Minnesota River Fastest Known Paddle: 2D, 15H, 5M

(this is also the 1st Tandem Male FKP)

Scott Duffus, age 67, Owatonna, MN & Scott Miller, age 48, Minneapolis, MN

May 9-12, 2024

316 miles

Supported

This is the overall FKP as well as the tandem male FKP.

Start: MN River Headwaters. 5:30pm, May 9th. (mile 317.6 on the DNR map)

Finish: Fort Snelling State Park Boat Ramp. 8:35am, May 12th. (mile 1.6 on the DNR map)

Support Captain: Mike “Moose” Dougherty

Boat: Wenonah Jensen II

Resources: MN DNR maps for the whole river; you can use them on your phone and see your location!

Trip Report from Scott Miller: What a beautiful river! We got lucky with the weather as it wasn’t too hot or too cold. The water levels were high and fast; coming down from major flooding levels they were generally around action stage or minor flood stage at all the gages.

At the beginning you can paddle in the actual river channel or in a straightened, dredged, man-made channel; the man-made channel is, generally, much easier to navigate and more free from debris. There are two large pools, the west and the east pool, that are, in some cases, faster to cross then taking the river channel. You can see in the screenshot from our GPS the route that we chose through the maze.

The section from Granite Falls through to Morton was especially beautiful, with some fun rapids and rocky outcrops and remote-feeling forests. We paddled until late the 2nd night before we took our first sleep break of just a few hours. When we woke up we paddle a windy, marshy section beneath spectacular northern lights. We took a second short sleep break the 3rd night, before finishing on a section of the river where the rising sun blinded us.