The Ultimate Canoe Challenge
Start: Red Rock Lake, MT - April 29, 1980
Finish: Lansing, MI - December 15, 1983
The Team Verlen Kruger & Steve Landick
The Route October 1984 - Canoe Magazine
It began at Red Rock Lake, Montana. Took Verlen Kruger and
Steve Landick down the Red Rock River into the Beaverhead into the Jefferson
down to Tree Forks, where it becomes the Missouri River.
Down the Missouri to St. Louis (portaging 15 dams), and into the Mississippi River. Up to Grafton, Illinois to the Illinois River.
Follow the Illinois River north through the state, into the Des Plaines River and eventually passing through a canal system and into the Chicago River (or more appropriately the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal), until you come upon Lake Michigan.
Follow the shore of Lake Michigan south then loop up the west side of Michigan state, under the Mackinaw Bridge and down the west side of Lake Huron, the east side of Michigan. While coming up the west side, there are two 10 mile traverses at Grand Traverse Bay and Little Traverse Bay. On the eastern side, there is one long 26 mile traverse across the shallow Saginaw Bay; or it can be broken up into shorter pieces by crossing to Charity Island Midway.
Slip through Port Huron into the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, then out into lake Erie via the Detroit River. Stick close to the southern shore along Lake Erie on up to the Niagara River. Take that river channel through to the falls, where you'll carry around it six miles after checking the view.
Take the southern shore of Lake Ontario around to Oswego, New York, where you'll pick up the Oswego Canal and the old Erie canal system of upstate New York. Coming through Oneida Lake, you'll flush out into the Mohawk River, which will carry you down around Waterford, N.Y., where you'll pick up the Hudson River. Take the Hudson north until you come to the Champlain Canal feeding into Lake Champlain. Push north all the way through Champlain, then down the Richelieu River and eventually the St. Lawrence River.
Stay with the St. Lawrence until Quebec City, where you'll pick up the Chaudiere River on the opposing shore. Take it south to the Liniere to its source then portage nine miles into Portage Lake. From there it's another 1/2 mile carry until Penobscot Break to the west branch of the Penobscot River, Maine.
Following the Mud Pond Carry, you'll end up at the Allagash
Wilderness Waterway. The Allagash feeds into the St. John River, which flows to
the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean at St. John, New Brunswick.
Take a hard right at the Bay of Fundy, then head south-southwest. You'll have a small traverse outside of Boston Harbor before slipping through the Cape Cod Canal at Sagamore. Head out to Buzzards Bay on a southwesterly course until you reach New York City.
Come through Long Island Sound and down the East River through Manhattan, going out beneath the Verrazano Bridge. Once you hit Manasquan, New Jersey, cut inside onto the Intercostals Waterway. Then breathe easy in the protection of the channel until Delaware Bay, where you'll have a 12 mile crossing; another traverse comes at Chesapeake Bay: 17 1/2 miles. Then it's back onto the Intercostals all the way to Key West, Florida.
From Key West, there's an easy traverse back inland to either the 99 mile Everglades Wilderness Waterway Trail (taken by Steve) or straight up the coastline (taken by Verlen). Back on the Intercostals until St. Petersburg, Fla., and in again around Pensacola, and it's smooth paddling until New Orleans. There you can drop down to mile 0, which officially rests somewhere in the finger branches of the Mississippi delta just south of Pilot town. Turn around and lock your compass on Lake Itasca, Minnesota. Get comfortable, because you'll be on the Mississippi for quite some time.
At Lake Itasca, pick up your canoe and carry overland on a west-northwesterly course through the town of Zerkel, Minnesota. Lake-hop over the height of land to Lower Wild Rice Lake and then into the Wild Rice River. As you head down the Wild Rice, be prepared to make a study of beaver dams as you wind down the Red River and head north to Winnipeg, Manitoba.
