to the Coopermine River in the Northwest Territories. It was so great to see another group of people excited about getting out into the wilderness.

Then, we had a six day break!
Natalie did a great job as her sister's maid of honor. Here's her favorite story:

I was the maid of honor for my sister Leslie's wedding in Philadelphia on July 2nd. I was immediately thrown into a salon for a manicure and pedicure, which I received while sitting on a massage chair and drinking a mimosa. My life makes little sense these days! Anyway, during the wedding I was crying because I'm a huge sap (I cried more than my mom. ouch.) and because I was so happy that my sister and Brian were getting married. During the service I was trying to keep my nose from running but when I bent over to fix the train on my sister's dress all of the snot flew out of my nose and onto her beautiful white gown! I tried my best not to laugh but it was hard when I saw some of the faces of the other bridesmaids and groomsmen. I managed to keep my cool. It was great hanging out with family again!

Natalie and her brother Tim and Leslie's wedding reception!

I was busy at home in Inver Grove Heights getting the rest of our food and maps together.

Here's all the maps of the Hayes River.
We can't wait!

St. Olaf friend, Sara Galbraith, helped me paint our canoe with its name Kawena Kinomatea (no worries in Cree) and with Hudson Bay Bound spray painted on the right side. Reminder! Our canoe is coming back from York Factory and will be auctioned off at Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply in Grand Marais, Minnesota with all proceeds going to YMCA Camp Menogyn.

We got back on the Red River on July 5th. Here's a photo journey of our last week or so on the Red.

A sunken car in the Red River. The annual flooding takes in a lot of debris.

Here's an eagle's nest! Both parents were home. We see eagles everyday. God Bless America.

The Historical Society of Climax, MN had a Barbecue for us at this rebuilt cabin. They also let us stay in their "artist's apartment" in town for the night. The next day, Asher (far right) and Wayne (right behind Natalie), went paddling with us in the morning! It was so great to have companions. They are in charge of a program called River Watch that teaches high schools along the Red River about water quality. Check out their really awesome program at: http://www.internationalwaterinstitute.org/riverwatchmain.htm

The stretch of river from Grand Forks to Pembina has a slumped barn around every corner. We were told there used to be a thriving farming community, but in the last decade the flooding has caused people to abandon their farms and homestead along the Red River.

I went swimming for the first time all trip! It felt really good and the water seemed plenty clean.

A beautiful sunset from our tent on the Red River.

Story of our longest day yet: We arrived in Pembina on July 11th. Ron Hustvedt from the Star Tribune/Outdoors News had driven 5 hours to meet us for dinner and an interview. Look for an article in this Sunday's Star Tribune! The next day we crossed into Canada! The Canadian Border Patrol were waiting for us at the top of the hill in two HUGE SUVs. Once they saw us they drove down to the boat launch to meet us (we had called to arrange this a couple of weeks before). We should have filmed it because when we rounded the bend their SUVs had its emergency lights on and four six foot Canadian's dressed all in black got out to talk with us. They didn't want to come near the boat because of the mud, so we brought them the shotgun and our passports. I went with two of them to fill out the gun permit and pay $25 while Natalie flirted with the other young and cute border patrol agents. When I got back, we joked around and took off around noon. The wind was calm and we paddled easily St. Jean Baptiste. We were really craving donuts, so we went to look for them. But, when we got out of our boat we were immediately stopped by a man named Richard with a thick french accent and told we had to go get Manitoba's best poutine at Yahooz. It was free pool night too! What a great stop! We had Canadian beer and talked it up with everyone in the bar. They were excited about our trip and are hopefully following the blog now. We were back on the river by 7PM. We had a nice sunset paddle to Morris, but we decided we didn't want to camp we wanted to go keep going to Winnipeg. After a couple of rounds of coffee we were back in the river. We paddled all night and until 10AM the next day when we arrived at the Best Western in Southern Winnipeg. We were finally in bed at 12:45PM. Paddling at night was perfect. There was an almost full moon and no wind. We could clearly see the river banks and hear farm dogs announcing our arrival. I hope we didn't freak anyone out when we sang to keep awake. We could have been mistaken for ghost-like river sirens. We approached the border of Winnipeg around 7AM greeted with a flashing orange sign saying DANGER NO BOAT TRAFFIC. We had no idea what it meant, so we spent the next hour trying to figure it out. The authorities of Winnipeg weren't sure either, so we carefully kept going. Turns out there's a dam that was being closed to put water into the diversion channel that goes around Winnipeg to protect the city from flooding. We portaged up some rocks and recommended to a worker that they add more to their sign. Here are some pictures from our first night paddle. It was really good practice for what we will probably be doing regularly on Lake Winnipeg.

We stopped in St. Jean Baptiste home of Manitoba's best poutine (french fries covered in gravy). YUM!

Sunset before our night paddle to Winnipeg captured with the GoPro.

1:30 AM. The best picture of the moon we could get. The night was much more beautiful than our cameras could capture.

1:30 AM. Natalie says, "blai!"

3:45 AM. The sun started to illuminate the sky at 3AM.

4:30 AM. Natalie's silhouette in the sunrise on July 13th.

7 AM. The sign before the diversion gate near Winnipeg.

A special thanks to the wonderful people who have housed us and taken the time to swap stories along the Red! And now for our latest video blog...we'll update again at Norway House. But for now, we're off to ADVENTURE!!

Livin' the Dream: Downstream

2011-06-29T15:26:00.000-07:00

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55077

Hello HBB Followers!

We're in the Fargo/Moorhead area waiting for Natalie's flight to Philadelphia tomorrow where she'll 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 2pm from Lindenwood Park in downtown Fargo.

Downstream has been like floating on a cloud compared to upstream! We think we can average about 45 miles a day and travel at around 5 mph. 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 Souix and have come 92 miles on the Red River of the North -- All in 11 days since we left Montevideo!

A panorama of Lac Qui Parle. We had a 12 hour 30 mile day on Lac Qui Parle and Marsh Lake because of a huge tail wind. What a day!

We portaged the last four miles of the Minnesota into Ortonville because of dead fall but look at that nice bike trail!

