Help us set a Guinness World Record!

(Judd paddling stern on a training trip)

My name is Scott Miller and I have a dream to set the Guinness World Record for fastest canoe trip down the 2,300 mile Mississippi River.

I have recruited some of the best paddlers in the world to help me reach my goal and create a team of four with one back-up paddler: Joe Mann, Paul Cox, Wally Werderich and Judson Steinback.

We plan to launch at the Mississippi headwaters on May 3, 4 or 5th (whichever day has the best forecast) and hope to beat the current record which is 17 days, 19 hours and 46 minutes. We will paddle 24 hours a day with only short stops to restock on food and water; we take turns sleeping under a canopy in the middle of our 23 foot Wenonah canoe.

(Training trip Fall of ‘22)

We have an incredible group of volunteers serving as our support crew, both on shore and in two support boats. Our biggest expense is paying for the gas to fuel the boats and cars of our support crew, and food for everyone. We also need help to pay for things like GoPro cameras and real-time GPS trackers so we can share our adventure and real-time location with everyone.

In 2021, I attempted to set this record with a different team of talented paddlers. We had a seven hour lead over world record pace when we reached Louisiana, but a few days of storms and high winds slowed us down. The waves got so big near New Orleans the canoe sank out from under us and we had to be rescued by our safety boat. We were so close! Now I am excited to try again.

We are partnering with 1Mississippi.org to encourage people to go their website and sign-up to become River Citizens. It’s free! You will get an email a few times a year with tons of Mississippi River news, including things you can do to help protect the river.

(Training trip Spring of ‘22)

We have been able to raise some money thanks to our wonderful sponsors 1Mississippi.org, Muhlenkamp investment services, Dahl Automotive and individual donors. Our hope is that this GoFundMe can help us get the remaining amount to meet our budget.

In 2021, I realized that through our pictures and videos on Facebook we were able to share our epic adventure with tens of thousands of people. We were able to bring people into the magical world of the river, from the tiny creek in northern Minnesota, to the rapids in St. Cloud and St. Louis, to the massive lower river with it’s hiking barges, enormous vistas and breathtaking cloud formations and sunrises and sunsets. People were inspired to track how far ahead or behind record pace we were each day and watch our videos from the river. Hundreds of people also came to the river at all hours of the day to cheer us on, and every time we saw and heard their cheers it gave us strength to paddle faster!

You can follow along with our journey; the best place to follow us is at our Facebook page: https://m.facebook.com/100057355963876/

We also have a website: https://www.mississippispeedrecord.com

Thanks for following along and thanks for your support!

(Joe Mann on a training trip)

(Incredible group of volunteer support crew lead by Mike “Moose” Dougherty, gathered here before a training trip in Missouri in Oct 2022)

Our cover photo shows, from left to right, Support Crew Leader Mike “Moose” Dougherty, paddlers Judson, Scott, Paul and Wally and support crew member John Ackerman, on a training trip in the summer of 2022

heres a link to an Info video from previous attempt: https://youtu.be/3nRzsAHcm3k