Father (Jonathan Koshar, 67) and Son (Theodore, 23) Paddle the Entire Mississippi. This is not a travelog or a technical article. There are lots of learned insights to the river, the states along the way, people, culture and learning about themselves.

SEATTLE, Sept. 16, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ --

Canoeing the Entire Mississippi River – Just Two Boys in a Boat

Well, that is an interesting idea

Three years ago, my son, Theodore, called from college. He said, "Now just hear me out, now just listen, what if…". These intros always led to something extreme. That's what he said when he was a teenager and he ended up on the Pacific Crest Trail by himself hiking from Mexico to Canada. So, he continues, "What if we paddle a canoe from Lake Itasca in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico?" For those who don't know – that's a source to sea of more than 2000 miles and the average length of the trip is 90 days. In a canoe. Also, for those who don't know – I'm in my 60s.

I got him to agree that it could be a graduation trip. I figured this would buy me time for him to forget about it, or to be too busy after graduating or if I was lucky, I would have some injury that would prevent me from going - you know not life or death but a bad shoulder would work.

As luck would have it (think sarcastic), 3 years down the road turned to 2 and the next thing I know we bought a canoe and no shoulder issues had materialized. So far.

Okay, I guess I'm in

We went all out, and for $250 bought a 1969 Grumman 17-foot aluminum canoe. These things are heavy but bullet proof. I don't want to get ahead of myself but we found every rock in Minnesota, the hard way, and our little canoe took it like it was an aircraft carrier surviving a sea battle.

Our "new" canoe wasn't pretty, but we loved the history of the family who had memories from when their dad was alive and they had their own adventures. That said, it was green and all beat up so we stripped it, primed it, painted it and put decals on it. The decals proudly said Carpe Diem II. My dad has also passed away recently and I'm sure you can add 2 and 2 but in case you struggle with the obvious, my dad's boat was named Carpe Diem. That hull was navy blue, so guess what color we painted this one? Just in case you aren't sure - blue.

Now, I thought, a $250 canoe is a nice graduation gift. I guess I didn't think of all that goes into it. Repainting the boat, life jackets, paddles, tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, stoves, seats, food, radio… the list goes on but like the old American Express ads go: time with your son - priceless. At least that is how I justified it. My son was great at finding just the right gear and finding good deals. Still, there are cheaper adventures. But this one snuck up on me.

We talked about preparing in other ways – taking a canoeing class or a navigation class or getting out and actually paddling a bit. But you get busy and time evaporates. Ah well, as my son said - we'll figure it out. Generally, this proved to be true but it wouldn't have hurt to learn a bit more first.

And so it begins

Before I knew it, graduation was over and we were driving to Lake Itasca, Minnesota. Suddenly, we are standing there by the headwaters of the Mighty Mississippi and my cousin Gail is christening the canoe, saying a prayer and wishing us well. And we're off. Yikes. Now just to calm everyone down, the Mighty Mississippi at this point is at most 20 feet wide and has almost no current. Here's the great thing about the first few weeks on the river. We grew, learned and improved with the river. Sure we (mostly me) were a bit sore the first couple of weeks but Advil with dinner like an appetizer and that passed. Skills improved in safer situations. Confidence grew from doing. By the time we got to Minneapolis we felt like pros. Naïve pros but still pros.

There were times on the trip when things got sketchy. Entering the purpose-built canal to bypass the Chain of Rocks area near St. Louis was supposed to be much safer. The canal was dead straight and no boulders determined to kill us. Of course, it isn't very wide and right when we entered the canal, we encountered 3 tugs pushing large quantities of barges – each single barge by itself dwarfs our tiny canoe. On the river, each barge is typically 95 feet long and 35 feet across, and that's just one. The tugs push somewhere between 20 and 50 of these barges. Just to remind you, our canoe was 17 feet long and at most 3 feet wide and there was only one canoe. Tugs and barges that day created lots of wake and waves from all directions and also, beside us our only retreat, fairly close, was nothing but rocks. We got through it but I didn't stop to take any pictures.

There was another time near Vicksburg, Mississippi where the wind was about 15 miles an hour and on our nose. When the wind is out of the south and the current for the most part out of the north, waves get created. On this day the waves were 3 to 4 feet tall. This wouldn't be a big deal but the side of the Carpe Diem II only clears the water by about 10 inches. Getting sideways to these waves could swamp or flip us. We went 2.4 miles and decided we needed to reevaluate the plan for day. We pulled ashore and found we were not in a good place to camp and continuing to Natchez, Mississippi wasn't an option. That would have been 6 to 10 hours of risk. We decided to paddle upstream back to where we started the day. It was very rough and even with the wind at our backs we spent 2 hours fighting the waves crossing the river at an angle and dealt with a lot of water coming in the boat. I guess we learned paddling upstream is harder. Who knew?

