Prairie Seeds Academy Teacher Nearly Halfway on Mississippi River Canoe Trip Fundraiser

A Prairie Seeds Academy teacher is on an ambitious journey: paddling the Mississippi River in a canoe for 1,000 miles from the headwaters in Lake Itasca to Hannibal, Missouri.

CCX News caught up with Tyler Sassaman in Minneapolis, nearly 500 miles and three weeks after his start.

“This has definitely been a trip of a lifetime and I’m only halfway,” said Sassaman. “I’m really looking forward to the second half.”

Sassaman’s long journey is part of his effort to raise money for nature field trips for his students at Prairie Seeds Academy, a Hmong-focused but diverse charter school in Brooklyn Park. So far he has raised nearly $17,000.

The physical toll of the trip has been harder than he expected due to strong headwinds on the Mississippi.

“I’ve probably taken three rest days as a result of headwinds,” he said.

He also encountered one tornado warning, but no serious storms. There’s something else that took him by surprise, too.

“I’ve spent many seasons up in the Boundary Waters and have a lot of experience with mosquitoes, all terrible. But this summer, the water levels especially north of Grand Rapids, very low, and the mosquitoes are almost non-existent,” said Sassaman.

The trip started on June 19. CCX News caught up with him in early June before he left. He’s aiming to complete the trip in early August.

Sassaman said the best part of the trip so far is seeing the wildlife, from almost daily bald eagle sightings to a raft of river otters.

“They’re playful and fun and unusual,” said Sassaman of the river otters.

CCX News caught up with Tyler Sassaman before he began the second half of his canoe trip down the Mississippi River.

Sassaman came extra prepared having previously traveled to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

“At the leadup, I went over my gear list and I bought a lot of things that I thought I would really need, like a lantern, and ‘oh my gosh, nervous about this trip,’ so I kind of got everything that I could possibly use. And the first re-supply, my friend met me week one, and almost all that stuff went home in his car,” laughed Sassaman.

He added, “It’s harder than I thought it was going to be physically, but it’s not complicated. It’s possible to paddle the Mississippi and have a great time.”

Sassaman said the first half of the canoe trip had a lot of winding, twisting curves due to the Mississippi being much more narrow at the start. The second half is wider and a straight shoot to accommodate barge traffic with less wilderness and more currents, he said.

Brooklyn Park