110-Mile-Day

We can do anything for 25 miles… FOUR TIMES!

Sunday, September 14, 2025, we paddled for twenty four hours straight, covering roughly 110 miles. It's hard to get across how absolutely INSANE that distance is for an individual paddler in low-flow river conditions. Every mile paddled brought us closer to our fundraising goal of $10,000 for the fight against childhood hunger. Thank you to everyone who pledged to support our mile-match challenge. You can fulfill your pledge by donating below or by contacting us directly regarding other platforms.

Top Image: start of day, feeling grim determination and dread. Bottom Image: end of day, feeling grim determination and pride.

We started at river mile 850, and made it all the way to 740. Completing a 100-mile-day was a personal goal for us both. When we were preparing for the trip, we read about 50 books and blogs of past paddling groups. As best we could tell, very few individual paddlers had ever done a 100 mile day in any river condition. If we hadn’t hit 100 yesterday, we were prepared to try again further down the river. Luckily, we won’t have to!

Barge lights are absolutely blinding at this proximity.

Both having been in marching band, we conceptualized the day as though it were divided into game-day quarters.

In the first quarter of the day, we had a few run-ins with buoys and rock dikes we didn't notice in the dark. We were thoroughly confused and nauseated by the blinking lights and rolling waves set off by the barges.

You can see the stars just above the bridge. Despite the barges and industry, the night largely felt clear, still and peaceful.

Sunrise marked the start of the second quarter, during which we stopped for breakfast and regrouped. There were several points in which we lost track of the river’s direction. When we checked the map, it told us we could go left, right, or straight— and due to low water levels, 2 out of 3 options were in fact sandbars, not river.

River topography changes so much in 100 miles!

Lunch brought the start of the 3rd quarter and our first encounter with quicksand, in which Leah sank to her hips. Fortunately, she could pull herself out with her boat. The river alternated speeds and widths, at times zooming and others stagnant. We began to see steep cliffs in this section.

Memphis: like a lightbulb!

In the 4th quarter, wrists and elbows were starting to hurt, forcing us to pay attention to correcting our form. The glow of Memphis in the distance guided us through the home stretch. Our official start and endpoints are shown below, and a CSV file of all the waypoints is available upon request.

Phone batteries stayed surprisingly well charged throughout the day, though cell service really dropped off.

We ended the day camped just above Mud Island on the Arkansas side of the river. Today, we’ve made our way into town for resupply and rest. We’re never, ever doing this again!