OVER THE BOW: THE RED RIVER

With all great journeys, the seed of adventure is planted long before the first step on a trail or the first stroke of a paddle. Looking back, I think a part of my soul was always searching the river. ---Leslie Warren

Back in 2011, the Red was my hometown river. The meandering ribbon of reddish-brown silt-filled water weaves, winds and snakes around for some 390 miles between North Dakota and Minnesota, rarely going the same place twice before entering Canada on its way to Lake Winnipeg. When paddling in the river's oxbows, North Dakota can sometimes be on the east. While Minnesota appears on the west along the river's corridor. Dropping at about a foot a mile, it's remarkably flat, to say the least. I've played on pool tables that have a worse slant. Formed in an ancient lake bed after the glaciers melted away 12,00 years ago, the river still practices the remnants of its glacial past. With a history of significant flooding, the beauty and nature of the river are usually overlooked. It's not uncommon to bald eagles, wood ducks, and deer along the tree-lined banks of the river.
Ten years ago, as it does today, the river ran right through the middle of Fargo and Moorhead. I would spend about any summer evening kayaking up and down the wandering the river sections. Access locations near my home made it the perfect retreat for my paddling fix after a day spent as a photographer for a local television station.
So when I heard about Natalie Warren and Ann Raiho's Minneapolis to Hudson Bay Canoe trip, retracing the route Eric Sevareid made famous in his classic Canoeing with the Cree, I knew I wanted to meet them and share their story.
Their 2,000-mile voyage started by paddling up the Minnesota River before heading downstream on the Bois de Sioux River, followed by the Red River. Fargo would be a pit stop for the duo. They still had miles and miles to go for their journey. Although they were just young college graduates, they were both season canoeists while attempting to make history as the first women to paddle this historic route.
"That confidence led us to believe that we could survive or even thrive, paddling together for three months through unknown territory with only each other, a canoe and our gear," Warren wrote in her recently published book, Hudson Bay Bound: Two Women, One Dog, Two Thousand Miles to the Arctic. It's an account of their epic trip together, highlighting the ups and even downs of their adventure.
It had been an easy sell to talk my assignment editor into meeting up with two canoeists. Canoes, two women paddling on an epic journey, and it was right down the street. They were coming to us.
The Red River that summer of 2011 was running high and out of its banks. I can remember standing in the partially flooded campsites along the river with my tripod and camera in tow in Fargo's Lindenwood Park. If we had timed right, I wouldn't have to wait too long.
Watching downstream, I spotted their canoe moving quickly in the fast-moving current under the I-94 bridge. I panned my camera along with them, keeping the canoe in the frame. The women were all business as they moved through the swirling flow until they paddled out of the current into the calmer water. That is when they could smile for my camera. They pulled up onto the muddy shoreline. At the time, they had been on the river for 27 days were tired and more than a little bit ready to head to a hotel for a shower and a comfy bed. But they were more than gracious to do a quick TV interview with me. After that, they headed off with their family support crew.
They took me up on my invite to entertain their et rouge at a local Fargo winery later that evening. They would be taking a break from the river to re-supply, recharge and attend a family member's wedding before heading downriver.

You can get Natalie Warren's book Hudson Bay Bound: Two Women, One Dog, Two Thousand Miles to the Arctic at her website at natalie-warren.com and on Amazon.   

Over the Bow is a feature from Outside Adventure to the Max, telling the story behind the image. If you have a great picture with a great story, submit it to us at nickayak@gmail.com

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