By Brittney Merlot of Fox 21 News - July 23, 2019

Stand up paddle boarding is the new craze on calm and sunny days but what about in bad weather and through river rapids?

In this week’s Great Outdoors Fox 21’s Brittney Merlot catches up with a true adventurer looking to be the first to complete a unique journey.

A local Duluthian who took to the water last month on a stand up paddle board, Jared Munch, is out to set a record and is almost to his destination!

Here’s how his month long wilderness journey out on the water has been going – An adventure of a lifetime…

“Paddling from Lake Superior to the Arctic Ocean became one goal of mine.” said Jared Munch, a trained whitewater stand up paddle boarder.

Munch left Duluth, Minnesota on June 17th, paddling on a stand up paddle board across the north shores of Lake Superior. Seeing the beauty of waterfalls rushing into the lake and even rescuing a deer and escorting her back safely to shore.

Sailors heard about his 920 mile voyage on a never attempted before trip and gave him a place to sleep and some tasty food for Munch to munch on near Grand Marais. A nice treat as Jared covers 30 to 50 miles a day, paddling through whatever mother nature throws at him.

“Especially in the spring, trying to find that weather of opportunity.” explained Munch.

His mission is to get to James Bay and be the first to ever reach the Arctic Ocean on a SUP.

He showed us from out in the water, “Where I’m trying to go is way over there. Here’s my map. Right now I’m about there, I’ve got to connect all these little dots. To get to around there. And then connect all these other little dots to get to someplace on this other page!”

It’s not easy… Battling his way through thick and heavy fog along the route, guided by just a compass in those situations.

Jared ended his 450 mile Lake Superior portion of the journey on July 7 and then continued into the mouth of the Michipicoten River in Canada.

“Excited to be out there, seeing the shoreline again and going down these new rapids I haven’t seen. And do something that I will remember for the rest of my life.” explained Munch.

When he got off of Lake Superior, there was 440 miles left of river to paddle, his father met him and resupplied him with dehydrated food.

“Take Lake Superior water, filter it, boil it, pour it into the pouch and let it hydrate, eat it. My difficulty is I need everything to be as light weight as possible. So I won’t be having a luxury dining experience on this journey.” said Munch.

Or a luxury paddle either… He’s been battling rapids upstream, standing! Sleeping on the shores too. “I’ve mapped out the entire route. I know of every relatively flat place to land along the shoreline, along with the river I know where the campgrounds are, or campsites are, there are no established campground in remote Canadian wilderness of course!” laughed Munch.

We know he had many mosquitoes to battle too!

“I will be fatigued, I will be tired. I will be cold and hungry but if was going to be easy, I wouldn’t be interested in doing it.” said Munch.

Now he is just days away from shattering records of being the first to ever complete this route on a SUP.

“I’m trying to get through the river while there is still a lot of water in it, so the rocks are covered.” said Munch. He’s been battling through the Canadian rivers on a continuous maze of waters, flowing through shallow swifts and mini rapids. He told us it was a brutal time going through the Canadian shield and into the Hudson Bay lowlands.

Many have asked, why is he doing this?

Munch explained, “When I do these trips I raise money for the neighborhood youth service of Woodland Hills. The money that I raise has been used to buy snow pants, buy sleds, buy swimsuits for these kids that can go sledding, go to swimming classes and all kinds of different stuff to get the neighborhood children involved in the outdoors!”

As of Tuesday July 23, 2019 – Jared is currently entering the Moose River. Which is his final one that heads right into James Bay of the Arctic Ocean.

Munch said is journey will be completed within just a few days! Congrats to Jared on his final stretch!

To watch the video report of this story and read more related reporting, follow this link to the Fox 21 website.  https://www.fox21online.com/2019/07/23/never-before-attempted-stand-up-paddle-board-to-arctic-ocean-...