An aerial photo of us battling the winds on Big Stone Lake taken by Heidi Pilot of Graceville, MN. The headwind was so big that day we had to put 9 big rocks in our canoe. We'll gain some weight before we get to Lake Winnipeg.

The headwaters of the Minnesota. We did it! 335 miles upstream in 20 some days.

A night paddle on Big Stone Lake

The White Rock Dam at the beginning of the Bois de Sioux

The headwaters of the Red River of the North in Breckenridge/Wapheton

People along the border have been very hospitable and a lot of fun to meet.

Before we paddled Lac Qui Parle we stayed in the coolest retrofitted grain elevator that was refurnished by Dennis Larsen in to a hunting shack. Just think, if every abandoned grain elevator was a place to stay then paddling these rivers would be way more accessible!

Dennis Larsen the creator of the refurbished 4-season hunting shack


Natalie on top of the grain elevator refurbished to be a hunting shack that we stayed in just south of Lac Qui Parle

This is Mike and his boulders that he ships around the United States. He let us stay in his fish house when a big storm hit in Appleton, MN.

We also got to spend a few days in Ortonville, Clinton and Graceville Minnesota meeting and potlucking with participants of Big Stone County Farmer's Market's.

We had a potluck with some people who are involved with the Big Stone County Farmer's Markets

Heidi and Elaine are farmer's of Graceville, MN. They met us at our height of land in Browns Valley with their dogs Sasha and Sam, a newfoundland and a great pyrenees.

Oles helping Oles! Johanna '09 on the left let us crash in her apartment for the night. She is new to Clinton working as a community organizer for the Land Stewardship Project. Duane '74? is a CURE member who also lives in Clinton and told us great stories about St. Olaf in the 70s.

Um ya ya!

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 pullover to ask the owners of the river banks if we can camp on their land and several times we've come upon completely empty houses and barns. It's spooky! We usually move way down river away from the farm land 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. Groups like CURE and the Land Stewardship Project are trying to work with communities to make farmer's markets more popular and to get young people into small towns. It was really great to meet people doing these things, but we can't help but feel there is a void to be filled. What's going to happen to our food system when all of the farmers are gone and the small towns are empty? Will there be a new era of agricultural revival? or a takeover by big business?

Family Farm Portrait. This statue we came across on a portage symbolizes the disappearing family farm.

One of the many purposes of our trip is to encourage young people to get out into nature. We think it's important for everyone to get out there, especially our generation in this age of technology; we can't forget that we are a part of nature and should experience it. At Menogyn, Natalie and I were able to connect with nature through wilderness adventures. I remember on my 14-day with Menogyn, sleeping outside without a tent for the first time, hearing wolves howl and watching the moon move across the sky. Menogyn not only sparked our interest in the natural world, but our experience there taught us how to work with other young people while moving daily and living happily in the wilderness. As we progressed through Menogyn trips we built life-long friendships and everlasting bonds with the Canadian arctic. Even if we never go back, we both agree that we will always have a special place for the arctic in our hearts because of the seven week canoe trip that Menogyn facilitated. We are raising money for Menogyn because we believe in its mission to help adolescents grow fully in a wilderness setting connecting teenagers to themselves, others and nature. We are so thankful to everyone who has donated because they made this trip possible for us, but if you have not donated please consider doing so because your contribution will help other young people experience the wilderness like we have. It is camps like these that help build communities and mindful people. See our "How to Help" page for more information about how to donate http://hudsonbaybound.com/help.html.

A family we met in Montevideo who take lots of trips in the BWCA and have been regularly following our trip!

As always, thanks for following our trip and supporting us along the way. If you are getting stir crazy or stressed out over the summer just remember the river is there waiting for you -- go paddle it!

Here is the second installment of our music video blog: Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain by Willie Nelson. Enjoy!

Also, here are a few clips of things we've recorded on the GoPro...

We had to paddle over a few dams that didn't seem to serve much of a purpose, but maybe that is just because the river is so flooded right now. There is a lot of 'confused water' over these dams that pose a threat to paddlers like ourselves. The camera is kind of tilted but check it out. If you know of a dam like this near you, start a conversation within your community about whether or not it is necessary and if there is a way you can work to get it removed so that more people can safely use the river for recreation.

The water level has been exceptionally high this summer. Here is a quick montage of the down fall and flooding (we got lost a few times...) due to high waters.

But hey! We've had our fair share of great days too...

That's it for now. We'll blog again in about three weeks when we get to Winnipeg. Enjoy the summer!

Layover day in Montevideo!

2011-06-18T21:03:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

We arrived in Montevideo yesterday, finishing up our 16th day on trail. This past week has been interesting on the river with some fierce weather and fickle water levels.

Cooking in the tent vestibule...we had three nights of rain in a row!

The Minnesota River from New Ulm to Montevideo is even more beautiful than the first stretch from Fort Snelling to New Ulm (which is gorgeous). We feel like we are in the middle of the wilderness; the ecosystem is thriving and sometimes we go days without seeing other people! Large granite rock outcroppings and more pine trees have started popping up along the river and spicing things up as far as aesthetics go. It's been really cool to paddle on the Minnesota and to learn about the waterways that helped shape Minnesota's history. See it for yourself if you haven't already.

settling into camp

Random sand bar = awesome camping spot.

Our environmental backgrounds have come in handy. We have spent some time talking about the flooding and pollution issues concerning the river and documenting things like crops growing straight up to the river bank, small or no buffer zones, and cows standing right in the river. Thanks to non-profit and community groups along the river, the Minnesota has improved in the last few years but there is still so much work to be done. We need to realize that healthy water-ways and healthy communities are directly correlated and that towns along the river have the potential to spark big change in environmental and public health issues in Minnesota and beyond.

