Four Minnesota paddlers will set off Tuesday from western Montana, traveling 2,341 miles to break a 46-year speed record on the Missouri River.
The fastest-known paddle record for a boat covering the entire length of the Missouri River is 33 days, 18 hours and 45 minutes. It was set on June 4, 1980, by two men named Verlen Kruger, 57, and Steve Landick, 27.
The attempt this year is being made by team captain Scott Miller, Lád’a Zednik, Scott Duffus and Curt Leitz. They are relying on a 18-person support crew to help them manage the around-the clock expedition.
Miller said the idea for this trip occurred more or less spontaneously after he led the fastest team to paddle the entire 2,300-mile length of the Mississippi River in May 2023.
He and a different set of paddlers set the record in 16 days, 20 hours and 16 minutes. The record was confirmed by Guinness World Records.
“I wasn’t necessarily looking for another adventure,” Miller said. “Our support boat leader lives near the Missouri River and considers it his home river.
"He suggested we do the Missouri River, and I knew just enough to know it was interesting enough and different from the Mississippi,” he added.
The river
While the Missouri River is about the same length as the Mississippi, Miller said they couldn’t be more different.
The dangers on the Mississippi tend to be commercial barge traffic in combination with a fast current, especially at night.
The opposite is true for the Missouri River. Barges are typically found in the last 1,000 miles as the river gets closer to St. Louis, and they are not usually as big as the ones on the Mississippi.
The Missouri also features hundreds of miles of water reservoirs to paddle through without a current to help push the boat downstream.
“Over 900 miles of water we have to paddle with no current helping us along,” Miller said.
The trip
The team plans to paddle almost nonstop, remaining on the water for up to 24 hours a day. Team members plan to take turns sleeping in the modified canoe while others continue to paddle.
“We try to go 24/7 when possible,” Miller said. “Even if two people are sleeping, it’s better to do so on the water and stay on track.”
In addition to the physical demands of the challenge, the paddlers expect to encounter bad weather, dangerous rapids, waves, lengthy sections in the wilderness and long portages to avoid dams in Montana. Miller estimates that the four paddlers will burn 7,000 to 8,000 calories a day.
If weather cooperates, the paddlers hope to reach mid-Missouri communities along the river such as Arrow Rock, Boonville, Rocheport and Cooper's Landing sometime between July 15 and 20.
The support crew
The support crew includes a rotating base camp staff, rover teams, support boat operators, social media personnel and a documentary film crew.
Miller said the support team relocates the base camp every 24 hours, while rover teams travel ahead and behind the paddlers delivering fresh clothing, food and water to support boats.
The expedition is being filmed by a documentary crew from Wilderness Mindset that filmed the Mississippi River expedition three years prior. Miller said the documentary crew has already created a trailer with footage from their training runs and hope to release a full documentary after the trip is complete.
The journey
For Miller, the journey is about more than just the record.
“Breaking the record is just the cherry on top of a sundae," he said. "It’s really an excuse to have an amazing experience. We really love paddling, and we really love rivers.”
The joy of the experience isn't beating a record, he said, but pursuing a journey through a classic American landscape, watching sunsets and sunrises from the boat and learning about the river firsthand.
“If we break the record that’s really cool," he said. "But if we don’t, we’ll still have an awesome experience.”