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missmolly
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05/30/2020 04:01PM  
Assume the following:

Money is no problem.

Time is no problem.

If you need to be young again to do it, you're young again.

Distance is no problem.

Highly skilled, strong, cheerful paddling partners are no problem, if you want them.

So, with all that freedom, what's your ultimate paddling trip?
 
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05/30/2020 04:24PM  
missmolly, I love the parameters you've established--all the "if only" hedges we usually let block our bucket list are blown away! With no worries about money, time, conditioning, and fine company, I'd like to hit some of the remote rivers between Alaska and Canada's Yukon...

TZ
 
ledhead
member (34)member
  
05/30/2020 04:41PM  
Horton River, NWT.... ~400 miles paddle to the Arctic Ocean, through the largest roadless area left on Earth
 
missmolly
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05/30/2020 05:10PM  
TrailZen: "missmolly, I love the parameters you've established--all the "if only" hedges we usually let block our bucket list are blown away! With no worries about money, time, conditioning, and fine company, I'd like to hit some of the remote rivers between Alaska and Canada's Yukon...


TZ"


I'm a sneaky Pete, eh? ;-)
 
missmolly
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05/30/2020 05:15PM  
As much as I love wilderness, with all the money and time in the world, I'd do four great rivers of Europe: the Rhine, Danube, Elbe, and Seine. I love a long river journey and those four would total thousands of miles and dozens of countries. Oh, the things I'd see! With bottomless pockets, I'd travel in style, staying at inns and castles and enjoy the cuisines of all those different countries. It would take at least two summers, I'm guessing. No hurry with all the time in the world.
 
straighthairedcurly
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05/30/2020 05:55PM  
Cool question...

Easy choice for me...I would start at Norway House, Manitoba, follow the Nelson River to Cross Lake and then jump onto the Fox and Bigstone Rivers to get to the Hayes River, ending at York Factory on Hudson Bay. This route is known as the Middle Track from fur trading days. This is a route I have always wanted to do ever since I learned about it. I tried in 1989, but forest fires prevented us from getting past Cross Lake (I did a recent trip report). I have paddled the Hayes River to York Factory, but never via the Middle Track.
Still have a sliver of hope in my soul...



To the Bay or Bust
 
05/30/2020 06:34PM  
I would raft the Firth River through Ivvavik National Park to the Arctic Ocean.

Firth River Rafting
 
yellowcanoe
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05/30/2020 07:57PM  
ledhead: "Horton River, NWT.... ~400 miles paddle to the Arctic Ocean, through the largest roadless area left on Earth"

+1
 
airmorse
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05/31/2020 12:34AM  
yellowcanoe: "
ledhead: "Horton River, NWT.... ~400 miles paddle to the Arctic Ocean, through the largest roadless area left on Earth"

+1"


+2
 
marsonite
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05/31/2020 06:39AM  
My dream trip is closer to home. I'd park at my cabin in Isabella and portage to the Stony River, then follow that drainage to Basswood Lake, then the border route to Superior, paddle to Duluth, then upstream on the St. Louis to Seven Beaver Lake, up North Creek to the LTV railroad tracks. Then it would be a mere 6 mile portage back to my truck.

The hardest part would be the first day or two--the Stony river is no picnic--and the last day or two.
 
missmolly
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05/31/2020 07:12AM  
I'd also like to paddle the Paraná River of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. Here's why:

1. It's got marshlands, dry stretches, and jungles.

2. Big waterfalls.

3. World class fishing.

4. World class bird watching.

5. More than 3,000 miles.

6. Great cities to spice the wilderness.

7. So many critters I've never seen.
 
cburton103
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05/31/2020 12:16PM  
I’ve daydreamed of paddling the Keele River in NWT for a while now, so probably that one for me. I also plan to do a fly in salmon trip down an Alaskan river at some point. What could get better than having Mountain views while paddling and fishing??
 
yellowhorse
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05/31/2020 12:56PM  
Great question. I was about 14 when I thought I'm going to canoe the Mississippi river from source to sea so I better respect that challenge.
 
straighthairedcurly
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05/31/2020 01:25PM  
yellowhorse: "Great question. I was about 14 when I thought I'm going to canoe the Mississippi river from source to sea so I better respect that challenge."

After business school, my brother celebrated by commissioning a row boat to be built. Then he rowed the length of the Mississippi over the course of that summer. Four years earlier he biked east to west across the entire United States to celebrate graduating from college. He has a map showing both routes with pushpins where he stayed each night. Pretty cool to see.
 
missmolly
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05/31/2020 03:38PM  
I've paddled the lower Mississippi twice and the upper river once (The Ohio River is the demarcation line.). The Ohio River provides 39% of the river discharged into the Gulf, so that point where the two rivers meet is wide and roiling. It's more a collision than a merging.

It gets dicey again below Baton Rogue. That stretch of the river is called Cancer Alley because it literally gives people who work there cancer. It's industrial and has ocean-going vessels, as well as rows of barges cabled to both sides, considerably narrowing the river.