Corn field with no buffer on the Minnesota

After 16 days on the river Ann and I have learned how to read the water and travel where the current is weakest. We love seeing bridges because they are great land marks on the map, but we never realized how much they change the hydrology of the river. Bridges funnel the river and create stronger currents and patches of what we call "confused water" around the support pillars. This water is difficult to attain in the canoe and changes the ebb and flow of the river. Over thousands of years the river has cut its own route, using land elevation as a guide, that will continue to change for thousands of years. Sometimes it seems like we construct things on the river without truly understanding the impacts they have on the natural direction of the water. At the same time, bridges create a different flow, a flow of people, from one community to the next and allow people to see the river if they don't have time to get out on it. We have open-ended conversations like this often attempting to further our education by exploring our own ideologies and thinking about the opposing viewpoints. We have been taught that one of the most important things we can do is to keep conversation alive to bridge the gap between the familiar and the unfamiliar.


Portaging around the Minnesota Falls Dam on the way to Granite Falls. It may be taken out in the next few years!

Both from fairly big cities, we have never truly experienced small-town Minnesota. City people often disregard small towns as boring or lacking culture, etc. What a misconception! The small towns we have stopped in have truly proved the opposite. Two nights ago we were going to camp near a boat launch right out of Granite Falls, MN, population 3,000. Tom Cherveny, who just wrote a story on our adventure for the West Central Trib., called us up and offered to feed and house us in Granite Falls that night. We have come to realize that the beginning of this trip is not about roughing it or trying to find solitude; it is about truly getting to know this place we call home and the people that shape its culture. We stayed with Tom and his vibrant family and experienced first-hand how hospitable, knowledgeable, and loving small town communities are. Like I said before, I truly believe in the power of the small town community. Their close-knit networks can fuel social movements even in times of top-down, political dead-lock.

Terri, Scott, and Tom. They are some of many helpful people we've met along the way.

We're continuing our Minnesota State Park tour! We've learned so much about the Minnesota history and the history of the Minnesota River. Did you know there were German P.O.W. camps by Flandrau? Did you know about the great Sioux uprising along the Minnesota? We learn something new with every tour!

Terri showed us around Upper Sioux Agency State Park

Today we were lucky enough to participate in Fiesta Days in Montevideo. We went on a canoe race and got to talk to several different people in town while bands played and delicious Uruguian food cooked on the grill. We swapped stories with an Ole alum, Duane, who we will meet up with again when we get to Big Stone Lake and met some wonderful people who work at the Easy Bean organic farm just out of town. We are getting breakfast with Patrick Moore from CURE Minnesota who is a great advocate for cleaning up our waterways! To learn more about CURE Minnesota you can visit their website at http://www.curemnriver.org/. These people know what's up!

Yes, we are still getting along and we are enjoying every mile of our trip! The rain has been a doozy this past week but we knew this trip wasn't going to be all sunshine and daisies. We are pumped to get back out on the river tomorrow -- 21 more miles of upstream until we hit the lakes! Um Ya Ya. Downstream on the Red River here we come. We'll update the blog again when we get to Fargo, around June 29th. Thank you so much for your support. As Ann Bancroft said, "when the going gets tough, just think about all the people who really care about what you're doing." You keep us warm on those cold wet nights!

We'll leave you with the beginnings of our traveling canoe folk band, dedicated to Richard Warren and Ray Raiho. Happy Father's day! We love you!

P.S. keep following our GPS map on the website!

Upstream on the Minnesota!

2011-06-11T08:17:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

We got to New Ulm today after paddling around 150 miles upstream on the Minnesota since our departure from Fort Snelling on June 2nd. Things are going great, and we are on schedule!
We've had a couple different challenges so far. The river is still really flooded. Everyone we've met has commented on the level of the Minnesota compared to where it usually is this time of year. We've been working really hard to get through the flooded waters. Once we tried to take a shortcut through a lagoon to cut off a bend in the river. We were in there for about 45 minutes and lost every sense of direction! When we found our way back out we were only about 10 ft upstream of where we had entered the lagoon. We haven't tried any shortcuts since. However, Ann and I have witnessed the water level dropping -- the river is easier to paddle upsteam every day!

Another challenge is heat. Apparently it reached a record high in the 100s a few days ago and we had no idea it was that hot. There was no wind the first hot day and Ann and I were sweating so much we had to drink 4 liters of water each. We decided it was in the upper 80s...wishful thinking. Later that night in Le Sueur we stopped in a bar for some food and air conditioning and the bartender there gave us a whole pizza for free! The people we've met and shared our story with have been extremely supportive. People are really taking care of us along the Minnesota.

The next day, on the way to St.Peter, we had a rough headwind. We found out later that the winds were against us at 35 mph and we can only paddle 2 mph upstream in the first place. Someone please make that into a physics question because I'm not sure how we were moving forward at all! It was a rough day but we finally made it to St.Peter to meet with Ed Lee of the St. Peter Herald. He took a video of us around our campsite and told us about the beginning of Sean and Colton's trip in 2008. Both that trip and Scott and Todd's trip in 2005 faced a lot of cold weather and rain. We were glad it was hot when we heard that.

From St. Peter we made our way to Mankato. The wind changed direction, so we cruised with a heavy tail wind. Once in Mankato, we camped in Land of Memories Campground. In the morning, we were picked up by Angie Delory of the Mankato P

Two members of the Mankato Paddling Club

addling Club. She brought us to Minneopa State Park where we met with Dean Peterson President of the Paddling Club and Steve Rose the Director of Minneopa State Park. We had a pleasant time seeing Minneopa State Park. There is a great waterfall and a cool old mill and several walking trails that we didn't get the chance to check out.

Now, we're writing to you from New Ulm where we are having our first homestay with Anne-lise and Kurt Johnson. They are too kind! We did laundry, took showers and slept in real beds. This morning we went to Flandrau State Park interviewed with Channel 12 of Mankato and got a tour with Gary the Director of the Park. Flandrau has a lot of cool history and a sand bottom pool! Next, we're off to a

Director of Flandrau State Park and HBB by the pool!

part of the Minnesota River that has fewer cities, so sorry if we are hard to reach for the next week. We will hopefully be in Montevideo by next weekend thus ending most of the upstream portion of our trip. Hooray!

We want everyone to know that the Minnesota River is a hidden gem. Even with the flooding and heat and wind, we have really enjoyed the Minnesota. We've seen otters and eagles and jumping fish and felt like we were totally in the wilderness at times. I think we've only seen about 10 boats on the 150 miles of the river we've traveled. Get out there and paddle!