There were other hard times but we got through them all. I had to remind myself that even if the boat flipped we had really good life jackets and a GPS device from Garmin on my jacket with an SOS button. Worst case, somebody rescues us and this is a different story or maybe just we don't talk about it at all. Happily, we never flipped.

There were also the times that you would hope for. Camping with my son in some of the most beautiful places in the country (and I've seen a lot of our beautiful country) can't be properly described. The pictures don't do it justice because they can barely show the dramatic views and colorful sunsets. They can't show how it all makes you feel but I have my memories. So far.

Listen to others but paddle your own river

There are two main ways to paddle the Mississippi. One option is through New Orleans, Baton Rouge and eventually to the Gulf of Mexico. The alternative is to hang a right onto the Atchafalaya River. This river would have been the Mississippi River had the US Army Corps of Engineers not built dams to divert the river through New Orleans and Baton Rouge to save the economies of those two cities in 1963. The first route exposes you to ship traffic and is much riskier. The second route is shorter and much more about the natural beauty of Louisiana. We chose the second route and saw lots of gators with their eyes peeping just above the water and ancient trees with Spanish Moss hanging low but there are no big cities, ships with huge wakes and far fewer pleasure boats on this route. There is a debate on social media about which one is best. Most people who paddle the Mississippi take the Atchafalaya River route. There was one guy who insisted the only way to do it is through New Orleans and claimed that if you came to paddle the Mississippi you should paddle the Mississippi. He claimed that he was a purist. Great. Good for him. I wasn't a purist before I started this trip so nothing has changed. I loved the way we did it.

A paddle's splash apart for 87 days

Most important, surprisingly, getting to know my son and showing him a bit more of myself doesn't just happen. When he was young, we would have great conversations - when we were alone together without the normal electronic distractions. As he got older, he got busier and the conversations got fewer and shorter. But being within a paddle's splash of each other for 3 months, eating every meal together, paddling for 8 to 10 hours a day, camping together or sharing a hotel room, the conversations were frequent, longer and deeper. I got to hear about his dreams and plans for the degree he had just earned. Some of it I knew. The depth and the level of detail wowed me. I heard about his views on politics and was impressed by how researched, open, fair and thoughtful he is. Not what I expected from a 23-year-old that studied Fish and Wildlife. Now I know about the research he has been doing and the ideas he has for future projects and potentially a business. I learned about the process of taking an idea for a research project from getting support, to approval, to funding, to implementation and documentation. Very similar to and different from my world. I wasn't getting this from our typical 7 minute phone calls when he was in college where we mostly conducted business and joked around. I did a bit of sharing too. He got to learn that I don't plan on ever really retiring and that it was the right time to sell the house and that I still care about his mother and that I want to do more adventures – with and without him. It's hard to not cover a lot of ground in a 17-foot canoe. We were the epitome of a captive audience for each other.

People are People

We met so many people and each could have been an ambassador for their city and state. They were chasing us down in the river and interested in what we were doing. I guess two guys in a canoe with a lot of gear doesn't look like a day paddle. They wanted to hear about our adventure but they couldn't be more proud when asked about theirs. Dean Grey in Burlington, Iowa knew we were coming to the marina where he was working and came running down the dock with two ice cold Gatorades and a huge smile on a steamy hot day. It was tough to choose between drinking it or just holding it to my forehead. That night we found ourselves as his guest at the Burlington Bees baseball game. Nothing like small-town minor-league baseball to feel like you have had a true local, authentic American experience.

When we were in St. Louis, Missouri, I needed a haircut, badly, and I went with the closest place according to Google. Drizzy's Studio. Really a fun time hanging out with Drizzy and his friend, Ronny. Great haircut considering what he had to work with and when it was time to pay he wouldn't give me a price. I'm guessing that he deals with people a lot cooler and likely richer than me but I made him take something.

In Natchez, we needed a taxi driver to restock and run around. This happened throughout the trip but Jerry Barnes is the epitome of southern hospitality. And he knew where the good food was. More than once. Frankie's on Main was much nicer than our attire but warm, wonderful and high end delicious. The Pig Out Inn had really great BBQ and really busy.

To state the obvious - people are people. Everywhere you go there are good people and a couple of knuckleheads. Doesn't matter what job, what town, what club, what gym, what city - what river - people are people. It doesn't matter what your politics are or what state you are in or what your religion is or your education level or wealth. If you can't find good people wherever your canoe comes ashore that says something about you. Not them.

The Cities and Towns

I don't know what you have read but main street is not dead. Well, depending on which town you are in. Clearly, if you are in places like Kimmswick, Missouri or Aitkin, Minnesota or Cape Girardeau, Missouri or Vicksburg, Mississippi, you don't see the negative. Vibrant, growing, energetic and beautiful. Great restaurants, things to see and do and people who love their town. Same thing with cities. They have areas that are really doing well and seem to have a great future. That said, not naming names but there are towns, and areas of cities, that aren't doing so well. The locals complain about it. What was interesting is all the reasons that we heard – blaming the government, blaming the economy, blaming the new highway, blaming themselves. It is apparent that local governments and people have a choice and can make things happen to improve and create a vibrant economy for themselves. Even now. Especially now. Voting wisely and being active with a positive attitude seems like the best strategy. It was great to see so many interesting places and meet so many great people. I am hopeful for all of them and I know they can and will do wonderful things.

