Mississippi River: Super Highway of Adventure

Living in Illinois and working in St Louis I drive over the Mississippi river two times each day, five days each week.  Sometimes more.  For most of my life the Mississippi was never looked upon as a source of recreation.  Any recreation on the water was done at Carlyle lake, a longer drive than the river but "cleaner".  I think Dave Cornthwaite was a bit shocked on his stand up paddleboard journey that more people didn't use the river for recreation.  I told him that at least in the St Louis area the Mississippi is just not thought of in that way.  It is seen more as a highway for barges and other commercial interests.

What I have discovered though is that while the locals may turn their backs to the river it is actually a super highway of adventure.

The first time I ever heard anyone suggest a trip down the length of the Mississippi was around ten years ago.  The guy was all talk and I knew he would never do it (and he never did), but I was blown away by the enormity of the challenge.  Since that day ten years ago my life has changed considerably and in the past few years I have become more aware of the world of adventure and in that awareness have realized that in 2011 no less than three people endeavored to stand up paddle board the length of the river on three different journeys.  Alex Linnell was first, followed by Dave Cornthwaite, and last and in this case especially not least was Matthew Crofton .  All three men hopped on a board and headed south until they reached the Gulf of Mexico. They only saw the adventure that was before them, and not the misgivings some locals might have about it being a "dirty" river unsuited for their purposes.

2012 proves to be another busy year on the mighty Mississippi, in fact it may even be busier than 2011.  So far I know that Matt Fraser, Sam Norman, and Harry Hogg will be paddling their kayaks from Lake Itasca in Minnesota all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico for their Mississippi Challenge.  Then there is Mark Kalch who will be paddling from the source of the Missouri river in Montana all the way to the confluence with the Mississippi and down to the gulf as part of his 7Rivers 7Continents project.  Another adventurer coming down the Missouri-Mississippi route is Andy Campbell who starting in 2012 will be working his way around the world, in a wheelchair, "but not just a wheelchair" according to his website.  Lastly and while not technically in the Mississippi, Dave Cornthwaite will be returning to swim 1000miles on the Missouri river ending at the confluence with the Mississippi.

This coming weekend I will be attending the Alpine Shop Great Canoe and Kayak Event to hear Michael Clark of Big Muddy Adventures speak about circumnavigating the city of St Louis.  Apparently he and some friends paddled the River Ring around St Louis (Mississippi, Missouri, Meramec, Bourbeuse ).  What an amazing accomplishment and until I read the announcement a couple days ago something I had never even considered and from what I understand they plan to do it again in 2012.

Wherever you live stop and take a look around with a fresh perspective, you might be surprised at all the opportunities that you never realized where available to you.  Adventures are born from creative minds that see the possible, although often times difficult path before them.



Look for more information on all of these adventures here at Trail and Error.

A Part Time Adventurer Meets a Full Time Adventurer

Have you heard about this guy Dave Cornthwaite?  He is a British Adventurer embarking on a series of twenty five 1000+ mile journeys each with a different form of non-motorized transport.  Dave has done many impressive feats such as skateboarding the length of Great Britain, and across Australia.  He also kayaked the length of Australia's Murray River.  This is just a sampling of Dave's adventures for a more complete and impressive list you should go check out his website at DaveCornthwaite.com, go ahead I'll wait... just don't forget to come back.

Dave taking break

Pretty cool right?

A couple months ago I stumbled across his website and thought WOW! This is the type of thing I would be doing if I could.  More on this later...