Continuing on our Tour de Minnesota!
Ann and Natalie

PS We have a bunch more pictures we'll make sure to put up later!

Time to Launch!

2011-06-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Ann and I found another nice launch site at Fort Snelling since Pike Island is all flooded. If you would like to come to our launch, we are leaving from the site behind the welcome building right when you get into Fort Snelling State Park. If you ask the person at the front desk they will tell you exactly where to go. Parking permits are $5. Please arrive by 7:30 for pictures and goodbyes!

The Launch Party was a HUGE success. Thank you so much for coming! Ann and I are looking forward to reading all of the trail notes you left us =)

We finished packing out our food last night (Thank you Rachel Hedlund for your help!) and now we are getting last minute things together. It has been a crazy month and we are really excited to get on trail and slow down!

While we are gone we will not check our email or phones often. We will continue to raise money for Menogyn during and after our trip. If you need to contact us we will check our email around the first drop in early July.If the opportunity arises we will update our blog...maybe once a week? Who knows! Keep an eye out.

Thank you for all of your support over these past few months of trip planning. In some ways it feels like the hardest part of the trip is over! It is finally time to hit the river and experience the joys and challenges of trail life -- We are ready!

Hudson Bay Bound Launch Party

2011-05-27T07:02:00.000-07:00

Hello friends! With graduation and our launch from Fort Snelling just around the corner, it is definitely time to celebrate! So...

You and your family are invited to the Hudson Bay Bound Launch Party! This is a chance to get together and thank everyone for their support for our upcoming trip. Also, we want to party before we hit the river on June 2nd. There will be live music from 7-11 and a pig roast dinner from 6:30 - 8:30. It costs no money to attend.

When: Monday, May 30th 6:30 - 11
Where: The St.Paul Pool and Yacht Club
Why: IT'S GONNA BE GREAT!

I really hope you can make it. Here is our website and facebook invite for more information!

Enjoy the day,
Natalie and Ann

In between games at D3 Ultimate Frisbee Nationals in NY last weekend! Um Ya Ya.

P.S. Sierra Designs just gave us a tent! It is a Sierra Designs Meteor Light...thank you Eric Larsen for all of your support. =)

On the Mississippi with WI and UWCA

2011-05-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

This last Tuesday (May 17th) Natalie and I went canoeing on the Mississippi with a bunch of really great people from WI and beyond. WI runs a program on the Mississippi that brings Minneapolis middle schoolers out on the river for an afternoon in 24 foot voyageur canoes made by the Northwest Canoe Company Inc.

Just north of Minneapolis on the Mississippi heading for the East River Flats

This was our first time going through a lock. It was awesome! We were placed in different canoes so we got to meet some really great people who are working in different ways to get more people outdoors. If you haven't paddled on the Mississippi yet, you should definitely try it.

When we arrived at the East River Flats, Ann Bancroft was there! Natalie and I were introduced by Erik Wrede of the DNR. She was so encouraging and positive and meeting her was a very memorable experience.

We are SO EXCITED to depart on June 2nd, but before we leave we want YOU to come party with us. Our launch party is at the St.Paul Pool and Yacht Club on May 30th (Memorial Day) from 6:30 - 11pm. There will be live music and a delicious pig roast dinner! It is free to attend. Please bring your friends and family, it's going to be a great celebration!

We are currently in Buffalo, NY for D3 frisbee nationals. We have our first games tomorrow morning! Um Ya Ya. Then we fly back to Minneapolis Sunday, finish up finals, enjoy our last few days on campus before graduation, party on the 30th, and hit the river on the 2nd. It'll all happen in the blink of an eye!

For those of you who have donated, we are really thankful for your support. We have $3,200 now, which means at least $700 to put in the Menogyn scholarship fund. We will keep fundraising before, during, and after our trip, so please consider pitching in to help young women go on wilderness adventures!

Have a wonderful week, thanks for following our blog! We'll have about two more until the big adventure begins.

Peace!

Natalie and Ann

Um ya ya

2011-05-10T19:47:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Andy, Alex and us after an afternoon of filming!

This week has been great for Hudson Bay Bound. We leave for the Bay in 23 days, wooo! Last week we got together with Andy from UpNorthica Blog to film a piece about our trip to be released in June. We had a great time getting to know Andy and Alex (videographer).

We've met so many people in the past few months and we really feel connected with the outdoor community here in Minnesota. We talked with Erik Wrede from the DNR recently and we are officially teaming up with the Parks and Trails division this summer! They are sponsoring us with a camera if we stop in State Parks along our route to take pictures and talk to park rangers about the area. We hope that this collaboration will inspire Minnesotans to get out and spend time in these beautiful and accessible areas, even if it is just for a day. Besides that, here is a list of our most recent media hits:

Canoe&Kayak

Examiner.com

West Central Trib

Manitou Messenger

T-shirts will be here tonight! Huzzah! If you haven't already ordered one, please send us an email with your order at hudsonbaybound@gmail.com. They are $10 and $1.50 for shipping. They are light blue with our logo in dark blue and "Hudson Bay Bound" underneath. Voted number one most stylish t-shirt for the summer... ;)

Ann and Mama Raiho at Pool and Yacht

Party plans are made! Mark off May 30th (Memorial Day) on your calendars! It is at the Yacht Club in St.Paul and there will be live music from Billy Braasch and the Bootleg Bandits, potentially Sober Peter, and potentially The Walker Brothers Band (I will play saxophone on a few of their songs!) along with other musical guests. The party will go from 6:30 until around 11:00. A pig roast buffet will be available from 6:30 until 8:30 followed by some deserts. Check out the facebook invitation. It is going to be a blast -- don't miss it!

We are only $100 away from our trip budget of $2,500 (we lowered it from $3,000 to 2,500 recently since we've acquired most of our gear!). If you haven't donated yet and you are still interested please go to the How to Help page on our website or send a check to:

Hudson Bay Bound
1500 St.Olaf Ave
Northfield, MN 55057

We want to give Menogyn a significant amount of money for their scholarship fund before we leave on our trip. Please submit your donation as soon as possible or before May 31st! We hope to raise at least $4,000 for the scholarship fund before then and we would really appreciate your support. If you have already donated -- Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Last Saturday morning we volunteered at a 5K Walk for Hope in Burnsville, MN. Our sponsor Valley Natural Foods Coop put on this 5k event to benefit Hope for Tomorrow, a local non-profit mentoring program for young boys and girls. Hope for Tomorrow is really awesome check it out: http://hopefortomorrowmentoring.org/.

