Adventure Canoe Forum

Canoe Camping & River Tripping Discussion

1. 

   BWCAJohn
   uwca2gulf

   I've been lurking in the forums for awhile after following AdventureCanoe via twitter.  Looks like you guys have a good paddling forum going!

   As my handle implies I have cut my paddling teeth in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of northern Minnesota.  I was lucky enough to spend lots of time on the water this summer as trail staff for Wilderness Inquiry canoeing and kayaking and got a chance to paddle on the Missouri, St. Croix, Namekogan, and Mississippi rivers as well as a number of trips to the BWCA and Apostle Islands.

   On Wednesday I am leaving with one other team member to paddle from Minneapolis to the Gulf of Mexica on the Mississippi.  We will be doing some blogging along the way for those of you who are interested in following our adventure. Here is the address: http://www.uwca2gulf.blogspot.com

    

   Thanks for checking it out and I look forward to posting on here more when I am off the water.

   A blog about my trip down the Mississippi River: http://www.uwca2gulf.blogspot.com.   Follow me on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bwcajohn

   Posted 4 months ago #   
2. 

   Dennis
   Photographer

   Sounds good. Let us know if you need any promotional stuff done when you come through St. Louis. I'm sure James would like to do a ten minute interview and I would really like to get some photos of you guys next to the statue of Lewis and Clark down on the levee below the big shiney Arch. If you're lucky we may even feed you.

   Are you guys are carrying GPS units or smart phones that will let us track your progress online?

   Inside the Viewfinder - My photography blog

   Posted 4 months ago #   
3. 

   BWCAJohn
   uwca2gulf

   Thanks Dennis! We'd be happy to do an interview for you.  I've heard mixed reviews about paddling through the St. Louis area, namely problems with canoe thefts. 

   We will have a Spot along and our progess should be updated daily.  What's the best way to get ahold of you once we reach the area?

   A blog about my trip down the Mississippi River: http://www.uwca2gulf.blogspot.com.   Follow me on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bwcajohn

   Posted 4 months ago #   
4. 

   Dennis
   Photographer

   Send James an email so he can forward you a list of contact numbers. jdixson@atomicdust.com

   We don't have any Somali Pirates around here but I wouldn't leave anything unattended for long in high traffic areas either.

   If you are looking to spend a few hours in the city proper we can probably come up with a truck or garage to store the gear in where it will be out of harm's way.

   I'm pretty confident that people will get behind your effort once they know about it, so keep us updated. I'm looking forward to hearing about the logistics of the trip.

   Inside the Viewfinder - My photography blog

   Posted 4 months ago #   
5. 

   natecanoes
   Member

   It's going to be a cool trip! Both in weather, and the other kind of cool. Starting in St Paul cuts the slow portion of the river off, so you should make great time.  St Louis in 3 weeks probably, barring any misfortunes.

   Wish I was going with. I'll be following the blog.

   Posted 4 months ago #   
6. 

   James
   Class V

   These guys are going to be in St Louis Sunday.

   We buy our gear at Amazon, NRS, Altrec or Rock Creek. If you're in St. Louis visit the Alpine Shop.
   
   http://twitter.com/AdventureCanoe

   Posted 3 months ago #   
7. 

   Dennis
   Photographer

   Any plans to meet up? Any idea of their schedule? 

   Inside the Viewfinder - My photography blog

   Posted 3 months ago #   
8. 

   MotoMike
   Moderator

   John

   Dang, I picked up on your post too late.  You passed by Savanna, my home town a week or so back. 

    

   I would be interested to hear you discuss locking through and any interesting experiences in doing so.  Is your load too great to portage around the locks when the wait is 2 or 3 hours?

    

   kind regards,

   Mike

   Posted 3 months ago #   
9. 

   James
   Class V

   

   Check out the blog http://www.uwca2gulf.blogspot.com

   They should be in St. Louis tomorrow.

   We buy our gear at Amazon, NRS, Altrec or Rock Creek. If you're in St. Louis visit the Alpine Shop.
   
   http://twitter.com/AdventureCanoe

   Posted 3 months ago #   
10. 

    Bryan Hansel
    Member

    Hi Mike,

    I know John didn't answer--it's so hard to keep track of all the threads when you're on a long distance trip--but when I paddled a portion of the Mississippi I only portaged 1 of the 13 or so that I paddled through. I only had one long wait, which was on a cold day. Twice the lock masters held up upstream traffic so I could make it to the lock and wouldn't have to wait. The L&Ds were fun to go through and broke up the day. Plus, the employees would come and talk. Great fun.

     

    Nessmuking.com - Lightweight canoe and kayak travel: a philosophy and a way of life
    
    On Twitter: @bryanhansel

    Posted 3 months ago #   
11. 

    BWCAJohn
    uwca2gulf

    Mike-

     

    I have had very limited access to the 'net since we left.  We are actually staying with James at the moment so I can finally get online!

    We have quite a bit of gear so we are not very portage friendly and as a result we have locked though every time.  At times there as been no wait and at worst we have had to wait about three hours or so.  We are definitely glad to be past all the locks so we can really start to make some good time. 

    We have also noticed quite a nice increase in the current so that should really help us as well.  Hopefully we will be in New Orleans by New Years.  Thanks for following the blog and hope you are all getting in some good end of the year paddling!

    A blog about my trip down the Mississippi River: http://www.uwca2gulf.blogspot.com.   Follow me on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bwcajohn

    Posted 3 months ago #   
12. 

    crow
    Member

    Good luck on the trip, guys!

    How long is it, in miles?

     

    Posted 3 months ago #   
13. 

    James
    Class V

    Cate and I met John and John in Grafton and took them to The Rotten Apple. After they paddled into St. Louis from Grafton we invited them to spend the night at our house, do some laundry and drink some beer.

    They packed up this morning and got a bit of a later start than normal. Here are a couple photos of them loading up and shoving off.

    

    Taking the canoe back down to the riverfront

    

    Lewis and Clark under the Eades Bridge

    

    Getting the canoe back into the water.

    

    Car full of gear

    

    These guys are not traveling light.

    

    

    

    

    The canoe is all loaded up and ready to head down to New Orleans

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    1000 miles left to the Gulf. Good luck guys.

    We buy our gear at Amazon, NRS, Altrec or Rock Creek. If you're in St. Louis visit the Alpine Shop.
    
    http://twitter.com/AdventureCanoe

    Posted 3 months ago #   
14. 

    Dennis
    Photographer

    Very cool.

    Inside the Viewfinder - My photography blog

    Posted 3 months ago #   
15. 

    Bad
    Member

    WOW!

    Very Very Cool!

    Good Luck!!

    Stay Safe!

    Posted 3 months ago #   

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