Food v. FOOD

Tasting the huge variety of food in the ten states we visited was amazing. Guy Fieri, should get a red canoe, grab a son and hit the river. No wait, it is better if the son asks you to go. I admit that I thought we would be eating camp food a lot more. Modern day MRE's are pretty good and you can get them at Walmart and Walmarts are everywhere. My favorite was the chicken and dumplings. So, what happened? My son was our navigator and found us great places to camp or an Airbnb or a hotel. But even when we were camping he would offhandedly say in a sort of "who knew?" sorta way, "Hey there's a bar about a mile and half away that has a good burger. Let's walk." After a while, I stopped being surprised and started expecting he would find us a bar or restaurant and our camp food would have to wait. Darn.

Each state and area has their specialties. I enjoyed the variety of burgers. Everything from the Juicy Lucy to the local smash burger to the jalapeño and PB&J burger. We also definitely enjoyed a wide variety of BBQ. BB King's restaurant, in Memphis, Tennessee, had fantastic ribs and the music was great. The further south we got the more unique to the area was the cuisine. At one place, near Lafayette, Louisiana, that looked like a miscellaneous truck stop off the highway, there was a restaurant named, Chicken on the Bayou, where we enjoyed gator, catfish, boudin balls, hush puppies, crawfish, cracklin, jambalaya, gumbo. Glad we were getting plenty of exercise as an offset. Nabih, the owner, made sure we tried all of the tasty morsels that clearly are not health food but enjoyable nonetheless.

Yes, you can get these dishes elsewhere, but they seemed to be so much better in the local, family owned and operated places. We finished our paddling at Burns Point, Louisiana and as we were heading home we celebrated in New Orleans' French Quarter. We enjoyed great jazz music sitting in the front row at The Mahogany. Charbroiled oysters and crab cakes at Felix's. Beignets with powdered sugar at Café du Monde and best of all the original version of Bananas Foster at Brennan's. It's almost as good as mine (according to my son).

Never Too Old

So, my son's friends thought paddling the Mississippi was a really cool idea and that he was going to have a blast and have lots of great stories to tell. My friends thought I was crazy. They asked what my insurance was like and doubted if I could do it physically. There was some discussion regarding how much they would have to be paid to do something like this. To be honest, I had many of the same thoughts. Was I just a torn rotator cuff away from embarrassment. What I found out was that about 90% of that is in your head. You can try to train, you can do exercises that you think will help but there is no real way to train for anything that you have to do for 8 to 10 hours a day except by just doing it. There is also no training for the mental part. Just decide to do it and go. Here's the good news - if you focus on what's right in front of you and not the whole thing – you do just fine mentally. I was proud of how well my 67 year old body held up but more importantly I confirmed a positive attitude would get me through the most challenging times. There were times when I was worried, like would I be sore after the day we paddled 59.5 miles? Was heat exhaustion going to kill me? I just kept believing I could handle the next situation because I had handled the last situation. So, for my friends who worried – hah! One exception, my mother is allowed to worry. Parents worry about their children forever. I still worry about my son but I learned what I suspected but now saw it on this trip, he is quite capable. After this adventure, I will worry less. Maybe. I am a parent.

Focusing on the good memories

So, as with any adventure or time with family, we have a choice. My son and I decided that we would focus on the good memories. Already, I can't remember getting any mosquito bites or arguing with my son when we were exhausted. Neither of those things probably ever happened. I'm pretty sure I didn't have heat exhaustion coming into Hanibal and Memphis. And absolutely, there is no way that we met anyone that we didn't like.

I WILL always remember taking a picture with my son on Father's Day as the sun came up at 5:20 am. I will always remember camping in northern Minnesota, just us, in a fantastic campsite overlooking the river and the plains of grasses only interrupted by streams. I will always remember smoking a cigar and chugging a beer together when we finished at Burn's Point, Louisiana. Relieved, accomplished, proud and close to my son. I will always remember that my son invited me to go on this trip.

So, invite someone to go on an adventure. Meet good people they are everywhere. Eat good food that is not on your diet. Challenge yourself to do more than you think you can possibly do. Have really, really good conversations with someone you love. Take a picture or two… hundred. Smile. How can you not?

More photos available on request at jonathan@koshar.us 

Media Contact

Jonathan C Koshar, The Broad Reach Group, LLC, 1 4255334015, jonathan@koshar.us,  www.thebroadreachgroup.com 

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SOURCE Jonathan Koshar