We had another gun safety session with Ann's neighbor Bob Hurst. We feel ready to safely use the shotgun in times of extreme necessity. Thanks Bob!

Lastly, We've decided to name the canoe Kawena Kinomaeta meaning no worries in Cree. Queeny, not weeny, for short.

We hope you are having a great week! Remember to send in your donations soon, RSVP to our party on May 30th, and let us know if you want a t-shirt!

WE ARE SO EXCITED!

Parent Exposé: They made us!

2011-05-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

We thought it'd be a good idea to recognize our parents for who they are, how they feel and all that they've done...

The Raihos

Pamela Jean (Niewinski) Raiho grew up in East St. Paul. You can tell by her characteristic Minnesotan accent. Recently retired from 30 years to service to the US Federal Government, she enjoys gardening, going out to eat, the theater and traveling.

Ray Roy Raiho grew up in Duluth. His Nordic stature is accentuated by his refusal to wear shoes most of the year. Ray is retired from a long career starting with the US Coast Guard and ending with the US Post Office as an electronic technician. He enjoys fishing, MSNBC and the north woods.

The Raihos currently reside in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. They are planning to sell their home and spend the summer months at their cabin (with the only blue roof in Cook County) on Lake Saganaga and travel in the winter.

From Ann:

My parents have always been very supportive of my wilderness endeavors. From driving me to Jackson Hole, WY for a winter NOLS course to comforting me after a rough trip in the BWCA, they have encouraged me to apply for outdoor jobs and pursue whatever it is that I like to do. I feel privileged to be their only child and am looking forward to seeing them more than usual this summer when they bring our first two food drops!

From The Parents:

How have Menogyn experiences effected Ann and Natalie?
Mama Raiho: To name a few experiences that I know of for Ann;

1. her energy of compassion while leading a Menogyn group to Isle Royale,

2. her self discipline when canoeing and camping and being very hungry

3. maintaining a good attitude under adverse conditions when coming to the aid of other Menogyn campers in her group who had acquired foot rot, assuring that they were taken for medical care.

Papa Raiho: The experiences have made them grow into mature young women.

What did you think when we first brought the idea up?
Mama Raiho: We believe this canoe adventure will be a exciting endeavor for Ann and maybe she can find a full time job somewhere along the way.
Papa Raiho: Oh god no, I hope this doesn't happen. I think it will be a long and tough trip and I know they are up to it.

What is your largest concern for this summer?
Mama Raiho: Ann and Natalie going over dams in the canoe, crashing into rocks, being attacked by polar bear or regular bear, being stalked by a crazy person, surviving a tornado, getting sunburn, getting sick, breaking something, arguing, losing the SAT phone, losing the canoe paddle, missing the float plane, missing the train, missing mom and dad.

Papa Raiho: Rough weather on Lake Winnipeg. Navigating the Hayes with the waterfalls and rapids. Hope it doesn't get too cold by the end of the trip.

What do you think will be the most exciting part about this trip?
Mama Raiho: Paddling Lake Winnipeg and meeting the native people of Canada.
Papa Raiho: Meeting people and visiting new places.

Is there a short story that you would like to share about either of us?
Mama and Papa Raiho: For Ann's 16th birthday she received a cedar strip canoe. We brought it to the indoor pool at our community center (since it was December). She and her Menogyn friends paddled it around in circles. They had a great time. Ann and that canoe have a lot of stories to tell.

The Warrens

Lisa Warren

Lisa was born and raised in Miami, FL, where she still lives with her above-average-looking, babe of a husband, Richard. She is a elementary school music teacher who loves to sing, garden, and volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. Her ability to dress up like a clown and cook delicious banana bread compensates for her inability to pronounce peoples names and stay up past 10 pm.

Richard Warren

Richard was also born and raised in Miami, FL. A pro at the guitar, Richard has been a great musical inspiration to Natalie throughout the years. You can catch them rocking out together at morning church services when Natalie is home. He also enjoys brewing beer and playing tennis. A man of few words, everything he says is subtly witty and challenges the stereotype that old people can't be genuinely funny.

Siblings

Natalie also has a 25 year-old sister, Leslie, and a 26 year-old brother, Timothy. Leslie is a financial adviser for J.P. Morgan (she loves mutual funds!) in Philadelphia and is getting married this July. Timothy has his own film company in Miami and currently attends graduate school at the University of Miami for film. They are both really great and supportive!

From Natalie:

Whether it was biking around the neighborhood as a child or supporting my trips to Menogyn, my parents have always given me the freedom to explore and make my own decisions. They are the greatest example of a loving couple -- they take time for themselves, their hobbies, and their children. Even though we don't get to see each other often, their support is like a cup of hot chocolate on a cold day!

From the parents:

Q: How have Menogyn experiences effected Ann and Natalie?

Warrens: Menogyn experience. Natalie grew up in in Miami Florida so going to Menogyn exposed her to the culture and habitats of the midwest. She also developed strong ties with other girls who enjoy the outdoors and adventure.

Q: What did you think when we first brought the idea up?

Warrens: Another crazy idea of Natalie's. No you are not going!

Q: What is your largest concern for this summer?

Warrens: That you show up to your sister's wedding unscathed and on time. After all you are the maid of honor! Also your safety.

Q: What do you think will be the most exciting part about this trip?

Warrens: Enjoying the sights and sounds of the wilderness. Meeting people whose life style is unique or at least quite different.

Q: Don't you think we are the coolest children ever? ;)

Warrens: You are only cool because you are in MN.

I do appreciate the fact that you find pleasure in the simple things like nature and home-made bear costumes.

