Rio Roosevelt Centennial Expedition Archives

Join as we paddle from the Boundary Waters to Washington DC

December 1, 2014 By Dave Freeman

We’re excited to paddle to Washington, D.C. to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, which established the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, America’s most popular wilderness area.

On September 3, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Wilderness Act, which set aside an initial 9.1 million acres of wildlands, including the one million acre Boundary Waters, for the use and benefit of the American people. Over the past 50 years, Congress has added over 100 million acres to this unique land preservation system.

We’re also paddling to protect the Boundary Waters – the proposed sulfide-ore mines in the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness would cause acid mine drainage, threatening the pristine waters of the BWCA with sulfuric acid and other contaminants, as well as the livelihood of the 18,000 people who work in the thriving recreation and tourism industry in Northern Minnesota.

We hope you will follow along through www.PaddletoDC.org .

Rio Roosevelt Expedition Complete

July 3, 2014 By Amy Freeman

Theodore Roosevelt sits in dugout canoe on the “River of Doubt”. Photo used with permission of Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

The expedition team has successfully completed the Rio Roosevelt Centennial Expedition. The Brazilian team members are all back home. Dave is on his way and will arrive back in Minnesota tomorrow. Paul is enjoying a few more days in Brazil with his wife, Susan. Thanks for following the adventure! You can find the press release about the completion of the expedition by clicking here. We will post more photos from the expedition here in the upcoming week.

Dave and Paul launching on the Rio Roosevelt where Roosevelt’s expedition team launched 100 years ago.

A red letter day

June 25, 2014 By Amy Freeman

April 15, 1914: “a red letter day” noted Theodore Roosevelt in his diary with jubilation. After being devastated by the death of 3 team members and wracked by illness, insects and intense hunger during their first 45 days on the River of Doubt, the team was immensely relieved to make their ‘first contact’ with the outside world by coming upon the primitive home of a Brazilian rubber tapper.

Today was our “red letter day” in that we experienced a “first contact” of a sort as well. (Although truth be told, most every day has been a ‘red-letter day’ for us. Compared to Roosevelt’s epic trek, ours has been a veritable cakewalk!) We’ve long been anxious about connecting with the Cinta Larga who control access to this region. A week ago, after much apprehension, we finally received tacit approval for entry into the reserve by phone message for from a tribal chief, but we had yet to meet any Cinta Larga.

Last evening, we arrived by canoe at a stout but aging wooden bridge with a beach nearby that beckoned us to camp. In a distant clearing on the far shore were the huts of a Cinta Larga village. After setting up our hammocks, our curiosity got the best of us so we slipped across the bridge to get a view of the settlement.

What a scene! The villagers were all gathered outside around a television watching the World Cup soccer games. Just then Brazil cinched a win over Cameroons and we listened as the Cinta Larga shouted with glee and shot off fireworks. Moments later excited Cinta Larga kids arrived at our beach to play soccer in the sand. Making the most of our ‘pigeon Portuguese’, we struck up a conservation with the woman who accompanied them. When she indicated she was a teacher, we asked if we could visit her school the next day. Yes, she said, but only if the village chief granted permission.

Kids playing soccer by our campsite

Later that evening, after we’d settled into our jungle hammocks for the night, a man stopped by in the dark. Very friendly, he expressed interest in our journey. We were amazed to learn he’d been the Cinta Larga team member of a 1989 Roosevelt Memorial Association expedition that had rafted down the river. Oita-mina is his name. He too said we could visit the village if we received the chief’s permission. Much to our delight, he said he’d return in the morning to escort us to the chief’s home.

Early today Oita-mina arrived with another Cinta Larga man, but they had disappointing news – the chief was away so we could not enter the village. They visited with us for a while (we even took them canoeing!), said goodbye and we prepared to pack up and paddle. But both of us then had a quick hunch that maybe we should hang tight awhile and see what might happen.

Sure enough, more villagers came by. First a group of hunters heading out into the jungle with bows and arrows. Then a group of Cinta Larga women and girls arrived who visited with us. One woman, the village nurse, was very accommodating of our limited Portuguese vocabulary so we told her as well that we had hoped to visit her village. No problem, she said. Although the chief was away, she said we could get permission from the assistant chief.

The community nurses help us find other Cinta Larga communities on our maps.

The women escorted us to the village where the vice-chief, a woman named Marcellina, very gratiously welcomed us. We enjoyed a great village tour: the tiny store, school and health clinic that serves the 300 villagers and we had a wonderful lunch with the nurse and her husband, a village teacher. Then we visited the home of Oita-mina, the Cinta Larga elder who’d stopped by our camp the night before. He dressed in the feathered Cinta Larga headdress and arm bands he wears for tribal dances and he gave each of us a wonderful gift: 5′-long arrows from his hunting quiver handmade with hardened bamboo points, taquara wood shaft and eagle feathers.