Evan watches the dredging operation

When I saw that he was getting ready to start another journey, this time on a stand-up-paddle-board, traveling the length of the Mississippi river I thought "Wait a tick, I live near the Mississippi, in fact I cross it twice every work day."  It was the equivalent of a major sporting event being played down the street from your house.  There was no way I was going to miss it!  Adventure was coming to me all I had to do was wait.  I followed Dave's progress down the river on twitter, facebook, and his website. 

one of the places we stopped

As he got closer I was starting to wonder how I was going to locate one person on such a great river.  I started emailing back and forth and before I new it there was a time and a place to meet, Hamburg, IL.  I asked if there was anything he might need, and he said they were running low on water.  I wasn't sure who else was with but it didn't matter.  I bought a 2.5gallon jug of water and Beth and I headed out to Hamburg.  Upon arrival there was no sign of Dave, and believe me there is no place to hide in Hamburg.  We drove back and forth, waited, and drove back and forth some more.  Eventually I saw a canoe out on the water and then there was Dave Cornthwaite on a SUP.  I turned around and headed back into town and started to unload my gear at the boat ramp.  They pulled off a little up river from where I was and we introduced ourselves and I met Evan who on a whim decided with no paddling experience to travel from the Headwaters in Lake Itasca to St Louis to raise money for the Susan G. Komen foundation (he lost his mother to breast cancer, something we have in common).  He definitely has the adventure spirit!  Dave apologized for being late, the headwinds were terrible and they weren't making much progress.  It was doubtful that we would make it to Grafton.  We talked for a bit and then we were off like a shot, a slow shot into the mighty headwinds.  Being low to the water in my kayak I was less affected by the headwinds, and it looked like Dave and Evan were really working hard.  I kept it easy and maintained whatever pace they wanted to set.  We stopped and rested a few times and discussed philosophical topics ranging from the subtle differences of candy in the UK vs US to speed dating at 60hours with no sleep.  It was a good day out on the river the brutal headwinds helped us cool off, the heat index was 118degrees.  Once it became clear that we were not going to make it to Grafton I was worried about where Beth was going to pick me up (I had just recently sent her driving all over the sketchy back roads of Okawville in an attempt to pick me up off the Kaskaskia river and I did not want a repeat of that experience).

Dave recording while Evan calls the Dam operator

We went through the lock at the Winfield dam which was an experience.  Evan said I was lucky because my first lock was as difficult as it gets, which was only slightly difficult and mostly uninteresting.  It's supposed to go like this: Paddle up to the location indicated by the signs, pull the chain, wait for the operator to open the lock, paddle in, wait for the water to lower, and paddle out the other side when it opens.  Really a very simple procedure.  In this case the chain was broken so Evan looked up the number and called them.  They asked when we would be there and he informed them that we were there already and their chain was broken to which they replied something to the effect of 'we keep forgetting to fix that'.  The rest of the trip through was uneventful.  After we made it through the lock we looked for a marina that appeared to exist only on Evan's map. 

Me, Dave, and Evan

We ended up taking a rest over on the shore.   Dave and Evan rested on their mats while I sat on a pointy rock.  Since you can only sit on a pointy rock for a limited amount of time I went down to the water and waded out a bit where I called Beth who had scouted some locations to pick me up.  We decided on the Double Ranch Marina because there was a store.  I had planned on buying Dave and Evan a beer when we got to Grafton so I thought this would be a good alternative.  Unfortunately we pulled in just after 5pm and the store had closed.  I felt horrible.  I gave them the rest of the water and food that I had with me and wished them well.  I hope they enjoyed the burritos I gave them.  They both seemed very excited to have them.  

Dave's SUP, Artemis.

As Beth and I drove away I felt a bit sad to not be going back out on the river.  Beth was all but certain that I was going to tell her that I was going back out with them.  While my time with Dave was short I found it to be very inspirational.  While I cant't travel all over the world completing grand adventures the way Dave does I can embark on my own adventures in the surrounding area.  I am very fortunate to live in the St Louis area, in that there are many opportunities on a wide variety of terrain all within a couple hours drive in any direction.  

I've got some ideas of a few things that want to do but I will keep them under wraps until I work out a few of the details.  Suffice it to say that my Adventure Spirit has been rekindled and I am looking forward to what the future holds.  Now if I could just find a way to quit my job...does anyone want to pay me to be a professional adventurer?

I wish Dave the best of luck on the rest of his journey down the river and on all the rest of his adventures.  If you haven't yet Check out his website and at least consider making a donation to one of his charities.  They are both really good causes.