| The distance I travel each day will be very variable. I have 3,900 miles to travel, and I am trying to finish in three and a half months. That gives me roughly 110 days to travel 3,900 miles with an average day of 35.5 miles. I am planning on spending the majority of the time of my trip on the Missouri River. I know that I will have lower mileage days during the first week and a half as my body adjusts to daily paddling. As I become more accustomed to paddling for 12 hours a day, my mileage will increase. However, the current will still be moving slower, and I will have several large reservoirs to pass through: Fort Peck, Lake Sakakawea and Lake Oahe. I will lose all current in the reservoirs and will be at the mercy of the weather and the wind. I will be starting my trip in one of the wettest months of the year in Montana, and paddling in the rain will be necessary. I am planning on having to hole up if necessary for several days on the reservoirs when wind storms come in making paddling impossible. Once I get past the reservoirs, I am expecting my pace to pick up as I will have more current and will be fully integrated into life on the river.
Once the Missouri River meets the Mississippi River in St. Louis, the current will be moving along quite quickly. In some areas the river will be flowing at 7 mph. From talking with people who have kayaked this section before, 100-150 mile days are not uncommon. Provided that I am able to avoid any massive flooding or hurricanes, I am expecting to make excellent time on this section of the river.
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| Storms: Western storm patterns are notoriously fast moving and tend to be ferocious. Lightning and hail, particularly in the spring/early summer are common. Lighting represents my greatest threat, and I am planning on being close to the shore for the majority of my journey. I have an inherent fear of lightning having grown up mountaineering and rock climbing in Colorado. Lighting is a major killer of hikers each summer, and I have a very healthy respect for millions of volts and tens of thousands of amps. There are several smaller reservoirs that I will be crossing while on the Upper Missouri on my way to Great Falls, MT (Canyon Ferry Lake, Hauser Lake and Holter Lake). On these sections I will be especially vigilant about checking weather forecasts and looking at the sky for any signs of impeding storm formation. More information about lighting related injuries can be found in Dr. Auerbach's Wilderness Medicine Text.
I will be passing through Fort Peck Lake, Lake Sakakawea and Lake Oahe. In addition to thunder storms, I will have to worry about wind. Wind storms from 70-90 mph are not uncommon, and paddling just won't be an option. I will have to pitch my tent and batten down the hatches. What this will mean for me on these sections is that while the weather is good, I will be paddling as long as I can. I am anticipating on having several 36 hr days on the large reservoirs, just to make up time lost to wind storms. As I get further down the river, additional weather issues will come into play. Summertime is notorious for flooding on the Mississippi, and I am hoping that this upcoming summer will be less severe than several of the previous summers. If the Mississippi River floods, I will be stuck, and will have to wait until the water levels drop. The Mississippi already has numerous floating snags; floods will exacerbate this phenomenon. Hurricanes will also become an issue as I approach the Gulf. A kayak is no place to be when a big hurricane is approaching, and I will have the luxury of being in close radio contact as well as cell contact with friends and relatives who will be able to keep me informed about upcoming storm systems on the lower river. I will be using a NOAA CB weather radio for many of my weather updates. The NOAA (National Atmospheric and Oceanic Association) provides weather updates and severe weather warnings and I will be monitoring these news feeds as often as I can.
Mud Flats: At the entrance to the reservoirs, I am going to be greeted with deposits of silt that form deltas. In these areas, the main current line tends to spread out, and tracking the deepest channel will become more difficult. While I believe that in many instances I will be able to navigate successfully, I have printed out the highest resolution Google Map images of the delta sections to the lakes mentioned above. With this information, and my savvy river judgment, I feel that in most instances I will be able to navigate a successful passage. That being said, I am sure that I will get stuck in the mud at least once. My biggest threat in such a situation will be making sure that I am not stuck if a storm is coming in.
Snags: Snags, dead trees that float down the river, are a very real concern for me on all sections of my trip. These floating and fixed logs can entrap kayakers if one doesn't give them substantial berth. The water flows through the branches and the paddler is caught like spaghetti noodles in a sieve. This is a situation that I cannot afford to find myself in, and will be hyper attuned to potential entrapping downed trees and logs.
Animals: One of the benefits of paddling through Montana and North Dakota is the remoteness of much of the trip. I will be seeing much of the Northern plains as they were 100 years ago; Elk (Cervus canadensis), Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus), Pronghorn Antelope (Antilocapra americana), Coyote (Canis latrans), Black Bear (Ursus americanus) are plentiful in many areas. As far as bears are concerned, most nights I will not be hanging my food. Instead, I will be putting my food bag in my boat. I will then put my pans on top of the boat. While at first this may seem a little odd, this technique has worked for me many times before on previous paddling and climbing trips, and I find that the black bears tend to be pretty surprised and frightened particularly when I run out of my tent with a flashlight in my long underwear.
However, there are some other less savory players in the area that I will be needing to keep an eye out for. There is one species of Rattlesnake in the area that I will be paddling through on the Upper Missouri, the Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis). The Prairie Rattlesnake will be most worrisome at my campsites, as they tend to be a bit more of a terrestrial species. While there are very few reports of Prairie Rattlesnake envenomations, being bit by a rattlesnake in such an isolated environment would be very detrimental to my health. Rattlesnakes have very complex venom, and the effects of the venom can be deadly. More information about rattlesnake bites and treatments can be found here.
As I go further down the river, Copperheads (Agkistrodon contortrix) and Cottonmouths (Agkistrodon piscivorus) will become more prevalent. Copperheads are actually the most commonly encountered venomous snake in the eastern United States. These snakes tend to congregate a bit closer to the water so I am expecting to bump into a few more of them than with the rattlesnakes. Here are some images from Wikipedia of a prairie rattlesnake, a copperhead and a cottonmouth.
| |  |  |  | | | | Copperhead | Prairie Rattlesnake | Cottonmouth | |
One of the more unique dangers I will face on my trip will be Flying Asian Carp. These carp, originally from China, are an exotic fish known to fly out of the water. Able to catapult themselves up to 8ft in the air, and potentially weighing up to 100lbs, these are ichthyic missiles. Here is a great video detailing the progression of the Asian Carp up the Missouri and Mississippi river as well as the dangers of a large flying fish.
I am going to avoid getting hit with one of these bad boys.
Other Boats: The bottom line with other boats on the river is this; they are big, move much quicker than they seem, and take a very long time to stop. I will be giving all large boats, tugs and tankers a very large berth. When the current flows around the hulls of some of the large boats, whirlpools can form which have been known to suck down kayakers and drag them through the engine. When I am paddling at night I will have a strobe beacon attached to my life jacket to help increase my visibility for other boaters.
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