1woman3greatrivers – loveyourbigmuddy expeditions

Going Blog Solo and Retiring my 1Woman3GreatRivers Blogsite. You can now find me here, and only here (well, and FB).

April 28, 2019April 30, 2019 by loveyourbigmuddy expedition, posted in Uncategorized

Expect the unexpected. Changes come in all sizes and shapes. Our lives are dynamic, and so are our blogs…Since I imported all my content from 1Woman3GreatRivers last weekend, my blog appearance got knocked out of whack. Turns out this theme has been discontinued. I appreciate your patience while I play around with new themes and take on new changes.

A lot of chapters have opened up in my life since completing the three Great Rivers Expeditions. I’ve been teaching 7th grade Science, changing school districts, guiding on the Mississippi, participating in river cleanups, visiting friends and family in California, and suffering through four years of chronic back pain.

I’ve exported all of my posts from the other site, 1Woman3GreatRivers, back home to LoveYourBigMuddy. The last post I added on the other blog site was two years ago yesterday, April 27, 2017, when I left Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, for Atlin Lake and the Llewellyn Glacier, British Columbia, the Yukon River’s source. It was nearly impossible to post anything while on the Yukon because of its remoteness. Satellite posts were accomplished on my Expedition Facebook page, but I could not post photos unless I had WiFi, and that was a struggle to get access to as well. (You can visit that FB page and go to 2017, June through July, to follow that trip.) SO NOW, I am consolidating and going full-scale LoveYourBigMuddy blog again. It is hard enough maintaining one blog, but TWO? Impossible for me.

This summer I am going to start writing my book about the LoveYourBigMuddy Expedition. I’ll be recovering from back surgery beginning in two weeks, so the time is right. My brother, Jim Sullens, will help me with editing, and I’ve received a lot of good advice from author friends of mine. Also, sharing stories from the journey recently have made me realize that I HAVE A LOT of stories to tell. Then, there are the Mississippi AND the Yukon Rivers, too!

I’ll be in the river town of New Haven, MO, this weekend (May 4, 2019) for Miller Landing Days, a celebration of their historic culture and river history. I am listed as ‘story telling’ so that will be another avenue of review and preparation for writing. I’ll have t-shirts available to give away, or for a small donation.

I hope to share my progress on this LoveYourBigMuddy blog, hopefully getting it revved up again. I hope to post stories and photos to document further the adventure of it all. It may very well be that I have several chapters just on the first few days of the trip. I mean, a broken radiator, sleeping in our car at a truck stop in Wyoming after taking a wrong turn in a blizzard, a 6-hour ski into the source at the Continental Divide turned into 30 hours with no means for fire, food, or sleeping gear, day one on the water I nearly swamped my boat in a strainer and sprained my hand getting out of that mess, and the next day I ran into a shoreline snag on two different occasions, and popped TWO holes in my boat! SO MANY STORIES!

Welcome back to this LoveYourBigMuddy Expedition blog site. Please feel free to provide comments and ask questions. I will no longer be posting on 1Woman3GreatRivers, and will delete it soon. See You On The River!!!

The Third Great River Yukon

April 19, 2017 by loveyourbigmuddy expedition, posted in 1Woman3GreatRivers Project, Expedition

The tides ebb and flow, the rivers rise and fall; the constant fluctuations of life necessitate thoughtful discretion and purposeful direction. The Great River Yukon is there. I am ready (kinda). Though the challenges of life remain steady, the time to paddle the Yukon is now. I welcome you to come dance with me down this free-flowing journey we’ll call adventure.

Stay tuned. Departure May 24. Shouting out a huge thanks to David Lynch, whom I do not know, for recently donating $100 on my website, 1woman3greatrivers.com. Your support will help me overcome my biggest hurdle, finances. You have inspired me. Now, MY desire is to INSPIRE.

Yukon River solo source-to-sea: Llewellyn Glacier, Atlin Lake, BC, to Emmonak on the Bering Sea, AK.

LOTS to do…

My craft for the Yukon. Well, partly. Klepper T-9 foldable kayak, made in the 60s. Thank you, Bill Nedermann xo

Mississippi’s grand exit into the Gulf of Mexico 2016

A Quick Review of the First Couple of Weeks on the Mighty Mississippi

June 21, 2016 by loveyourbigmuddy expedition, posted in 1Woman3GreatRivers Project, Expedition, Uncategorized

The source of the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca, MN. A Great River’s humble beginnings.

The Mighty Mississippi starts as a small stream little more than half the width of my 17′ boat. May 25, 2016

First camp of many provided by Minnesota DNR (Dept. of Natural Resources). These camps usually came with picnic table, mowed grass, and a potty (some much more unique than others). This one even had a little half-cabin shelter! We didn’t see any more of those after the first couple of camps.

My good friend and paddling partner to the Twin Cities, Bill Nedderman, was a happy man when the DNR camp was situated next to the Grand Rapids library. He loves libraries!