Donation Recognition and T-shirt Sales

2011-04-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

Photo by Shane Kitzman

We'd like to thank all of the people who have donated! Below is a list of donors. Become a Polar Bear, Woodland Caribou, Pelican, Pine Martin Donor today! We've raised around $2000 so far. We need $1800 for the plane ride from York Factory to Gillam, $300 for the train from Gillam to Winnipeg, $200 for spray skirt creation and $200 for food drops, shotgun permit and unforeseen problems.

Polar Bear Donors $1000 - $501

Woodland Caribou Donors $500 - $101

Margaret Summerside

Rachel Schmidt of Ceiba Adventures
The Warren Family

Pelican Donors $100 - $51

Amy Apperson

Anne Bellows

George Logan

Kim Ode

Rachel Hedlund

Sue and Jack Thera

The Emmons Family

Pine Marten Donors $50-$1

Andrea Henkel
Anne Bellows

Anne Hedlund

Bill Brumfield

Bruce Chisholm

Dianna Cheney-Peters

Greg Kneser

Jill Dietz

Karen Cullen

Kelly Gryting

Lena Gardner

Meghan Cosgrove

Michael Holm

Richard LaFleur

Stuart Nelson

We'd like to give special thanks to our parents and their emotional and monetary support to Hudson Bay Bound. We will devote a separate blog post to them soon!

T-Shirts! Hooray. We are ordering t-shirts from Rocky Top Printing in Northfield. They will be light blue with our logo in dark blue. We are asking a standard t-shirt price of 10$ (+ 1.50$ shipping and handling) per shirt. Send us an email with a shipping address and size if you would like a shirt. We can accept payment in person or via check through the mail. Our address is below. Paypal has started to take fees from each donation of around 3%, so it would be helpful if we could receive payments via check or cash. However, if you want to use Paypal that is fine as long as you know you are also paying Paypal.

Hudson Bay Bound

1500 St. Olaf Ave

Northfield, MN

55057

I (Natalie) saw a great documentary about Aldo Leopold yesterday for class. It inspired me to bring some of his works along for the big expedition. If you have any trail-book suggestions let us know!

Thanks for all of your support! Have a great Easter Break.

Natalann

45 Days Until Departure on June 2nd

2011-04-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

We had to miss the Midwest Mountaineering Expo this weekend because we just got back from a great weekend of ultimate frisbee in Iowa. The weather was against us on Saturday (Our frist time playing ultimate in snow!) but we still made 4th out of 11 teams. We'll hear later this week if we received a bid to DIII Nationals in Buffalo, NY.

We have been portaging the canoe down to the Cannon river and paddling upstream to get a good sense of what we are up against. It is slow going, but very doable! Huzzah! Last week we were on the front page of the Northfield Newspaper, with a beautiful picture by Shane Kitzman of us canoeing down the river. We were also in the Cook County Newspaper, Canoe&Kayak, Women Outdoors Magazine, the Vision, Paddling Life, and Canoe Roots.

We have been getting emails from different people from along our route. Some newspapers would like to meet up with us when we paddle through certain towns and some really generous people have offered meals and even a place to stay. We can't wait to meet them!

Ann just finished This Water Goes North by Dennis Weidemann and has been telling me about their adventure on the Red River, Lake Winnipeg and the Hayes River. They met tons of people and learned a lot about themselves, their route, and backcountry travel. We are coming into this trip with a little more experience and technical gear, but we hope to have similar experiences with the people we meet along the way! Here's a quote from the book that we both really relate to: "Not everyone understood, but embedded in our simple explanation was the soul of every great quest. Climb a mountain only because it is, and all you have done is climb a mountain. An admirable task that may be, but we wanted to climb the mountain to see what it looked like from up there, to eat shakpa with the Sherpas. That is where the full wealth of adventure awaits, and we sought its treasure" pg. 21

We are continuing plans for our big send-off party on May 30th with live music and a pig roast. If you don't have Memorial Day plans already, you are invited to come celebrate with us!

We hope your spring is beginning well!
Ann and Natalie

Frequently Asked Questions

2011-04-11T10:24:00.000-07:00

Seriously sporting our brand new Kokatat PFDs!

Hello!

We had a pretty tame weekend. On Friday night, we met with Scott Miller who paddled the Canoeing with the Cree route in 2005 to talk about maps and take notes about specific logistics. Then yesterday we worked on making our spray skirt with the help of Wendy Galbraith! There will be more on that process in the coming weeks.

We've been getting a lot of similar questions lately, so we thought we'd write a blog entry that answers a few of them.

Why is it important for us to be the first women to paddle from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay?

It’s easy to believe that men and women are equals in the United States because of regulations like the nineteenth amendment and Title IX. Women have been legally integrated into society; however, women are still fighting to be paid equally and to escape historic social pressures. It’s important to remember that a gender gap does exist and that we have a duty to humanity to continue to work at decreasing this gap.

Canoeing with the Cree was written in 1930 by Eric Sevareid who became an influential journalist that has inspired countless citizens to challenge and explore our world. His route from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay has been repeated and repeated again by men because it is an amazing coming of age journey. Being the first women to paddle a historic route, we hope to show that wilderness expeditions are accessible to anyone.

We were shocked that two women had not replicated this trip. Women have climbed every mountain and crossed every ocean. Women should paddle every river too! By replicating a historically male dominated adventure, we will increase gender equality. Our hope is that women will be able to see equality and claim it with strengthened conviction after the completion of this trip.

How are we training for the trip?

Natalie in the stern!

Natalie and I are both very active with ultimate practice and climbing at the rock wall on campus, but we've also added a weight lifting regimen to our workouts for our upper body and core.

We have been practicing paddling upstream on the Cannon River. We protage our new Langford canoe about a half mile to downtown Northfield and paddle upstream toward Dundas. We've been working on efficient positioning in the river and forward/backward ferrying.

How long do you think it will take?

We are starting on June 2nd and expecting to be done before September 10th. Following is our trip itinerary:

6/2 - 6/28 upstream on the Minnesota River

6/29 - 7/4 Break for Natalie's sister's wedding!

7/5 - 7/27 the Red River of the North

7/28 - 8/11 Lake Winnipeg

8/12 - 9/10 Hayes River

*Layover days are also built into the schedule. For example, we are giving ourselves an extra eight days on the Hayes just in case we are wind bound on Lake Winnipeg.

