The glory days of adventuring ended long ago, unfortunately – all the unknown territory of the world has long since all been mapped and travelled. While there may not be any new land masses to discover, though, there’s still some pretty damn insane places to travel, though. The Amazon rainforest, for example. Or maybe the Arctic Circle. Oh, except it’s way more than just that. You’re starting in Canada, for one. Oh, and you’re paddling. And that, folks, is why Don Starkell is a ridiculous badass.

Don Starkell

Born: December 7th, 1932

Died: January 28th, 2012

Occupation: Paddler, adventurer, author

Don Starkell, by all accounts, lived a hell of a life. Born in Winnipeg, things started out tough; he grew up in North Kildonan, and his father was an abusive man; Starkell later spent time in both an orphanage and foster care. When he was 17, he took up canoeing for the first time, and quickly fell in love with the sport; when massive flooding struck the city in 1950, Starkell paddled from house to house, delivering groceries and supplies to those in need. As a professional canoiest, he won a number of races, but he’s best remembered for a number of his cross-continent (and global) journeys. Here’s why Don Starkell was such a badass:

• In 1967, as part of a team representing the province of Manitoba, Starkell competed in a 104-day canoe race from Rocky Mountain House, Alberta to Montreal Quebec, to commemorate the Canadian centennial celebrations. This race still holds the Guinness world record for the longest canoe race in history, both in time and distance, as the race was 3,283 miles (5,283 km) long. His total reward for competing in (and winning) the race? $1000 for the finish, and $1500 for the victory – $2500, which is equivalent to just over $17,000 CAD in today’s dollars.

• In 1980, after over a decade of preparation, Starkell, along with his two teenage sons Dana and Jeff, embarked on a 12,000-mile journey from Winnipeg to the mouth of the Amazon River. They went south down the Red River, followed the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, hugged the coastline through central America, and through Venezuela, ending the journey at the mouth of the Amazon on the Atlantic coast of Belem, Brazil. The entire journey took almost two years to complete; the family almost died several times along the way, and dealt with harsh weather, winds, starvation, illness, alligators, piranha, and pirates along the way. While Jeff ended up leaving the trip when the three decided to recuperate in Veracruz, Mexico, for three months in November, 1980, Don and Dana ended up completing the trip alone, finally making it to Belem in May of 1982; Don and Dana Starkell made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest canoe trip in history in 1986. (If you want to check out the autobiographical account of their trip, I highly recommend you check out Starkell’s book Paddle to the Amazon, which was published in 1987 – a riveting read that I couldn’t put down).

• In 1990, Starkell decided to trace the famed Northwest Passage, in Canada’s Arctic Circle, by kayak; the trip took three years due to the heavy ice and bitter cold, and ended just thirty miles short of Starkell’s goal of Tuktoyaktuk, NWT, when he and his kayak became completely trapped in ice. He lost all of his fingertips and a number of toes due to the severe frostbite from this journey, but remarked, “When I did the Arctic trip, I gave absolutely everything I had, and that was success.” He also wrote another book about this journey, Paddle to the Arctic, which I have not read, but I’m sure is also fantastic and would also highly recommend. Despite his missing joints, Starkell continued to paddle for his entire life, with many other solo journeys, including from Iowa to New York and all up and down the Red River too.
• In 2010, Starkell was badly burned in a house fire, notably to his legs, but recovered all the same to return to paddling. He finally passed away from cancer at age 79 in 2012, having lived a full life; he was inducted to the Manitoba Sports Hall Of Fame in 2006, which still doesn’t do justice to just how much of a badass this man truly was.

On the closest time he ever came to his own death, way up north in the Arctic ice, Starkell said this: ” I sat in that kayak for 25 hours. The only reason I didn’t die – and I could have died a hundred times that last night – it was easier to die than live. I felt, that yes, I’m in agony, I’m in pain and I’m dying and all that but so many times I was fighting with myself, should I release myself and go into my final sleep, which I could have done so easy. It was easier to do that than go through the pain I was going through. I said to myself that I don’t care how painful, my life is going to have to be taken. I’m not going to release it.”

Don Starkell was very evidently a man who lived 300 years behind his time; all the same, there’s no doubt he took every opportunity to push the boundaries of human achievement – no matter what era you lived in, I think it’s safe to say that the travels of Don Starkell put him up among the greatest adventurers (and possible craziest people ever) of all time.