A 1,200-Mile Canoe Expedition? Why Not!
15-minute read
In May 2025, four young American women—the Hudson Bay Girls—will embark on a 1,200-mile human-powered canoe journey from Lake Superior to Hudson Bay.
Following a historic fur trading route of the French Voyageurs, the four want to raise awareness for environmental stewardship and the wonder of the outdoors for other women and young people.
Olivia Bledsoe, Emma Brackett, Abby Cichocki and Helena Karlstrom will begin their expedition just shy of the Lake Superior shoreline with the 8.5-mile Grand Portage.
Abby, Olivia, Emma and Helena are the Hudson Bay Girls
They’ll take the Border Route across the northern edge of the Boundary Waters then make their way to Lake Winnipeg, the 11th largest lake in the world. Finally, the Hayes River will take them to historic York Factory on Hudson Bay.
We sat down with all four of these ambitious young women for a Zoom call recently. You’ll love hearing their story! Here’s our interview with the Hudson Bay Girls:
BENDING BRANCHES: What’s the main "why" behind your expedition?
OLIVIA: What inspired us initially was Hudson Bay Bound by Natalie Warren. I read that book in 2023 and thought, “I want to paddle to Hudson Bay.” Then Abby and I worked together and co-guided together a lot. So she heard all about it and decided she was very interested. Then we met Emma and Helena. So that’s what started this.
But we each have our own reasons for doing this amazing expedition. One of these is raising awareness about the issues of mining and how that would impact the Boundary Waters. Another is wanting to inspire females to do more paddlesports. All of us did Girl Scouts, and that was really fundamental in getting us into the outdoors.
And also this is a beautiful and historic route, which really encouraged us as well.
ABBY: I’ve been doing a lot of reading to prepare for this trip. The combination of Hudson Bay Bound and Canoeing with the Cree (by Eric Sevareid) was super impactful for me.
EMMA: I was inspired by Olivia and Abby, these two lovely people I met through work. I would like to help inspire younger girls to step up into this area—I think we all would. It’s a fairly male-dominated space, but getting more people out into the woods is something I like.
HELENA: When I hear a question like, “Why do this?” I think: Why not do this? We’re all extremely capable and extremely dedicated to doing this. So there are a million reasons, but I’m just excited to do it with them.
BRANCHES: Tell us about your canoeing background.
ABBY: Canoeing holds a very special place in all of our hearts. For me specifically, I got into canoeing at Northern Lakes Canoe Base, which is a Girl Scout base in Ely, Minnesota. That was a life-changing experience. My guides taught me that I was strong and capable and could do anything I put my mind to. That’s something I hold very close to my heart.
I went back to the Boundary Waters as a guide to give back to that canoeing community. Now through this trip, I want to continue with this wonderful activity and show other people how canoeing helped me. I want to give back to that community and inspire future generations.
EMMA: Canoeing is one of my favorite activities. I grew up canoeing. When I was really little, my brother and I would sit side-by-side on the bow seat and paddle together. I just adore the way you really get a feel for the water, especially when you travel in different places.
I grew up canoeing in Maine, so I was mostly on rivers. You get a feel for the water and that environment. Then when you go other places—like when I was guiding in the Boundary Waters—it’s a whole new thing. It’s super cool to connect with different areas of the earth.
Emma with her dog
HELENA: You can tell all of us have a deep history with canoeing. It’s changed all of our lives in some way. But I think canoeing is so special to us because, if I can speak for the group, we all see it as an art form, truly. It’s something where we can connect with each other. Especially being in a place where canoeing has such deep roots in the history of the area, it makes us feel connected to each other and connected to the landscape when we’re canoeing.
OLIVIA: I was never particularly outdoorsy until I did my first canoe trip with the Girl Scout program at Northern Lakes Canoe Base when I was 14 years old. And that was just a week-long Boundary Waters/Quetico trip.
I remember loving every minute of it. We brought Alumacraft canoes, I was getting to do portages—I thought it was the coolest thing ever. It showed me how strong I was, and I liked the feeling of being strong. I liked the feeling of being in the outdoors and pushing myself and working with a group. Getting to explore made me so eager to see what’s out there.
I think this will be my sixth year canoeing, and I’ve guided two seasons. Honestly, I just love it. It’s completely changed who I am as a person. I would not be the person I am today if I hadn’t been thrown into a canoe when I was 14.
BRANCHES: Tell us about some of the logistics of your upcoming trip.
EMMA: For the first section, we’ll be doing mostly 15-20 miles a day. Those are fairly dependent on how many portages there are, and what the obstacles are. As we get along and get a bit stronger—and once we get towards the Hayes River where we have the current going with us—we’ll have some good days going up to 30 miles.