If you want to paddle it nowadays, there's a network of river angels, i.e. kind people along the river who help paddlers. My favorite stretch was between the Ohio River and Baton Rogue. It's a big, wide, wild river with islands that are miles long and have zero signs of people. That lower river scares people, unlike the upper river with its flotillas of weekend pleasure boaters, so you can channel your inner Huck Finn and enjoy the river by your lonesome.
 
inspector13
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06/01/2020 07:12AM  

It would be paddling the C-beams that glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate.

 
missmolly
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06/01/2020 07:48AM  
inspector13: "It would be paddling the C-beams that glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate."

If you do that, one day all memories of your moments will be lost in time like tears in rain.
 
inspector13
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06/01/2020 08:24AM  

I'm batty all right.

 
Jackfish
Moderator
  
06/01/2020 08:56AM  
There was a time when I was very interested in doing a canoe trip in northern Canada. The Thelon River was always one that had caught my eye, but there were others. I had even started planning the trip with a buddy of mine. One only needs to read books by Cliff Jacobson or Rob Kesselring to get the planning juices flowing. There are other rivers and places I'd like to paddle, but the Thelon always seemed to rise to the top for me.

On a smaller and more attainable scale, I'd simply like to do an extended trip in Quetico, Woodland Caribou and Wabikimi. Maybe 3-4 weeks in each park. I'm not sure that I would want to do that long of a trip solo like Mike Kinziger did in his book, Alone in a Canoe, but it would be fun to do with my son or one of my paddling buddies.
 
06/01/2020 10:04AM  
missmolly: "As much as I love wilderness, with all the money and time in the world, I'd do four great rivers of Europe: the Rhine, Danube, Elbe, and Seine. I love a long river journey and those four would total thousands of miles and dozens of countries. Oh, the things I'd see! With bottomless pockets, I'd travel in style, staying at inns and castles and enjoy the cuisines of all those different countries. It would take at least two summers, I'm guessing. No hurry with all the time in the world. "


I love this, and I love cruises. Something like this on a beautiful river cruise line would suit me to a "T". But that wouldn't be a paddling trip.

So, I think if I could be young again, I would have us finish the border route: we did all of it except for the "long portage" (Rose/Rove/Watap), and since we were young again I might even consider the Grand Portage? No, probably not. But my joints started giving out before we could finish Spartan1's big ambition of completing the border route all the way across the BWCA. I'd do that for him.
 
yellowcanoe
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06/01/2020 07:10PM  
Not a big fan of cruises but we did take one I loved to Glacier Bay National Park Alaska.

We were in the area for seven days on a small 50 guest ship and every day we did a whole day kayaking. I did not mind that the tandem kayaks were slow and pudgy.. Distance was not my concern. Noticing was and I got a slew of great pix and experience with grizzly bears, glaciers calving, icebergs and sea otters and whales.
The operator went belly up but if that were offered again as a senior I would go again
 
06/01/2020 09:26PM  
Yellowcanoe, that sounds a lot like our very first cruise, Cruise West in Alaska. Small ship, we went out on zodiacs and explored all sorts of places. Cruise West is no longer in business and I really wish we could book a trip like that again.

Our Iceland Cruise was almost that good, but unfortunately I was nursing a terrible knee that was a few weeks from replacement, and I didn't enjoy it as much.
 
KarlBAndersen1
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06/02/2020 06:27AM  
missmolly: "
inspector13: "It would be paddling the C-beams that glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate."

If you do that, one day all memories of your moments will be lost in time like tears in rain. "


Good one.
 
KarlBAndersen1
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06/02/2020 06:27AM  
The Yukon.
 
missmolly
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06/02/2020 07:14AM  
KarlBAndersen1: "
missmolly: "
inspector13: "It would be paddling the C-beams that glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate."

If you do that, one day all memories of your moments will be lost in time like tears in rain. "



Good one."


Glad you enjoyed it. As I wrote it, I imagined some folks reacting, "Say what?"
 
06/02/2020 10:01AM  
That would be me... I had to look it up.
 
06/02/2020 11:37AM  
Tannhauser Gate, i'm familiar with wagner, no gate that i can remember. as far as ultimate canoe trips repeating the route these guys did in virtually unexplored columbia and venezuela would top my list. journey to the far amazon . this trip took place in 1950. roraima has always been on my bucket list of exotic places to go. not sure that is possible anymore. this story of contact with remote amazonians and partaking in their sacred rituals is fascinating.
 
missmolly
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06/02/2020 12:12PM  
jwartman59: "Tannhauser Gate, i'm familiar with wagner, no gate that i can remember. as far as ultimate canoe trips repeating the route these guys did in virtually unexplored columbia and venezuela would top my list. journey to the far amazon . this trip took place in 1950. roraima has always been on my bucket list of exotic places to go. not sure that is possible anymore. this story of contact with remote amazonians and partaking in their sacred rituals is fascinating."


I would have like to have paddled the Amazon thirty years ago, but it's too dangerous today.
 
inspector13
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06/02/2020 12:32PM  
jwartman59: "Tannhauser Gate, i'm familiar with wagner, no gate that i can remember."

Yes, it is speculated that the screen play writer for Blade Runner was familiar with Wagner too.
 
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