It was around May 24 when Sam Gatton and Jesse Rider said goodbye to their families and clambered into the canoe in which they would spend the next two months. According to Gatton, the trip started with “humble beginnings, in a county ditch.” The ditch was close to Gatton’s house and would lead them into the Minnesota River. That was not, however, their end goal, they had their eyes set on a bigger prize.

“It all kind of started in 2013 when Jesse read ‘Canoeing with the Cree.’ Right after he finished the book, he gave it to me and when I finished… We kinda just knew,” Gatton said.

They knew they were about to embark on an adventure that would test their physical, mental and emotional limits, but even more importantly, it would inspire others. Their adventure would take them hundreds of miles, through Minnesota, into Canada, across Lake Winnipeg and finally to a small settlement called the York Factory on the shore of Hudson Bay.

“Jesse and I have been best friends since elementary school, we spent all our time together, and whenever we were together, we were outside,” Gatton explained. “We knew our senior year we wanted to go canoeing in the boundary waters,” and they did that and much more.

From day one it was a struggle for these two intrepid souls on the Minnesota River. They spent their days paddling upstream and their nights camping on the side of the river in a tent. On day ten they started what Gatton deemed to be the “hardest part,” which was their stretch on the Red River.

“It was so muddy, we were hot, and bored. That was a big mental wall to push through,” Gatton said. “There were some highlights though, Fargo was really cool, and the Powerhouse Lounge in Hallstead was awesome, the owners gave us free pizza, T-shirts and fifty dollars cash.”

They followed the Red River until day 21, when they crossed the Canadian border. “The Border patrol was super nice,” Gatton claims. “After that the story really changed,” says Gatton, “People started to recognise us, they’d offer us food, a place to stay and hot showers which was…. really nice.”

From there the twosome hit Lake Winnipeg. “From day one on the lake, we were both nervous, Lake Winnipeg is shallow, and it has these crazy swift storms,” Gatton shook his head, “It took us five days to cross the South Basin, and that’s the smaller of the two. We then met this lovely couple Edgar and Doreen, they were the kindest people. They told us there was a big storm coming. We rowed for 19 hours straight our last day on Winnipeg.” Then they hit the rivers Nelson, Echimamish and Hayes.

Days 45, 46 and 47, they were in true wilderness. They saw moose every day, along with tons of beavers, otters and one black bear. They were where they had set out to be, in nature, enjoying the pure unkempt beauty of Northern Manitoba, and their trip was coming to a close.

“The last day was by far the worst weather,” Gatton said, “The wind was in our face, it was raining and the tides,” He shook his head “We were still 55 miles out, we wanted to quit. But never give up,” he advised. “When we finally got close enough to see the York Factory flag, we screamed, we hugged each other.” Gatton grinned at the memory.      “We did it, we wanted to show people that adventure is out there, to be determined, every day was a new challenge, but we did it.”