ABBY: Our route is the Voyager Highway from Grand Portage up to Hudson Bay. One of the special things about it is that it combines quiet water and whitewater. So that’s influenced a lot of our gear choices and itinerary. When we say 15-20 miles a day dependent on portages, for example, the first day is going to be an 8-mile portage—the Grand Portage. Versus when we’re on the Hayes River or the Rainy River, those are going with us so we can expand that up a bit.
We will be in the realm of early to rise, early to get on the water so we can get to those campsites and make those miles because the day is what you make it.
OLIVIA: And I think the coolest thing about our route, too, is we’ll have so much variability. We’re going to have the Boundary Waters. We’re going to have smaller lakes and a bunch of portages, then hop on some rivers. Then we’re eventually going to get up to Lake Winnipeg, which will be three weeks of canoeing a massive lake.
We focused more on keeping our daily effort consistent instead of just keeping the miles consistent. We really had to break it down and look at, say, for these next three days, what does the terrain look like? How can we make a 30-mile river day look the same as a 10-mile Boundary Waters day?
Olivia on a recent trip to Antarctica
HELENA: Abby and Olivia have been the ones on the food planning. We plan to take a lot of dehydrated food with us that they and their parents are dehydrating right now, months before the trip because we’re trying to save as much money as possible. So it’s taking a lot of effort from the crew to make sure that’s planned out.
We’re going to have incremental resupplies throughout the trip. We’re able to do them a little more often towards the beginning—there are more accessible places throughout the Boundary Waters. But when we get to Lake Winnipeg and the Hayes River, they’ll have to be more spaced out, from three to four weeks, and at the end of the trip as well.
ABBY: We’re bringing two 4-person tents. On an expedition, you tend to bring a lot more stuff and you need a little bit more space. So a 4-person tent on a normal canoe trip might fit four people. On an expedition trip, you’re going to fit two people and their multitude of gear and other items.
We’ll be camping at onshore established campsites when they’re present. Once we get into Lake Winnipeg, those will be more sparse. We’ll just have to find an area—more like dispersed camping.
HELENA: I’d also like to add that something that’s special about this crew is we all come from a background of guiding and trip leading. So we like to be very organized and we like to know what we’re getting into. We’re also going to follow Leave No Trace principles and try to be the best stewards of our environment. We’ll leave the least amount of impact that we can.
Helena
BRANCHES: What are you most looking forward to on your trip?
OLIVIA: I’m really excited to finally do Grand Portage on the first day. I’ve been wanting to do it since I was 16 years old. I’m really excited for that and just paddling the border route of the Boundary Waters. That’s where my love of the outdoors started, so it seems perfect to start his amazing expedition there.
I’m a little bit excited and nervous at the chance of seeing a polar bear. We have a joke that we want to see one as we paddle up to York Factory, wave at it, take a photo, then go camp in the fenced-in campground!
EMMA: What I’m looking forward to most on this trip is that I love an early morning paddle. I love doing dawn paddles—on Lake Winnipeg, we will be doing a majority of dawn paddles just so we can get the miles in before the wind kicks up. I love watching the sunrise over the lakes. It’s one of the most beautiful sights to see.
I’m also super excited to get through those really hard days. The ones where it’s pouring rain and everyone’s miserable. Being able to say we did that, and having comradery and going forward despite it.
ABBY: I’m really excited to engage with the communities we meet along the way. We’ll be passing through a lot of cool areas with people of all different backgrounds. So to meet them and understand what the area means to those people is going to be very interesting.
Abby
HELENA: The thing I am looking forward to the most is getting to spend time with this crew of people. I haven’t gotten to spend an extended amount of time with them. I’m the newest to this crew and I love them already. There’s no other crew that I’d want to spend time out there doing this with.
Another thing I’m super excited about and looking forward to is starting our trip in the Boundary Waters. We all found ourselves as leaders, as women in the Boundary Waters. We all have a special connection to that place. I want to really ground myself in that and hear stories from the people we meet or just listen to the land and get it all in when I get the chance.
Wilderness areas like the Boundary Waters are rare to come by now, and the wilderness is a special place. There aren’t many times when you get to truly immerse yourself in areas like that.
BRANCHES: What do you see as your biggest challenges?
OLIVIA: For me, the area I anticipate being the toughest mentally will probably be Lake Winnipeg. It’s in that second third of the expedition. From studies of people who’ve done expeditions or lived in remote places for a while, they divide their time into thirds. The first third is new and exciting and the second third is where you tend to struggle the most. When will this end? And the last third is when you’re sad because it’s ending!
