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ST. PETER — Sean Bloomfield said he’s practically memorized the book “Canoeing with the Cree,” which chronicles a pair of teenagers’ 1930 river ride from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay.

“I’ve read it over 20 times,” he said.

“ They used it for book reports when they were in seventh grade — and eighth grade, ninth grade, 10th grade ...” added Dan Witte, the father of Bloomfield’s paddling partner, Colton Witte.

But less than a week into Bloomfield’s and Witte’s attempt to replicate the adventures of “Cree” author Eric Sevareid and his friend Walter Port, the Chaska teens are finding out that the book is more inspiration than field guide.

For one thing, Sevareid and Port left home in June, during a drought. By the time they got to the bend in the Minnesota River at Mankato, the water was so low that there was more pushing, pulling than there was paddling.

Bloomfield and Witte, mean­while, have trudged along a swift, swollen river — going against the current, which they will do until they reach the South Dakota bor­der.

“It’s pretty bad,” Bloomfield said. “It’s like running up an escala­tor that’s running down.”

Said Witte: “If you’re not hus­tling, you don’t go anywhere.”

Add to that cold temperatures, heavy rains and a bout with the stomach flu that put Witte in St. Peter Hospital for a spell Thursday night, and the trip might not seem as glamorous as it did when the 18­year- olds shoved off for their 2,250-mile excursion Monday morning in Chaska.

“ We never planned on somebody ever get­ting sick,” Witte said during a rest day Friday.

Inspired by the book, of course, they’re pressing on.

To the Red River of the North, to Lake Winnipeg and, ulti­mately, to polar bear country and York Factory on the south­western shore of Hudson Bay.