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 https://twitter.com/Shane_Westen My friend is currently doing a 10 day trip Solo in his Kayak on the Mississippi river. He started at the Headwaters and is going as far as he can in these next 10 days. This is the beginning of a multi-part journey to do the entire Mississippi from Lake Itasca all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. His Kayak is a 12 foot Hobie Mirage Outback in which he'll be living in for 12 hours a day. The cool thing about this boat is it features a peddle drive system leaving his hands free while going down the river. It's actually a really cool looking thing and works awesome:  Standard day will wake up before the sun, pack camp and get on the water. At lunch time he'll eat whatever he grabs out of the boat and keep going. Depending on where he is at dinner time, he may hit up the closest bar and grab and extra charge on his cellphone/battery pack and eat a nice burger. After that he'll keep going till he finds a nice camp spot and make camp. If he didn't hit town, he'll cook himself something warm and then get some sleep.  Everything in that picture is what he is taking. He has 10 days of food stuff and 3-4 days of water. Tent, sleeping roll, arctic sleeping bag, small camp stove with pot. Tech wise he has a GoPro with a few backup batteries and a Timelapse camera that will be on the entire time. He also has an external battery pack and a small solar charger. The solar will be charging the battery pack during the day, and he'll charge his cellphone and GoPro with that over nights. I'd love to answer any questions or talk about his planning/pack list. He'll be trying to update at least once a day, but that will depend on cellphone coverage at camp. He'll be tweeting here: https://twitter.com/Shane_Westen  This is right where the Mississippi starts, and where he launched from at 6am this morning.
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Jul 5, 2014 02:28
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 18:37 |
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As someone who grew up on the lower Mississippi, and read Mark Twain's autobiographical novel about being a steamboat pilot, this sounds terrifying. Looks like the river is pretty average flow right now fortunately. I had a friend from high school try to do this on a homemade raft (a pretty sizeable thing). It ended up crashing into a bank like 200 miles south of Minneapolis. He got the cops called on him several times (and got local news articles about him!), but he looked like a River Gypsy, so I doubt your friend will have the same issue. Saladman fucked around with this message at 13:03 on Jul 5, 2014 |
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Jul 5, 2014 13:00
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Day 1: One small weather delay, but got in a bunch of miles. Day 2: Pine Point Landing to Knutson Dam with a stop in Bemidji to take a picture with Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox. No weather delays, and 53 miles more done.  https://twitter.com/Shane_Westen
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Jul 6, 2014 16:22
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Day 3: He crossed the biggest lake on the river. The maps advise to avoid crossing it in ANY weather conditions but calm. It was really nice and he had a decent tail wind when he started to cross, but the wind picked up and he almost went over a few times. When he got across, people near the bank flagged him down and said they had been watching him and were ready to call 911. Day 4:  Bad news. When he was pulling into Grand Rapids to grab Lunch, his boats drive system broke. 3 of the teeth on the wheel broke off and he had to get them replaced. He only got half a day in. He called a local place and they had to ship the part in. Rather then paddle slowly and try and meet up with the guy some random place, he stayed in Grand Rapids with his girlfriend the rest of the day while the part was on order. Day 5: Part was coming in tomorrow. Chilled in Grand Rapids and took a mini-vacation from his river vacation. Banged his girlfriend instead of banging out miles. Day 6:  Part came in late morning. He drove to Minneapolis to get it fixed, then drove back to Grand Rapids to start the trip again. Got back in the water late afternoon, and got 20 miles in.
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Jul 10, 2014 04:07
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I wanted to post to say I'm following along and I wish your friend well. Covering 38 miles on his first day was quite a feat. He should be pretty happy to average 25/day if he doesn't have any other mishaps.
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Jul 10, 2014 04:45
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He's going to be eaten by water moccasins.
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Jul 10, 2014 07:20
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Or crushed by one of the bigass barges. Yikes. He's brave.
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Jul 10, 2014 17:41
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WanderingMinstrel I posted:He's going to be eaten by water moccasins. That seems highly unlikely in northern Minnesota. Oracle posted:Or crushed by one of the bigass barges. Yikes. He's brave. Same with this.
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Jul 11, 2014 01:41
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Bip Roberts posted:That seems highly unlikely in northern Minnesota. You know he's trying to go down the entire Mississippi right, all the way to Nola? There are a poo poo ton of barges in the lower Mississippi. I'm not sure about water moccasins actually in the main Mississippi, but they're sure everywhere in the feeder rivers further south. Not that he's super likely to get hit by a barge unless he's sleeping in his kayak. Edit: It does in fact look like there are no or very few water moccasins actually in the Mississippi river. Too cold and fast-flowing.
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Jul 11, 2014 11:07
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Yeah barges are really only a concern if you are traveling at night...with nothing reflective...and down the middle of the river. Keep your head about you, pay attention and dont do anything stupid. They are watching out for everything out there, and you wont ever need to get close to them at all. You arnt even allowed in the Locks with them at the same time. Day 7:  Back on track, did 62 miles.
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Jul 11, 2014 16:15
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quote:Yeah barges are really only a concern if you are traveling at night...with nothing reflective...and down the middle of the river. Keep your head about you, pay attention and dont do anything stupid. They are watching out for everything out there, and you wont ever need to get close to them at all. Huh, can't find it, but someone else had this same idea and made a documentary of it... Maybe its this nutty chick... Oracle fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Jul 11, 2014 |
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Jul 11, 2014 18:23
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Oracle posted:Maybe its this nutty chick... Yep that's the guy from my high school I mentioned in my second post. They didn't get hit by a barge though.
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Jul 11, 2014 21:42
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Subscribed. I did an 18-day trip down the Grand Canyon last January and my question is: where does he poop?
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Jul 12, 2014 19:57
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tranten posted:Subscribed. The Mississippi isn't controlled like Colorado through the Grand Canyon... I'd guess he just shits wherever.
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Jul 12, 2014 20:57
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Sounds glorious!
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Jul 13, 2014 10:07
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tranten posted:Subscribed. In the woods. Day 8:  Day 9:  Part 1 of the trip is done. He didn't make it even close to his goal because of the busted part. He will be back on the River as soon as life lets him.
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Jul 14, 2014 17:44
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Pretty nice kayak. Not positive that I'd want an open-top like that vs. one I could keep dry in under a skirt. I'm honestly envious of the guy. We have some nice water-ways here in NY, but somehow even something like the Saint Lawrence just doesn't have the wow value of the goddamn Mississippi. Where is he staying by night? I've always wanted to do some insane kayaking trip, but I don't have a loving clue about stuff like just pulling your boat over and setting up camp since everywhere seems to be private land.
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Jul 17, 2014 14:14
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The Mississippi has tons of campsites along it in Minnesota, both regular camping, and water only camping. The DNR up there does a loving fantastic job making it easy to travel by water. A little later on he might have to do some private land camping, but he pulls in at around dark, and leaves at 4 or 5 am, the chances of someone getting mad are pretty low, and if they do, he will pack up and move down the river some. I'm doing some (terrible) video editing of his stuff, and will post it here when I am done. For now have some screencaps:   
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Jul 17, 2014 16:41
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Can pedaling barefoot rub feet raw?
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Jul 17, 2014 18:10
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Aliquid posted:Can pedaling barefoot rub feet raw? Nope, they are padded pretty well and very nice to use.
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Jul 17, 2014 18:24
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 18:37 |
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First Day Windows Live Movie Maker Yeah... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YovoHGEq3Ks First Day time lapse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1YC_81_ZJ8
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Aug 9, 2014 14:37
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