Pretty much everything we do will be weather-dependent. If we wake up at 3:00 am one morning and it’s clear, we’ll paddle. If the wind kicks up, we’ll have to get off the water. We’ll have to be flexible and work with each other through that.
EMMA: On a slightly different note, one of the challenges I anticipate is the first month of our trip—or even the first week. Getting used to being out there and figuring it out. All the ways we camp differently, everyone’s preferences. We’ll be spending a lot of time together. We’re all from different areas of the country so it’s hard to just spend a weekend camping. So I think that first bit, just figuring out the flow of everything, is going to be a bit challenging—but it’ll be fun.
HELENA: I like that you used the word “challenging.” We know things are going to be hard and push us. But we’re all badasses and we’re ready to take it on! We’ve done a lot of planning and we’re going to continue to do a lot of planning for the trip. We know there will be challenges, but we’re ready to push through them. We’re not dreading anything.
ABBY: I think they said it perfectly. We’re ready to take everything in our stride and adapt and overcome.
The girls will start at the southern-most marker next to Lake Superior, canoe through the BWCA to Lake Winnipeg and on to Hudson Bay
BRANCHES: Let’s talk about your gear a little bit. What canoes and paddles will you be using?
ABBY: We’re taking Northstar B17 canoes with their IXP laminate. These canoes are specifically made for long-distance canoe trips. And they’re especially well suited for trips that combine quiet water and whitewater.
The IXP laminate makes them more flexible. An aluminum canoe would get a gash if you hit a rock. These are more flexible and go around the rocks. They weigh about 65 pounds, which is perfect for portaging. And then we’re getting spray skirts for the canoes made by Cooke Custom Sewing.
It’s very important to use the correct paddle for this type of trip, especially one of this length. We’re all bringing two paddles in case, God forbid, something happens to one of them.
I’ll be taking the Bending Branches Cruiser Plus 11 as my quiet water paddle and the Explorer Plus as my whitewater paddle. Both have the Rockgard® edge protection, which is a must for an expedition paddle. It adds extra shock absorption. They also both have a palm grip, which I think is the most comfortable.
The quiet water paddle is a bent shaft and the whitewater is a straight shaft. A straight shaft allows for a little better maneuverability in the rapids and you can use it from either side. The bent shaft is more efficient when you’re paddling in that flatwater.
OLIVIA: I was gifted a Bending Branches Beavertail paddle last summer, so I plan to bring that one. And then I also plan to bring an Explorer Plus, because I do prefer the clamshell (or Palm) grip over the T-grip.
EMMA: I haven’t fully decided which bent shaft paddle I’m going to get from your collection. I do prefer the palm grip. And then my other paddle is not Bending Branches—it’s one my dad made for me. I’ll be bringing that as well.
HELENA: I have never canoed with my own paddle, so I’ll be getting my first ever paddle, which will be Bending Branches. I’ll look to the rest of the crew for their guidance on what paddles will work for me.
BRANCHES: What else do you want our readers to know?
OLIVIA: As we’ve touched on, one of our goals for this trip is to encourage more youth and female participation in paddlesports. We want to show people who look at canoeing and don’t think it looks fun that it actually is. It’s pretty amazing.
We’re also partnering with Save the Boundary Waters, paddling with them to raise awareness about the threat of mining in the Boundary Waters. We want to help advocate for permanent protection for the BWCA because it’s such a special place to us.
ABBY: Just to reiterate, the main message we hope to share—in addition to advocating for a permanent mining ban—is to inspire future generations of female paddlers to embrace the wilderness and engage in all the amazing opportunities the earth has given us. Opportunities like this are super important for that. And we’re committed to making a difference in the culture of paddlesports.
EMMA: If anyone wants to follow along, we’re at Hudson Bay Girls on Instagram and Facebook. We also have our website, HudsonBayGirls.com.
HELENA: The last thing I’ll say is we’re fiercely determined to achieve our goals: to change the culture of paddlesports and advocate for a permanent mining ban in the Boundary Waters. And just have some personal growth for ourselves and maybe gather some new perspectives when we’re out there on the water.
We would love for anyone to follow along and give us support. We have a GoFundMe link on all of our pages. A lot of the reason why we can actually do this trip is because of the support of our partners, sponsors and people who are also inspired by our goal. We’re going to take those people with us when we go out on the trip.
Would you like to help support the Hudson Bay Girls with their funding or supplies? Learn more on their Support page.
(All photos courtesy of Hudson Bay Girls)
How can our friendly Customer Service team help you choose your next paddle? Contact us at 715-755-3405 or [email protected]
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