This Dude Just Paddled His Canoe From Coast-To-Coast

If you’re gonna do something as insane – and amazing – as paddling 4,300 miles from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine, you’d be downright crazy *not* to swing through the Boundary Waters along the way.

On Friday, 24-year old Alexander Martin of Kensington, Conn., completed a cross-country journey across America. His trip took him down rivers, across some very long portages, and through the BWCAW in the frigid throes of November.

The entire trip was handled in 3 legs (beginning in April 2009) and held more adventures than we could ever hope to cover. But we’ve picked out the best parts just for you… read on!

Launching at Rainy Lake in late October and following the Voyageurs’ Highway, he paddled for 16 days, often amidst harsh weather.

Martin had already fought wintry conditions in Montana, ice continually forming on his paddle and canoe. But that wasn’t so bad, compared to one moment in the BW when he had to jump into a lake to save his canoe which had gone adrift when left unattended.

“It had been sleeting and snowing for a week so I knew if I got my clothes wet they would never dry. So I stripped naked and jumped in the lake and swam after my boat,”

Otherwise, his time spent in canoe country was actually quite blissful, as he describes on his blog:

“During this time, not a single other person was seen- in their place, in the place of the happy multitudes of summer, were lonely wolves howling at night, frequent snow, scarce birds and the encroaching ice of winter. How lucky I was- to cross the most traveled paddling destination in the world and have it all to myself.”

He finally navigated the Pigeon River and made the 9-mile carry to the fur post at Grand Portage. Bumming a ride to the bus station, he then rode home for Thanksgiving before later resuming his itinerary.

Alexander Martin was already an accomplished paddler before this experience, but it’s hard to say if he has broken any cross-country paddling records, simply because no such records have been comprehensively set. That’s okay though, Alex, according to our records at UpNorthica, you totally kill. What a fantastic trip!

Via FOTBWW. Photo: AP.