re: Canoe/paddle the Mississippi River length?

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Cdawg

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I watched that series a while back. Bold move to start their journey in June. By the time they make it down into South Louisiana, it was brutal heat, summer coastal storms. Then pulling off to camp on the banks in the mosquito breading grounds.

I think it'd make a cool story to tell. But actually doing it seems like a miserable experience

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A friend of mine paddled the Mississippi about 7-8 years ago. I think it took him around 55 days. He started in Minnesota.

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My back and arse would be crying uncle after day 1.

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when I was at LSU Dale Brown drove a small power boat the length of the river

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I thought you were joking

Looks to be around 1981

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His whole life had become a crusade. For his vacation in 1982, he tried to climb the Matterhorn but had to turn back at 11,000 feet when conditions became too hazardous. A year earlier he and friends tried to set the world speed record, via powerboat, from one end of the Mississippi to the other. Next, he is considering a search for Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat in Turkey, and a crossing of the Arctic by dogsled to plant an LSU flag on the North Pole.

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thought you were joking

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he used to do some wild stuff during the summers

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1981

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I guess I'd graduated a couple. of years earlier

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Longer going up than coming down.

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It’s been done. Rediscover North America
I hosted these guys at my house on their trip upriver. They hung out 2-3 nights, dried out, resupplied, then headed north.

Dozens of people paddle the entire length of the river going downstream every year.

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2014 at Zee Zee's bar, we met 2 dudes that smelled like old vagina duct taped to a foot. They gave us the scoop and had been paddling 50+ days from the Ohio River and stopped in BR for a beer and a bite. After many beers, a shower for them and washed/replaced clothes, they paused the trip for 3 weeks to come walk on the wild side with all of us 5th (and 6th) year LSU seniors. They finished paddling to the mouth of the river in New Orleans and one of them picked up a full time job in BR to keep the party going. Still get postcards from them every year or two. One of them was ex special forces, the other was a more hippy type. The hippy ended up riding his bike from Miami to Los Angeles a year or two later. He stopped in Baton Rouge to catch up for a week or so. When it was time to go, we dropped him off on the other side of the Atchafalaya spillway and sent him on his way. We got a postcard from Roswell NM a month later. They were built different and had the knowledge from the military to thrive on their trip. Long live "The River Gypsies" of Stanford Ave.

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Thank you. Great story. Glad to know people like that are still out there.

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Got on a google maps kick today

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Get back to work you slacker

Years ago we had discussed attempting to go from Gavins Point Dam in Yankton, SD down the Missouri, to the Mississippi River and to the Gulf.

Never attempted it but what would be really impressive is to start at the start of the Missouri River in Montana and go the entire distance to the Gulf. You'd need assistance going through the dam system in the Dakotas.

I worked at Seabrook harbor once upon a time. Tying up a boat we just put in the water, I look up the channel and in the distance I see a tiny craft putting my direction. They pulled up in the most rickety looking backyard raft you can imagine. No covered sleeping quarters or anything like that, just three guys and a raft, and it only had a little 2.5hp outboard on it.

Turns out these baws came all the way from Minnesota. Documented the whole thing and blogged it on a website. I remember thinking how insane that was, and how awesome it could be at the same time. But coming from tennesse with nothing but paddles.. I’m not sure which is crazier. River can be a dangerous place with all the shipping vessels.

ETA: it was these guys

Raft the Mississippi