Bob CollinsThe down side of taking a vacation this year is I lost track of two area women — St. Olaf seniors — who were trying to become the first women in history to paddle a canoe from the Twin Cities to Hudson Bay in Canada.
I left town right when it was getting good because for 18 days this month, Ann Raiho and Natalie Warren were stuck on Lake Winnipeg by high winds and it seemed questionable whether they’d realize their dream.
They did.
It happened last Thursday, they posted on their blog over the weekend:
After paddling 200 km in two days, we arrived at York Factory at around 4pm on August 25th. There was a young polar bear frequenting the estate, so we slept inside after branding our paddles and eating sausages. Yesterday we flew out in the afternoon with Teagan and Jason the York Factory caretakers. Good thing we got there when we did because after September 4th everyone will leave for the winter. Now, we are in Gillam, Manitoba waiting for the train which will take us to Winnipeg where we will be picked up by our friends, Megan McClanahan and Austin Danicic.
The end of the Hayes was a magical experience, and we will make sure to give you all the play by play with lots of pictures and video when we get back to the states. Thanks for all of your support!! We are so happy that we accomplished our goal and can’t wait to tell everyone all about our adventures!!!!!
That’s 2,250 miles of paddling and if it were easy, someone would’ve done it before 2011.
(Video: From Nick Coleman shows the women leaving Fort Snelling on June 2nd.)