Will you be blogging while you are on trail?

No. But, we will update the blog whenever we stop in a town where internet is readily available which will probably happen often. We will be calling into WTIP a few times as well.

What is your trip budget like?

1800$ for the plane from York Factory to Gillam

300$ for the train from Gillam to Winnipeg

200$ for the homemade spray skirt

Are you bringing all your food or getting food drops?

We are getting three food drops: Breckenridge, MN, Winnipeg and Norway House.

We hope this answers some of your questions! If you have any more, please feel free to send us an email at hudsonbaybound.com.

Also, check out our latest article in the Cook County Paper.

We are off to paddle upstream on the Cannon today with Shane from the Northfield Newspaper. It's gonna be great!

Enjoy the day,
Natalie and Ann

Two Tickets to the Gun Show

2011-04-03T15:23:00.000-07:00

On Saturday morning, we walked over to the North Folk House to talk with Lonnie Dupre about protection against polar bears. He suggested that we bring a shotgun and flares and advised us about proper camp set up.

Next, after a filling breakfast at the South of the Boarder Restaurant, we stopped by Stone Harbor to pick up our 17' 4" Langford Prospector!!! We're looking for name suggestions. We will be using this canoe for our entire journey.

There we also met with Brian Larson from the Cook County News herald. We had a great conversation and found out that Brian helped build the Menogyn Boathouse in 1983! Look for an article about HBB very soon.

We came home to meet with Ann's neighbor, Bob Hurst, to talk about shotguns. Bob is letting us use one of his shotguns for the trip! He showed us the gun and we practiced taking it apart and loading it. We'll be going to the shooting range with Bob soon.

Ann and I had our interview on WTIP's The Roadhouse radio show with Bob and Buck. It was awesome! It will hopefully be archived on their website soon, so check it out!

We had lots of time to discuss little things we want to do on trail during our trip to and from Grand Marais. We are planning silly things like trail holidays and serious things like prayers. We wrote a morning prayer that reflects the goals and purpose of our journey. We think that reciting it everyday before we leave camp will help us maintain peace of mind.

I checked out some Cree mythology and Cree poetry books from the St.Olaf library last week. We want to learn as much as possible about the history of the land and its people before we leave!

Also, how do you all feel about a PARTY?! We feel great about it. After graduation Ann and I will host a graduation/send off party for all of our friends, family, supporters, and sponsors to get together and celebrate! We'll keep you posted.

Time to head back to campus after a long weekend of exciting travels. We hit the river tomorrow to practice paddling upstream!

Peace,
Natalie and Ann

Interview with WTIP and article on Paddlinglife.net

2011-04-01T16:05:00.000-07:00

What a great media outreach day!

We just had our second vocal appearance on WTIP with Bob and Buck on The Roadhouse. Check it out soon at http://www.wtip.org/drupal/node/31. We answered a lot of questions about on trail specifics and preparation.

If you have any questions or would like to contribute check out our website or email us (hudsonbaybound@gmail.com)!

We also had an article published about us on paddlinglife.net! Check it out here: http://paddlinglife.net/article.php?id=681

Tonight (April 1st) Stream WTIP at 5:00

2011-04-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

Hello!

We're heading to Grand Marais within the hour to be guests on The Roadhouse and pick up our canoe from Stone Harbor. Tune in tonight around 5:20 for our interview with Bob and Buck!

Back from Spring Break

2011-03-28T12:33:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Natalie and I got back at midnight last night from an awesome week in sunny Georgia! Our ultimate team placed 17th out of 34 at Georgia Southerns and 7th our of 31 at the Chicago Invite. We got some canoeing in too! Our rental home in Dahlonega, GA was well equipped with a pet goat, hiking trails, private lake and canoe!

We'll be heading up north this weekend to be on WTIP The Roadhouse Friday night and to pick up our Langford Canoe from Stone Harbor as well as pick up our packs from Ostrom Outdoors in Thunder Bay.

More Soon!
Ann and Natalie

Photo shoot with the Northfield Newspaper

2011-03-14T22:06:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Ann met up with our Femmes guide, Em Torg, to make copies of the our maps up in Minneapolis today. We laid them all out to follow our route. It was an exciting experience to look at all of the places we were going to see. We laughed at how difficult it is going to be to navigate from Lake Winnipeg to the Hayes -- it looks like a bunch of lakes, glorified creeks, and islands going in all directions. It hit me that it may not be so amusing once we are out there trying to navigate the area, but for the time being even our biggest challenges seem distant. I just can't wait to get out there!

We had an interview and photo shoot with the Northfield Newspaper today. If you know me and Ann at all, the idea of us participating in a photo shoot should be pretty entertaining. I think we did great though. Vogue magazine here we come! Our interview went well too. The article should be out within the next few weeks and we hope to use this media momentum to get in the Star Tribune and other papers in the Midwest. It was great hanging out and talking with Shane and we can't wait to read the article!

As all of our gear comes together Ann and I are discussing specific funds. The float plane is going to be the largest cost (about $1,500) and the SAT phone will be about $9/day. Thanks to everyone who has donated already-- don't forget to keep spreading the word! We've still got a ways to go before we reach our goal.

This Wednesday I am headed up to Menogyn's Womens Night to connect with other Menogyn women and to talk about our Hudson Bay adventure. This is what our cause is all about and I can't wait to reach out to other young women explorers!

As classes start piling up at school I can't help but daydream about the river. I can't wait to see the wind ripple across the water before it even hits my face or to mistake a distant rock for a bear, and then argue with Ann whether or not it is actually moving. I can't wait to make up my own songs when I have exhausted the ones I already know. Life on trail is a simple one with simple pleasures; a life so distant from the business of school and work; a life few people ever get to experience. We sure are lucky.

I'll leave you with the wise words of Ann Raiho to sum up our trip-planning days:

"Hang on, I'm gonna make a protein shake and then we can strategize."

Peace,
Natalie

CANOECOPIA IS THE BEST

2011-03-13T11:04:00.000-07:00

Natalie and I had an awesome time in Madison this weekend at Canoecopia! We talked to just about every booth there and found some more top-notch sponsors.