We were stunned by his kindness. We were also delighted to learn from him that the Cinta Larga are gathering for a huge tribal festival in 4 days at another village downstream from here. So now we’re on the water paddling again hoping to attend the festival. But that depends on permission from another tribal chief. Our ‘first contact’ with the Cinta Larga has been fantastic and we’re hopeful for other great connections ahead during our last week of this expedition.

Retracing Roosevelt’s journey

June 24, 2014 By Amy Freeman

By Jason Zabokrtsky

On February 27, 1914, President Roosevelt started down the River of Doubt into the unknown with a team of twenty-two Brazilians and Americans. These photos show his team at the river’s headwaters at the start of the epic expedition. Roosevelt is in the center of the photo wearing a pith helmet.

Dave and Paul have reached this historic area and are paddling the river’s headwaters.

Brazil’s legendary explorer, Colonel Rondon, discovered these mysterious headwaters while establishing a remote telegraph line. The telegraph line and rough bridge have long since disappeared into the rain forest.

As Roosevelt wrote in his diary, “we had seven canoes, all of them dugouts. One was small, one was cranky, and two were old, waterlogged, and leaky. The other three were good.”

Times have changed. Dave and Paul are paddling a technologically-advanced folding canoe that is relatively nimble in rapids. At a fraction of the weight of the hollowed-out tree trunk canoes, it may be conveniently portaged around rapids.

Photos used with permission of Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Back to the beginning: paddling the Rio Roosevelt from the actual starting point of the Roosevelt Rondon Scientific Expedition

June 20, 2014 By Amy Freeman

The last four days have been a whirlwind. We have traveled over 1,000 km by bus and car from one end of the Rio Roosevelt to the other. Luckily our Brazilian companions make the travel logistics look easy. They quickly talked a couple of half empty trucks into transporting our canoes down the Tran-Amazon “Highway” and then we all climbed on the first bus headed west. The bus, which we quickly nicknamed the magic bus was headed to the big city for some much needed repair. We ended up having the whole bus to ourselves and convinced the young driver to drive us an extra 200 km to Porto Velho for about $100. The only hitch was that the driver filled the bus floor to ceiling with crates of empty bottles for the final 200 km. He only left 8 seats at the front free for us and we had to cram the isle between our seats with all of our stuff.

The view from the bus.

We picked up our vehicles and canoe trailer in Porto Velho and spent a morning looking for historic photos and artifacts from the Roosevelt-Rondon Expedition. We found a small museum with a collection of photographs and documents from the expedition, but the curator of the collection was on vacation. Paul and I plan to return to the museum in about 10 days to see the collection.

Last night we were back in Pimenta Bueno at the Hotel Piritiba, where we stayed for several nights before starting our paddle. Luckily this time we have been granted permission by the Cinta Larga to paddle the upper section of the Rio Roosevelt. Our Brazilian teammates worked hard last night and again this morning to try and find someone who would drive us 100 km from Pimenta Bueno to the Baleiza Fazenda (Fazenda means farm in Portugese). In the end they drove us to the headwaters. It took us hours over rough roads to reach the water. After taking a few photos we said goodbye and they drove away, leaving Paul and me alone. It would have been very difficult for us to find a ride to this remote put in without their help. They have a 3,000 km drive to get back to their families. It was really generous of them to drive us all the way to the river.

Dave and Paul launching on the Rio Roosevelt where Roosevelt’s expedition team launched 100 years ago.

Like Roosevelt did one 100 years ago, we will camp here before beginning our descent. Looking downstream from this spot I can picture Roosevelt’s canoe disappearing around the first bend into the unknown. Tomorrow we will do the same. We plan to spend about a week paddling the first 130 km of the river to the main Cinta Larga village. Marcello, the Cinta Larga chief who gave us permission to paddle the river, lives in that village. We are really looking forward to meeting Marcello and other members of his community and learning more about the Cinta Larga. We will also be searching for some of Roosevelt’s campsites and documenting the rapids that gave the expedition team so much trouble at the beginning of their journey. Let the adventure continue!

The mouth of the Rio Roosevelt

June 16, 2014 By Dave Freeman

It turns out there is a little lodge at the mouth of the Rio roosevelt. After showers and cold beer I think we feel about as refreshed as Roosevelt did we he saw the rest of his original party camped here 100 years ago. It has been a pleasure following in Roosevelt’s footsteps. Paul and I still have 2 weeks in Brazil.

We plan to work our way back to the headwaters of the river. We are going to try to contact the Cinta Large again to gain access to the beginning of the river. We really want to meet the Cinta Larga and paddle the first part of the river. We look forward to sharing the rest of the adventure with you.

Descending the Rio Roosevelt’s last rapids

June 15, 2014 By Dave Freeman

The dull roar of powerful rapids have been a constant reminder of the power of the Rio Roosevelt over the past 3 days. We have been camping in the forest and spending more time walking forest trails rather than our normal rythm of paddling all day. We spent two days walking back and forth on forest trails scouting the river and walking to a farm 10 km from the beginning of the rapids to gain more information about the rapids.
We decided that the safest options was to portage our 5 canoes and mountain of equipment 3 km along good trails to the base of the first rapids. Paul and I spent 5 hours hauling 4 of the canoes and several packs to the beach below the rapids last night during the relative cool night air. We crashed in our hammocks for a few hours and then the whole group began portaging the rest of the supples at dawn. By 9:30 Eurico dropped the last pack on the beach and Hercilio prepared a big feast. Our next portage lay only a kilometer away and we needed to regain our strength.

