The route less paddled: Minnesotans canoe to Arctic Circle in 105 days

Zach Fritz and Taylor Rau are no strangers to long canoe trips. In fact, it’s how they met. The St. Cloud-area natives both took part in the Les Voyageurs Inc. program, which takes high schoolers on 30-45 day canoe expeditions.

They later came back to become guides for the program and together led trips through Manitoba, Ontario and the Northwest Territories.

In 2022, Fritz had a much grander adventure in mind: a nearly four month trip all the way to the Arctic Circle. But he knew he would need someone to do it with him. Rau was the first person that came to mind.

“At first I didn’t jump on board right away, but after a few days, it kind of slowly set in that this is the time to do it,” said Rau.

Fritz started mapping out the route using old maps that traced back paths of fur traders and early explorers. He carved out a route that went 2,700 miles starting at his family cabin in Big Falls. It went through dozens of historic and little-known waterways ended at the Chantrey Inlet on the Arctic Ocean. Fritz dubbed it “The Route Less Paddled.”

“A lot of the rivers that we were on see less than maybe a group a year. Sometimes they don’t see any paddlers for a decade or more,” Fritz explained.

The route included four stops for resupplying. Fritz and Rau spent more than a year buying groceries and preparing shelf-stable food to bring with and to be held for their resupply stops. Friends and family drove up to three of the resupply stops to drop off food throughout their trip.

The resupply stops also helped the duo mentally and physically take on the demanding route.

Rau said it would’ve been very easy at certain points to quit and paddle into a community.

“I think we did a good job of keeping each other motivated, and having those resupplies helped a lot as well, because we always kind of had these mini goals,” Rau said.

As for the physicality, Fritz said the route was more difficult than expected, and “lots of times the water was either dried up or we had a lot of portaging to do to get from one body of water to the next.”

Even with the challenges, there was plenty of gorgeous scenery and wildlife to take in.  

Rau said it was a fisherman’s dream.

“You’re lucky to bring it in with one cast without catching a fish. So, I mean, you can’t really beat that,” Rau said.

The landscape in the Arctic is what captured Fritz.

“I think a lot of people think of it as just this kind of plain, flat expanse, but it’s a very scenic rolling hills, some mountains in certain areas, and the waters are just crystal clear, free flowing, lots of good fishing, white water and a tremendous amount of wildlife as well.”

In the Arctic, they saw wolves, caribou and musk ox. They even saw a pack of wolves take down a caribou.

And even while wading in uncharted territory, the paddlers finished the trip expected to last 130 days in 105.

There isn’t another big trip like this planned for Rau and Fritz in the future. In fact it served as a transition point for both. After the trip Fritz moved to Madison, Wis., where his girlfriend is located. Rau has just started a new job.

But Fritz does still have an itch to keep exploring. “I certainly have ambitions to go back, especially a lot of the northern, remote rivers, and see the other parts of them that we weren’t able to see on this route.”

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.