The Mighty Mississippi, still small enough to throw a ball across.

Lake Winnibigoshish seemed huge to me (well, not comparing to the Missouri lakes). We skirted the north coast staying in the wind shadow, which took us all afternoon to get across.

Ethan Norton started at Lake Itasca at the same time we did. The three of us ended up paddling together until the Twin Cities. We all had lots of fun together. — Ethan Norton, fresh out of college and from Georgia, started at Lake Itasca at the same time we did. The three of us ended up paddling together until the Twin Cities. We all had lots of fun together.

Thanks to Eddyline Kayaks, I am able to paddle in the rain with minimal adverse impact. And, the barges should be able to spot me a little more easily. The ship captains down New Orleans area said in 2013 that I looked like a pelican on the river. Ha!

These critters were not so happy with their uninvited guests. However, they did take a liking to Bill (everyone loves Bill) and were somewhat disappointed when he climbed into his tent to go to bed. They left right away.

Sunrise camped on an island. So lovely to wake up to.

We're not so sure we can throw a ball across the river at this point. The Mississippi River gets mightier and mightier by the day. — We’re not so sure we can throw a ball across the river at this point. The Mississippi River gets mightier and mightier by the day.

I AM CURRENTLY IN ROCK ISLAND, QUAD CITIES, WITH A DEAR RIVER SISTER, JO MASON AND HER HUSBAND, JOE. I AM TRAVELING VERY QUICKLY DOWN THE RIVER AND CANNOT FIND THE TIME TO POST ON THIS BLOG. PLEASE FOLLOW MY FACEBOOK PAGE, LOVEYOURBIGMUDDY EXPEDITION, TO FOLLOW ME DOWN THE RIVER. I WILL POST MORE TO THE BLOG BUT IT MAY BE AWHILE. COOKIN’ WITH GAS TRYING TO GET TO GULF ON TIME. HAVING A BLAST!

This handsome couple didn’t seem to mind being photographed…

...until they decided they had had enough. All good! — …until they decided they had had enough. All good!

Please join me on my Facebook page. Hope you are able to do what you love, and love what you do! See you on the river! -Janet

Arriving at Sunset ramp in Rock Island, Monday, June 20. Nearly a month has gone by since starting on May 25, 2016. Wow, how time flies! — Arriving at Sunset ramp in Rock Island (Quad Cities), Monday, June 20. Nearly a month has gone by since starting on May 25, 2016. Wow, how time flies!

TO ALL OF MY LOVEYOURBIGMUDDY FOLLOWERS:

I have created a new blog site, 1Woman3Great Rivers Project @ 1woman3greatrivers.com, for my next adventure package. This new project will have me paddling from source to sea the three longest rivers on the continent: The Missouri River (done), The Mississippi River (2016), and The Yukon River (2017).

I am very excited about paddling these rivers and rigorous planning will begin soon. Actually, I’ve been working on it for several months. I do not want to lose you as followers, so please consider following my new blog site. I will try to arrange my new posts to copy over here, but I am still learning much about navigating between these two websites.

Here is a copy of my first and only post on my new site. Stay tuned for more to come.

Do what you love and love what you do!

Janet Moreland

1woman3greatrivers.com

They don’t call it the “Big Muddy” for nothing, that’s for sure. Haha!

The Great Missouri River is referred to as the Big Muddy. But, hey, so is the Great Mississippi River. As numerous paddlers of both rivers know quite well, these two rivers can be, indeed, quite muddy. While paddling down the Missouri River on my LoveYourBigMuddy Expedition in 2013, I have to admit the mud was abundant on the upper stretches, but silky soft and rather clean. I know, right?! “That’s impossible,” you say. I actually found that going barefoot in this mire of mud was the best way to go. Once in the boat my feet washed off easily, and off I went. That’s not to say that I wasn’t glad when the earth hardened up. Joy filled my soul with the simple pleasure of dirt, rocks and sand replacing the squishy brown muck.

In the Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument following a multi-day rain deluge

Ahhh, yes, the glorious sandy beaches of the lower Mississippi. Well, in 2013 they were glorious. 2015 was quite a different story with the river running flood stage all summer, and paddlers scrambling for dry land on which to sleep.

IMG_7470 copy — A Mississippi Blue Hole is great for a refreshing swim and/or careful bath. Blue Holes are created when the main river drops below the level of the sand bar, losing its connection with the pool. What a sand bar!!

I will be heading north to Lake Itasca, MN, the source of the Mississippi “Big Muddy” River, this May to begin a source-to-sea paddle of this other great river as part of my 1Woman3GreatRivers Project. My goal is to solo paddle the three longest rivers in North America. The Missouri River is the longest river on the continent at 2,540 miles, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), with the Mississippi coming in a close second at 2,320 miles (per Environmental Protection Agency-EPA). The third longest river is the Yukon River at 1,980 miles (per USGS), which I will attempt to paddle in 2017 from its source at Atlin Lake’s Llewellyn Glacier, to the Bering Sea. Yukon River means “Great River” in the Gwich’in language. “The Gwich’in are the northernmost Indian Nation living in fifteen small villages scattered across a vast area extending from northeast Alaska in the U.S. to the northern Yukon and Northwest Territories in Canada .” (http://ourarcticrefuge.org/about-the-gwichin/) More about the Gwich’in Nation, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and my 2017 Yukon Pursuit later.