After a meeting with the great Darren Bush, Rutabaga has agreed to sponsor us! We can't wait to work with Wisconsin's premier outdoor retailer.

Ostrom Outdoors of Thunder Bay Canada will be providing us with our packing system. Two packs and a barrel. Check them out at http://ostromoutdoors.com/.

Ely's Wintergreen Northern Wear will graciously be donating our cold weather gear! We will surely be protected from the wind.

Olympic Granola will be sponsoring us with some of their delicious oats.

We loved talking with Scott Harris, and we're really looking forward to using our Bungee Dealy Bobs!

Spirit of the Wilderness in Ely, MN will be giving us some sunglasses!

Kinetic Koffee will keep us awake with 13 pounds of organic coffee!

Kokatat will be keeping us afloat with PFDs!

At the steripen booth we met with Larry who was very excited about our trip. He gave a three Princeton Tech headlamps and a Steripen. We hope to look to these corporations for future support.

We spoke with several other vendors, outfitters and magazines at Canoecopia and we can't wait to get in touch with Granite Gear, NRS, Icebreaker, Smartwood, Sea to Summit, SeaLife Cameras, Core Concepts, Adventure Egg, Katadyn, WindPaddle, NorthWater and Pemba. We'll keep you up to date on who we end up partnering with. We also talked to Silent Sports Magazine, Canoe and Kayak, Canoeroots Magazine, the Sierra Club, and paddling.net about being featured in their magazines.

What a weekend! Natalie will be writing more about our overall experience later!

Ann

I forgot to mention we also are partnering with GSI Outdoors. They will be giving us the Pinnacle Dualist and the Halulite Ketalist. Um ya ya.

Interview with WTIP

2011-03-07T08:09:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! If you weren't listening in, we just had our first radio interview with WTIP North Shore Community Radio. Ann and I talked about why our trip is important and different ways you can help. Check out our website at www.hudsonbaybound.com for more information.

We are really excited! Things are starting to come together right before we head off to Canoecopia in Madison, WI this weekend. We still need to find more food and gear sponsors, but we hope to find those in the coming weeks. We're really looking forward to our trip and hope that you can help us spread the word!

Besides planning for our trip, I played at an ultimate frisbee tournament in St. Louis this weekend. Even though the weather wasn't great we still played pretty well, placing 17th out of 32 teams. Ann would have attended the ultimate tournament as well, but instead this weekend went to Luther in Decorah, Iowa to be a workshop presenter at the Noble Peace Prize Forum. NPPF is in it's 23rd year. Check it out: http://www.peaceprizeforum.org/

Thanks for your continued support! Tell your friends!

Natalie

WTIP Monday March 7th at 9:40AM

2011-03-06T15:15:00.000-08:00

You can stream online at http://www.wtip.org/!

Emails, Phones Calls and Interviews...

2011-03-02T20:48:00.000-08:00

We've been working really hard for the past two weeks contacting every retailer, outfitter, non-profit, organization, company or whoever we think would be interested in our adventure. We have gotten a hold of Rutabaga in Madison, Dan Cooke the great pack/canoe skirt creator, Valley Natural Foods in Burnsville and a few other pro-deals from Chota and BugShirt. Next weekend, March 12th - 13th we're going to Madison to advertise ourselves at Canoecopia! It'll be so great to meet other adventures and get the word out about our cause. As for media, look for us on Monday March 7th on North Shore Community Radio WTIP at 9:40AM. They will do a follow up interview with us closer to the beginning of the trip. Sometime in April we will be going to Grand Marais to be on a longer program with WTIP called "The Roadhouse" which airs on Friday nights. The Northfield Newspaper, Nick Coleman, The St. Olaf Magazine, Paddling Life and a few other online journals have also shown interest in writing about us. woo! That's all for now. We'll keep you in the loop. Meanwhile, send us any ideas at hudsonbaybound@gmail.com

Website is up!

2011-02-20T18:07:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! The website is officially up. Time to get to work fund raising and getting sponsored. Ann and I are really excited and we'd like to thank Mike Holm for all of the hard work he put into putting our website together this past week. It looks awesome!

We are going up to Grand Marais next weekend to talk to more people about getting sponsored and raising money. If you'd like to help, check out the "How to Help" section of our website. Um Ya Ya!

Working on the website!

2011-02-18T14:54:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Ann and I have been sitting up in Mike Holm's room trying to get our website up and working. We also went by the bank today and opened our own non-profit account! Awesome stuff. We are currently trying to find someone to donate food for our trip so let us know if you have any good ideas. After we get this website up we are going to take a day off for our hundred days march tomorrow, and probably some dog costume shananigans. We're glad some of this snow is melting now so the river won't be completely flooded for our upstream adventures...

Lots more to come!

A Really Great Idea is Born

2011-02-17T23:44:00.000-08:00

I have read Canoeing with the Cree by Eric Sevareid several times. While I was home this Christmas Break, I looked into trips that have repeated that epic journey. I was astonished that I couldn't find any women who had been in the media for trying the route. I asked around and no one had heard of any women who had attempted to paddle to Hudson Bay from Minneapolis. When class started again, I asked Natalie if she'd be into paddling this route with me this summer. After some discussion about the purpose of the trip and a meeting with Scott Miller (who completed the trip in 2005), we decided that no matter what we're going canoeing this summer! Ever since that decision, Natalie and I have been in a whirlwind of planning. We decided to pursue sponsors and media connections, so that the trip can be meaningful for a greater community. Last weekend, I went to Grand Marais and Menogyn to publicize our trip and to hang out with my friends who are working for Menogyn this winter. It was a great weekend! I met with Eric Humphrey (an Ole!) at the Lake Superior Trading Post and Jan Lemke at Stone Harbor. They've decided to sponsor us! LSTP will be providing some gear and Stone Harbor will be providing a Langford Canoe! Natalie and I are so pumped! Right now, we're in the process of working with Mike Holm (St. Olaf '11) to build a website that will have more information including: a mission statement, trip plan, sponsors, bios and how you can help! We'll let you know when it's up.

105 days until departure on June 2nd!!!

Ann