Ann Raiho - A 2,000-mile journey by paddle from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay

<div>Ann Raiho and Natalie Warren are childhood friends who in 2011 became the first women to paddle from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay following the 2,000-mile route made famous by Eric Sevareid in his 1935 classic Canoeing with the Cree. </div> <div> </div> <div>Natalie has gone on to write a book about this journey - Hudson Bay Bound - Two Women, One Dog, Two Thousand Miles to the Arctic. </div> <div> </div> <div>Today we hear the story from Ann’s perspective. </div> <div> </div> <div>Ann in her own words:</div> <div> </div> <div>I grew up outside of St. Paul, Minnesota. While I was in high school, I went to a canoeing camp in the summer called YMCA Camp Menogyn. Natalie and I met the summer of 2007 on a 50-day canoe trip in Nunavut, Canada. Then, by coincidence, we went to college together at St. Olaf College in southern Minnesota. </div> <div> </div> <div>I majored in mathematics with a minor in environmental studies. But, mostly I was interested in playing a lot of ultimate frisbee and worrying about climate change. Natalie and I were having trouble finding jobs after college. We decided that this would be the perfect time to go on a longer canoe trip. </div> <div> </div> <div>In the summer of 2011, we paddled 2,000 miles in 85 days to Hudson Bay. During the trip, we both had a lot of time to think about what we wanted to do next. I decided to pursue a career as an ecologist and after the trip got my master's in ecology from Colorado State followed by my Ph.D. in Biology from Notre Dame. </div> <div> </div> <div>My dissertation work focuses on connecting field-collected paleoecological data with predictive models. Currently, I am a postdoctoral researcher at Colorado State working for the National Park Service in Alaska. I use my skills in mathematics and statistics to understand nature's complexities. Specifically, I identify landscape types in Alaska that may be robust to accelerating climate changes. </div> <div> </div> <div>My early experiences with long-distance canoeing have given me the ability to persis