Track canoeists on their trip

By Shane Frederick
Free Press Staff Writer

ST PETER May 08, 2008 05:15 pm

— 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, 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.
While Bloomfield and Witte are taking the same route as Sevareid and Port took nearly 80 years ago, they’re not neces­sarily doing it 1930s style.
With their canoe and gear back in St. Peter, the pair used some time off the water on Friday to go to River Hill Mall in Mankato to get some supplies they were miss­ing, including cell-phone chargers and warmer clothes.
They also have a global positioning system beacon that can let family and friends track them on a Web site and, if necessary, call for help.
“It will be more similar (to Sevareid’s trip) north of Winnipeg,” Bloomfield said.
Like Sevareid and Port, who were 17 and 19, respec­tively, on their excursion, Bloomfield and Witte are taking their trip post-gradu­ation. They finished their classes at Chaska High School after the third quar­ter in order to get an earlier start.
Bloomfield, who plans to attend Minnesota State University in the fall, said they hope to reach Hudson Bay in early July.
Despite the trip to the mall and a little assistance from Dan Witte — who calls himself the kids’ “road­ie” — they’re not skipping over any parts of the route.
They returned to St. Peter and, with Colton Witte feel­ing better, put their 18
1 ⁄ 2- foot Bell canoe back in the Minnesota Saturday morn­ing with hopes of reaching the north end of Mankato by the end of the day.
The friends are experi­enced paddlers. They have been regulars in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness with their families for about eight years. Last summer, they said, the two did a 12- day Voyageurs trip together, canoeing 400 miles along the U.S.-Canada border from Lake of the Woods to Lake Superior.
This trip, though, is five times longer and includes this stretch of the Minnesota River that only allows them to go about 2 mph.
They can’t wait until they get to the border when the water will start working with them.
“ You just gotta look down as opposed to the shore,” Bloomfield said. “Otherwise you get a little demoral­ized.”

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