The swift current quickly swept us to the next rapids. We snaked along the shore wading next to the canoes and using ropes to carefully maneuver the canoes past the surging rapids. Twice we have to unload the canoes and carry all of our equipment and canoes over the rocks. After several hours of hard, wet work we launched the canoes at the base of the rapids. Smaller rapids were scattered over the next 5 km. We wove through islands and plunged over ledges and through crashing waves. – After a long day we stopped on a small beach just above Sumauma, the largest of the rapids. Sumauma is our last major obstacle before we reach the mouth of the Rio Roosevelt. One hundred years ago Roosevelt’s crew spent a day and a half navigating this final stretch of rapids. With any luck we will also be past the last rapids by lunch time tomorrow and we will reach the mouth of the Rio Roosevelt tomorrow afternoon.

A long stretch of rapids

June 13, 2014 By Dave Freeman

Everyone is doing well. We have just begun a long, 15 km stretch of rapids. This involves a lot of portaging and some paddling. I’ll have a bigger update for you when we reach the end of the rapids– and the mouth of the Rio Roosevelt.

Going with the flow

June 11, 2014 By Dave Freeman

The Rio Roosevelt continues to offer plenty of surprises and the distance we travel each day seems to be tied as much to the people we meet through chance encounters. Yesterday we paddled 46 KM and camped 100 meters up a small river at a beautiful campsite in the jungle. Paul and I paddled up the little river for several miles. The river and surrounding forest was full of life.

We heard a large group of White Lipped Peckeries in the forest and krept into the jungle to look for them. Soon over 100 of these wild pigs with tusks began streaming past us. Occasionally one would look in our direction but if they were aware of our presence they remained undisturbed. Monkeys ran through the tree tops over our tents and in the middle of the night the loud crack of a large caiman’s tail slapping the water woke us with a start.

This morning Paul and I left our camp early and slowly floated down the river. We uploaded photos and text to the Wilderness Classroom. (Satellite reception is better in the middle of the river than under the dense canopy of the rainforest.) A dense fog blanketed the river, but soon the sun’s powerful rays won out and the heat of the day set in.

After a few hours of paddling we spotted our first farm in several days. We pulled over to ask about the large rapids ahead. We decided to cook a large fish that Jack caught this morning and we are resting on a large shaded porch a the edge of the river. It is a beautiful place and I suspect that we will spend the rest of the day here. On the river you have to go with the flow.

The Rio Roosevelt is filled with surprises

June 8, 2014 By Dave Freeman

After pulling off the river early to escape the heat of the day, we stopped at an old farmstead. Here we were greeted warmly by its sole inhabitant, Jose, and settled in for the day. When Jose commented that this old farmstead was the only one on this stretch of river, we checked our GPS. Much to our surprise, it confirmed that our latitude matched that of the farmstead where Rondon & Roosevelt had camped 100 years before. We had stumbled upon historic ground!

As we marveled at this discovery, Tonico heightened the intrigue by commenting that he’d noticed an old table tucked in the brush by the riverside with initials carved in it that matched those of Theodore Roosevelt’s son, Kermit, who accompanied him on the 1914 expedition. We raced down to check. Sure enough, “KR” was clearly etched in the tabletop. Adding to the fun was an ancient hand-carved canoe paddle we found partially buried in the riverbank near the table. Left behind by Roosevelt’s team? No, it turns out Tonico scratched the initials in the table as a good-natured prank.

The mysterious paddle and table with KR scratched in by Tonico.

To make up for the day we spent in the forest and to escape the heat we loaded our canoes at 10 pm on Friday night and spent 10 hours floating and paddling 55 km. At dawn we reached the Inferno Rapids and, like Roosevelt, we hired some locals from the remote fishing camp at the base of the rapids to help us around the 3 meter falls and smaller rapids just downstream.

We are camped at the base of a beautiful rapids about 3 miles below the Inferno Rapids. We are enjoying our first rest day since we started paddling 10 days ago. Shade trees are sprinkled around the beach, making it a perfect place to rest and recharge.

We have about 100 miles left to go before we reach the mouth of the Rio Roosevelt. Our last major obstacle is a 10-mile stretch of rapids 60 miles downstream. People have been telling us about the large rapids near the end for a long time. Soon we will experience them for ourselves. Roosevelt took 2 days to navigate the rapids. I hope we will be able to navigate them quickly as well. The Roosevelt has become a large and powerful river now. The Inferno Rapids was a real eye-opener. It is hard to comprehend that the water was 20 feet higher two months ago, but the dried aquatic plants on the rocks makes it clear how high the water routinely gets during the rainy season.

Dave stands below Inferno Rapids.