At Lake Winnipeg, follow the western shore to Grand Rapids, Manitoba, where you can pick up the Saskatchewan River through The Pass, Manitoba, on up the Sturgeon River - Weir at Cumberland House to Frog Portage, eventually coming into the Churchill River.
Follow the Churchill River west to LaLoche (Methye) Portage and the height of land. Carry 12 1/2 miles and drop into the Clearwater River. It'll flow into the Athabasca, eventually to pour into the Slave River out the western end of Lake Athabasca, on up to Great Slave Lake and flush out into the wide open Mackenzie River near fort Providence, N.W. T.
Kick back and enjoy the long ride north to the Arctic Ocean and Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T. Drop back up the Mackenzie to Inuvik, where you'll paddle 80 miles up the Rat River through the McDougall Pass into Summit Lake. From there paddle down the Little Bell River, then the Bell River, and finally the Porcupine River until it feeds into the Yukon River at Fort Yukon, Alaska.
Veer hard left and come on up the Yukon River through Lake Laberge, eventually to hit Lake Bennett a few miles before the Chilcoot Pass. Depending on the weather, plan for as long as six days carrying time over the Chilcoot Pass into Taiya River outside Skagway, Alaska.
Five miles before Skagway, you hit salt water again. Slip down the island-choked Inside Passage. Come down the east side of Vancouver Island and pass by the whale preserve off Johnstone Strait, then paddle on through Seattle, Washington.
Coming out around Cape Flattery, on the tip of Washington State, make sure you turn left. Now gear up to put on some miles as you pass endless and exposed coastline with only an occasional refuge from the sea, at least until you hit Santa Barbara (only 1,500 miles away!) Hold on tight around Cape Blanco too!
At Monterey Bay, there's a small traverse, then it's south to the Baja Peninsula. Here at Magdalena Bay south 150 miles to Cabo San Lucas. From here head north to begin preparation for the Colorado River at Yuma, Arizona. Follow the Colorado until you get to Green River branching off in Utah. Allow about 21 days to come up through the Grand Canyon section of the Colorado too.
Head into the Green River and stick with it until the Big Sandy River above Rock Springs, Wyoming. Where Hwy 28 crosses over the river, flip your canoe on your back and walk 68 mile overland across the Continental Divide. Put back on the water at Popo Agie River and enjoy the first downstream travel since you were in Alaska on the Porcupine River, some 7,000 miles ago!
The Popo Agie feeds into the Wind River, which feeds into the Bighorn River, which feeds into the Yellowstone River, which feeds into the Missouri. Just ride out the name changes until Williston, North Dakota, where you'll paddle across the miles-wide man-made waters of lake Skakawea. At the eastern end, pick up your canoe again and push overland 30 miles to the Souris River just west of Velva, North Dakota, and head into Canada.
The Souris feeds into the Assiniboine River as it swings through Canada. At Winnipeg, pick up the Red River again into lake Winnipeg. Loop up around the southern end of the lake and paddle up the Winnipeg River. Then lake-hop through Lake of the Woods and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of Northern Minnesota. Your last major portage is at Grand Portage, a 8 1/2 mile carry to the shores of Lake Superior.
From there, hug the shoreline down to Duluth, Minnesota, and come up along the northern Wisconsin side (south of Lake Superior). Coming into Michigan's Upper Peninsula, cut down between Houghton-Hancock and pick up an old Native shortcut. Head up the AuTrain River then down the Whitefish, and come into Lake Michigan. Again at Escanaba, Michigan.
Follow the north shore around to the Straits of Mackinac and cross over. Take your pick of two routes coming through Michigan. Come down the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, as Verlen did or cut a course straight south down the Cheboygan River into the Pigeon River, the North and South Branches of the AuSable River, then down the Muskegon River out to Lake Michigan. Swing out and come on up to Lansing on the Grand River. When you hit the public park in downtown Lansing, take a deep bow - you've done it!
By the Editors of Canoe Magazine - October 1984 - Special UCC edition.
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