Canoeing the 6,000-mile Great Loop: man could paddle past Paducah next year

Peter Frank has paddled from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in June to the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland this month in his canoe, but he’s still got a long way to go.

The 23-year-old is about a quarter of the way on his planned journey of roughly 6,000 miles to complete the Great Loop route. The continuous watercourse includes part of the Atlantic and Gulf intracoastal waterways, the Great Lakes and inland U.S. rivers.

He estimates it will take roughly 17 months to finish the loop. He’ll need to complete it by next November, he says, due to a natural deadline set by the freezing of the Great Lakes he’ll need to cross. That would put him on a timeline to paddle up the Mississippi River by late next summer, or he could come up the Tennessee River waterway to Paducah, then into the Ohio River toward Cairo.

For Frank, the voyage is a way to express his gratitude for still being alive and having the ability to take on the physical challenge, almost a decade after a car accident left him with 14 broken bones and nearly paralyzed. He had been hiding in a pile of leaves to surprise a friend when a carful of teens drove through the pile without knowing he was there.

Clad in a rabbit-fur hat and clothes he made himself to resemble a pirate, he generally paddles between six and 10 hours a day. Many nights, he sleeps in a tent by the water. However, he often gets invitations from readers of his blog to stay in their homes.

Everything he owns is in his canoe. To keep warm, he’s picked up a 1970s vintage heavy down coat, an ultra-light Patagonia jacket he found in a thrift store, 1950s German military cold weather mittens, a set of warm thermals, and several wool socks. 

He carries 10 portable power banks, plus cords and outlet plugs. He says his electronics bag alone, holding only batteries and cords, weighs almost 25 pounds.

“I find that 10 is a good amount and will keep me charged on GPS, radio, cameras and phone battery through any predicament,” he says. “I also carry a solar panel as a backup and can charge almost anything I need.”

The Eagle Scout dehydrated game meat and ground beef in an oven and vacuum-sealed it for the long trek.

Frank has made long-distance trips by bicycle, unicycle and canoes before. He’s already explored Florida by canoe, which took him about 11 months, ending in May 2023. 

The Great Loop is his most challenging trip yet. While the journey is a bucket-list route for avid boaters, it’s rarely done muscling a canoe. Frank also travels clockwise, which is the harder route because he’s paddling against the current on inland rivers for more than 25% of the trip.

Frank launched his trip on June 27 in Escanaba, Michigan, where he’s from. He paddled into Canada and crossed Lake Ontario, where he camped on islands. On his way south, he went through New York City, floating by the Statue of Liberty.

While he’s given some long study to the Great Loop route, not everything has been perfectly mapped out for the canoeist. He says he’s had to do some wayfinding on his own.

He says he doesn’t need much money to keep on flowing.

“Contrary to what most people think, it doesn’t cost a tremendous amount to travel, especially when you eliminate plane tickets, gas, assets and accommodations like hotels and restaurants,” he says.

He’s never had a lot of money, and he’s done previous expeditions with less than $1,000.

“Is this comfortable or practical? Absolutely not, but through the struggles of following my dreams with little to nothing, I’ve developed the capacity to enjoy less, and as a result, I live well with little,” he says.



(AP Photo Brian Witte)