Kayaking The Headwaters Of The Mississippi River

My first attempt at putting together a video-blog of our trip from Lake Itasca to Grand Rapids, MN. If you have paddled this stretch of the river or planning to in the future, please comment below and tell us about your experience or ask questions.
The voiceover changes throughout the video is due to me tying out different microphones to see which one works best. let me know which one you think sounds the best or are they all about the same? Thanks for watching!

29 Comments

  1. TOTFC 84 on December 21, 2020 at 9:15 pm

    Very nice video! I’m planning a trip June 1 from southwest Iowa all the way down to the gulf! Getting everything prepped now and making sure I have everything.

  2. Jaimie Jams Adventures on December 21, 2020 at 9:15 pm

    Thanks for sharing! Did you guys encounter a lot of rapids along this stretch?

  3. Isabella Kotwica on December 21, 2020 at 9:18 pm

    How long does it take to go source to sea

  4. AbbyLuvsPerry on December 21, 2020 at 9:24 pm

    Wow! That looked absolutely amazing. I can’t even imagine how awesome that had to be. Absolutely breathtaking.

  5. Zerk Daddy on December 21, 2020 at 9:25 pm

    I guess to anyone not from minnesota all of this might look cool and wild but it really isnt’t. If you want to see true wilderness go all the way north past Duluth. That is wild.

  6. wkdravenna on December 21, 2020 at 9:25 pm

    I am sorry you didn’t make it to the end of the river.

  7. TheGreatNorth on December 21, 2020 at 9:26 pm

    what are the kayaks that you are using?

  8. james buckley on December 21, 2020 at 9:26 pm

    Enjoyed the video. Shoving off on a source 2 sea June 25.

  9. Hammahamma on December 21, 2020 at 9:34 pm

    Great vid. When did you depart Itaska, what seaward kayak did you use and did you have issues at the headwaters with it’s size and what kind of stove did you pack????Fun watch, glad your trip exceeding your expectations. Way cool.

  10. Ethan Doutney on December 21, 2020 at 9:38 pm

    Hey nice video! I’m planning on canoeing the entire river next summer. Is it relatively easy to find your way down stream in these parts or should i refer to some kind of map?

  11. Joshua DeYoung on December 21, 2020 at 9:38 pm

    the third mic

  12. Tin Man Adventures on December 21, 2020 at 9:39 pm

    Nice video, I’m thinking about doing the trip this spring/summer. No set date yet, but considering mid May to June 1 for a start date.

  13. CalRaise on December 21, 2020 at 9:40 pm

    I just watched a slideshow and loved it.

  14. Lynelle Thompson on December 21, 2020 at 9:41 pm

    Beautiful scenery!! Thank you for sharing!!

  15. Curt Killingsworth on December 21, 2020 at 9:41 pm

    Great narration. It’s if I were there with you. At the end, I wished you had paddled to the Gulf! What a trip you seemed to have had!

  16. David Hunt on December 21, 2020 at 9:43 pm

    Thanks for sharing. I am considering make a trip down the Mississippi. I have always wanted to do something that most people never would even think about. Being that I am almost 59, I wish I would have thought about it 10 years ago. I have the time, but after getting conditioned for taking this task on, I will still need to find someone to take the journey with me. It may already be foolish to even think of doing this, but would be a complete fool to do it alone after watching several vids of pe

  17. Rin Tintin on December 21, 2020 at 9:44 pm

    Great vid. I’m planning on doing it this June. Going to skip the lakes cause I’m going solo in my Grumman. If my back and shoulder hold up, I’d like to make it to the cities. I got a month off so I’m taking my sweet, sweet time!

  18. ArcolaBridge on December 21, 2020 at 9:49 pm

    Wow I wanna do this so bad I wanna cry. But all I do is work 70-80 hours per week.

  19. LouB on December 21, 2020 at 9:51 pm

    Memories you can all carry for the rest of your lives.
    Even the bad will be something to smile about in the future.

  20. P D on December 21, 2020 at 9:52 pm

    Nice Video. Too bad the narration was recorded at the bottom of the river in a tin can.

  21. John Ziemba on December 21, 2020 at 9:52 pm

    Ah, this brought back a lot of memories. Our group canoed down the MIssissippi in 1983 (no Youtube, digitial cameras, GPS, cell phones, etc back then), and wonderfully, it looks like not much in this area has changed!

    I wondered whether tightening regulations would even allow such a trip these days–it’s great that you could do it. Thanks for sharing!

  22. MAINEiac in a KAYAK on December 21, 2020 at 9:53 pm

    I don’t usually watch slide shows, but you got me hooked before I could click out. lol Nicely done sir and thanks for the C-Tug info.

    And yes, "Want to see my wife" is always the best bet.

    Subbed

  23. Tray Cardwell on December 21, 2020 at 9:56 pm

    hi alex

  24. Tom Jablonski on December 21, 2020 at 9:58 pm

    Nice film.  

  25. escape with jay on December 21, 2020 at 10:01 pm

    doing the whole river solo this june, 2019 and filming as much of the trip as i can. where those fiberglass kayaks?

  26. Michael James Stone on December 21, 2020 at 10:02 pm

    GOOD JOB! I am planning a Source to Sea for May 5th so I enjoyed your video. Reading and watching all the books and video’s is great because each has a "nugget" to add to my planning. Most general things are of course the same, but taking a "smaller" inflatable kayak is a little different than the awesome sea kayaks you used. (Yes inflatable kayaks have already been done in two sea eagle explorer series. Me? I have some "odd" modifications I have made and using a knock out inflatable and a Sea Eagle 370 as my "tow" I’m using some skill sets from Alaska and a long slow go to do the ole Miss.

  27. Aim Haborym on December 21, 2020 at 10:02 pm

    half to save this video, be a really awesome kayaking trip

  28. iceman652 on December 21, 2020 at 10:04 pm

    Great stuff. Glad you and your boys had a good trip.

  29. wade61265 on December 21, 2020 at 10:04 pm

    Really cool

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