Following their 2011 graduation from Minnesota’s St. Olaf College, Natalie Warren and Ann Raiho paddled the 2,000 miles from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay in Manitoba, Canada, becoming the first women to complete the trip. ... It’s no surprise that Warren and Raiho reach their destination, given their skill, their bond, and their determination. Nor is it unexpected that the trip had a profound effect on both women. At the end of the narrative, an engaging dialogue between the women allows Raiho a chance to share her perspective and establishes the trip as a watershed moment in their lives. The story of their impressive accomplishment, retold by Warren with affection, is an inspiration for young people everywhere to chart their own course.
Longtime friends set out to follow Sevareid and Walter Port's 2,000-mile canoeing route — the first women to complete the expedition .. along with confronting the many challenges of such an ambitious trip, Warren and Raiho also enjoyed many wonders — moose and polar bear sightings, Northern Lights, pearly pink sunrises, and the wild, free-flowing rivers of the north country. By summer's end, being on land began to feel strange to them. As Warren put it: 'The water was our true home.'
A budding writer and environmental scholar chronicles her historic canoeing adventure with her adventurous best friend ... the author offers a captivating mix of personal narrative, history lessons, environmentalism, and travelogue, not to mention healthy doses of friendly friction between friends. Warren also captures the tension between wide-eyed, naïve excitement and the realities involved in such a daunting expedition ... A friendly, educational quest story for readers of everyone from Rachel Carson to Edward Abbey.