I look forward to paddling the entire Mississippi River this trip so I can understand more about our nation’s historic and cultural monument, and to build upon that very magical and personal relationship we started in 2013. Here is a video snippet from LoveYourBigMuddy Expedition taken in early November on the Lower Mississippi. Love Your Big Mississippi 🙂

Now that I am teaching full time, my challenge is to complete my adventure in 60 days (70 days, perhaps, if we have no snow days), during my summer break. I am confident that my outcome will be successful and full of celebration, but my tempo will be vastly different from my Missouri River expedition, being challenged in strength, both physical and mental, and in endurance and stamina. Dictionary.com defines endurance as: “the ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions.”

I say, “Bring it on”!!!

I hope you will join me on this journey down our continent’s Great River to the Gulf.

Live slow ~ Paddle fast

Peace and Love, Janet

Know your river. Touch your river. Love your river.

LoveYourBigMuddy Expedition

My name is Janet Moreland. I am a Missouri River paddler from Columbia, MO, most often found at or near Cooper's Landing, Rivermile 170.

I graduated from the University of Missouri in December 2012 with a degree in Education, and am now certified to teach middle school social studies and/or science.

In December, 2013, I completed a 3,800-mile source-to-sea solo kayak expedition from the Missouri River source at Brower's Spring, Montana, to the Gulf of Mexico. On April 24, 2013, I skied into the source at 9,000 ft. in the Centennial Mountains, and arrived via South Pass at the Gulf of Mexico on December 5, 2013. My mission included elements of empowerment, education, and environmental stewardship.

In 2016 I successfully completed a solo kayak expedition from the Mississippi River source at Lake Itasca, MN, down to the Gulf of Mexico. And, in 2017 I solo journeyed the entire Yukon River from the Llewellyn Glacier on Atlin Lake, British Columbia, to the Bering Sea at Emmonak, AK.

It is believed that I am the first person ever to successfully solo kayak, from source to sea, the three longest rivers on the North American continent.

Status Updates

The journey is not over until the mission bears fruit:
Empowerment ~ Education ~ Environment

I reached the Gulf of Mexico on December 5, 2013.

Thanks to everyone for their heartfelt support. This was OUR expedition, and for that I am grateful.

Here is a synopsis:
I completed the challenging yet successful ski into
Brower’s Spring with Norm Miller on April 24-25.

I completed three days of incredible
bike riding 100 miles from Hell Roaring Canyon
To Clark Canyon Dam.

I paddled down the Beaverhead River from Clark Canyon Dam to Twin Bridges, where the river worked me hard and I suffered two holes in my boat and a sprained wrist by the second day.

From Twin Bridges, the Beaverhead River turns into the Jefferson River, which is deeper and wider, and one of the more beautiful stretches of this journey. This leg of the journey is neatly tucked under my belt.

I arrived in Three Forks, the headwaters of the Missouri River, on Saturday, May 11, approximately 300 miles downstream from the ultimate source, Brower’s Spring.

I spent the next four months paddling down the Missouri River, stopping at my home base, Cooper’s Landing, on September 16.

My birthday on September 28 marked my arrival in St. Charles, and I paddled through the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers the next day, September 29.

Proceeding down the Mississippi River, I arrived in Memphis, TN, on October 17. Here, I took an extended break of two weeks because of a speaking engagement I flew out to in Bend, OR, at the Conservation Lands Foundation ‘Friends Rendezvous.’

November 1 found me on my way again down the Mississippi River until December 5 when I reached the Gulf of Mexico.

Oh, what a trip it was!

Then, I couldn’t leave the upper Mississippi untouched, so I paddled the whole thing in 2016, Lake Itasca to the Gulf.

Might as well make it a Triple Crown, so I paddled the Yukon River, source to sea, Llewellyn Glacier, B.C., to Emmonak, AK, at the Bering Sea in 2017!

Do what you love and love what you do.

I now want to start writing my book about paddling the Missouri-Mississppi, LoveYourBigMuddy Expedition. Stay tuned.

Every day is a new adventure! Live fast ~ Paddle slow

Tag: 1woman3greatrivers

Going Blog Solo and Retiring my 1Woman3GreatRivers Blogsite. You can now find me here, and only here (well, and FB).

The Third Great River Yukon

A Quick Review of the First Couple of Weeks on the Mighty Mississippi

Can You Spin Plates AND Dance? -Planning an Expedition

Love Your River, for it is Truly Great

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