Fri, Jul 04 2008
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Published May 04, 2008 12:40 am - A pair of teens from Chaska are trying to duplicate the trip descibed by Eric Sevareid in "Canoeing with the Cree" ’ up the Minnesota and down the Red River to Hudson Bay. Track canoeists on their trip Minnesota River's heavy flow makes it tough By Shane Frederick Free Press Staff Writer ST PETER — Click here to follow canoeists progress daily
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, meanÂwhile, have trudged along a swift, swollen river — going against the current, which they will do until they reach the South Dakota borÂder. “It’s pretty bad,” Bloomfield said. “It’s like running up an escalaÂtor that’s running down.” Said Witte: “If you’re not husÂtling, 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 18Âyear- olds shoved off for their 2,250-mile excursion Monday morning in Chaska. “ We never planned on somebody ever getÂting 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, ultiÂmately, to polar bear country and York Factory on the southÂwestern shore of Hudson Bay. 
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