Student paddles historic 80-day canoe expedition to the Arctic

It’s probably safe to say that Olivia Bledsoe just loves to go with the flow.

The junior spent nearly all her summer doing exactly that, as she and three other women went on a canoeing journey that encompassed nearly 1,300 miles. They paddled from the north shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota to Canada’s Hudson Bay with the goal of not just finishing, but also to bring awareness to proposed harmful mining operations near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, a million-acre wilderness area on the U.S.-Canada border, and to inspire women to participate in paddle sports.

They became the first publicly documented all-female crew ever to complete this route, finishing Aug. 13 after traveling 80 days throughout the remote wilderness of northern Minnesota and Canada.

All that canoeing and camping in various wilderness areas, dealing with flooded rivers, and navigating away from stretches with wildfires made for quite the oar-deal.

Bad pun aside, when Bledsoe and the others paddled into York Factory – a small historic site just up the Hayes River from the Hudson Bay – she felt a sense of relief.

“That moment, I was just like, ‘Wow, we’ve made it,’” Bledsoe said. “I think that was something I didn’t allow myself to think for most of the trip. I knew we would make it, but I never really let myself sit there and think like, ‘Oh yeah, we’ll be fine. We’ve got this.’

“And then I saw York Factory. We were going up to the dock, and that was when I was like, ‘Wow, we’ve done it.’”

Bledsoe, a Raleigh, North Carolina native pursuing a degree in wildlife conservation from the College of Natural Resources and Environment, became familiar with the northern Minnesota area six years ago, when her mother signed her and her sister up for a Girl Scouts summer camp through the Northern Lakes Canoe Base. She didn’t know what to expect, but she knew what she didn’t want to do.

“I was like, ‘I don’t really want to do crafts for a whole week,’” she said.

Instead, she and the other campers spent the week canoeing nearly 70 miles through the Boundary Waters and did not encounter another all-female crew throughout the week. The beauty of the area and the genuine wilderness experience has brought her back every summer since, and she has worked two seasons as a guide in the Boundary Waters for youth programs in the area.

In 2023, before her first guiding season in the Boundary Waters, Bledsoe read a book titled "Hudson Bay Bound" by Natalie Warren, who, along with Ann Raiho, paddled 2,000 miles from Minneapolis to the Hudson Bay. Warren detailed the 85-day journey, and that inspired Bledsoe, Emma Brackett, Abby Cichocki, and Helena Karlstrom to pursue a similar goal. They even connected with Warren to get insight on their lofty endeavor.

“When we did our trip, I didn’t know I would write a book about it, but when I did, and my book was out, my No. 1 goal was just to inspire young women to do adventures of any sort,” Warren said. “And this was the first most tangible example of, ‘Hey, we read your book, and we’re going to do a similar route.’ It was just this full circle moment for me. I was excited for them and really inspired that they just went for it.”

The group members had met through their various roles in the Girl Scouts and all had professional guiding experience. They first embarked on fundraising efforts, starting a GoFundMe page that raised more than $12,000. The money went to motorboat and train fees following the trip, purchasing and shipping goods, permits, fuel, and other gear. The group also applied for and won a grant that went toward the costs, and several businesses joined as sponsors, providing gear.

They plotted and planned, and on May 26, left Grand Portage, a small area on the northeastern tip of Minnesota. The first two days were brutal, as they carried their 115-pound packs and 65-pound canoes for 12 hours to cross the 8.5-mile long Grand Portage to get from Lake Superior to the Pigeon River. After this endeavor, they were greeted by a flooded Pigeon River that left them going against the current for another 12-hour upstream travel day.

“Day one, I think, was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Bledsoe said. “And I’ve run a marathon and an ultra-marathon before. We had to carry our canoes and our week-long food pack across the trail for 12 hours. … Nothing was easy, and nothing was light.”

The group members eventually settled into a routine and overcame all obstacles. They took extra precaution to avoid moose, wolves, and bears and carried four cans of bear spray to assist with any negative confrontations. They also took a shotgun that they only planned to use as a last resort in case of a polar bear encounter gone wrong.

They survived floods, storms, hot weather, mosquitoes, and low flows. They also survived each other, no small feat when differing personalities join during a rugged test.

“Giving up your identity as an individual is the hardest part of a trip like this,” Warren said. “You cannot make decisions for yourself alone. Every decision you make is as a group, and that requires a lot of compromise.

“You can’t just participate and follow along on a journey like this, but you also just can’t do whatever you want, and that was a foundational life lesson for me, figuring out more of who you are and how you operate in a democratic space like that.”

During their trip, they met people in various towns during their resupply stops who willingly offered them food and shelter and shuttled them wherever they wanted or needed to go. And throughout, they updated social media platforms during those stops, especially with cool photos on their Instagram account — one titled @hudsonbaygirls.

They continuously fed those interested in their trip and those in support of their cause. Then, on Aug. 13, they paddled for 17 hours to do the final 55 miles before finishing at York Factory.

“I think what I learned is that, no matter what, I’m going to push through, which sounds really cheesy,” Bledsoe said. “But I learned that I can get through a lot of long, hard days in the woods sometimes, and I’ll be fine."

Since returning from the Arctic, Bledsoe was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), which she developed eight months before the start of the expedition. She experienced a variety of symptoms, including vertigo, intense fatigue, blood pooling, lightheadedness, and periods of rapid heart rate throughout the expedition and worked carefully to prevent these symptoms from escalating into episodes of nearly passing out. Learning to manage her symptoms while in the backcountry was incredibly difficult, but completing the expedition despite these challenges has given Bledsoe a newfound confidence to pursue future outdoor endeavors.

Bledsoe eventually wants to work as a wildlife biologist, with hopes of researching polar bears or mountain lions. She also wants to work as an outdoor instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School.

But between now and then, more trips are in store. She already has a winter trip to the Everglades planned, one that involves canoeing the 99-mile Wilderness Waterway. A circumnavigation of Lake Superior in the next few years also remains on her radar.

For the time being, though, Bledsoe and her canoeing partners are relaxing and reflecting. They want to be sure to celebrate their accomplishment.

“I think we accomplished what we wanted to,” Bledsoe said. “We finished the route faster than we thought we would. We’ve able to work with Save the Boundary Waters and get the word out about the Girl Scout program. In terms of our big group goals, I think we met just about every single one of them.”