Perhaps for most, paddling an average 20 miles a day in a canoe against the tide in varying conditions would call for complete relaxation and recovery.
When Peter Frank, a 23-year-old expeditionist paddling the 6,000 mile Great American Loop in a canoe, arrived at Aubrey and Terri Smoot’s Ditchley home on Dividing Creek in response to adverse weather, his days on land were tactfully utilized to mend clothing, create connection and prepare for the rest of his trek.
“My days on land are very productive,” Frank said, while working on a pair of pants at a sewing machine loaned by a neighbor of his hosts.
Frank set off on this expedition from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in June and has paddled about a quarter of the journey thus far. In addition to canoeing the 6,000 mile nautical route rather than yachting it like most who travel the loop, Frank is doing it backwards, circumnavigating the Eastern U.S. clockwise. Essentially, 25% of the loop will be tackled against the current of the 1,600 miles of river along the route.
Frank is taking on the feat in his 17-foot 1982 Sawyer Loon decked expedition canoe. The canoe was designed and engineered by one of Frank’s inspirations, Verlen Kruger, a canoe expeditioner who documented over 100,000 miles in his canoe through the course of his lifetime.
Kruger and his son, Steve Landick, are the first and only other documented people in history to take on the loop clockwise.
“I’ve enjoyed bringing light to these people through this journey. It’s been very meaningful,” Frank said.
Frank has garnered national attention through his travels, with major publications like Washington Times and Newsweek sharing interviews with him to their readers.
Frank also has started a career as a writer. He keeps up with a newsletter he sends to those who follow along his journeys and submits lifestyle pieces documenting his experiences to publications like Chesapeake Bay Magazine, Paddling Life and Small Boats Monthly.
Along with building a community of followers eager to read about his travels, Frank also has found a bit of a community within the America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association (AGLCA), which is how he connected with the Smoots of Kilmarnock.
The Smoots conquered the loop earlier this year in their custom built Aspen.
Often harbor hosts with the AGLCA see his articles or keep up with his newsletter and offer Frank a place to stay along the journey, he said.
While this is certainly a major and noble adventure, it’s not Frank’s first rodeo.
He has succeeded in a number of quests, including several backpacking expeditions, a Florida circumnavigation and a three-and-a-half month journey traveling across the county on his unicycle. His desire for exploration and adventure comes much from his natural spirit and outdoorsy upbringing, but is also much inspired by an accident that occurred when he was 14 which severely injured his spine and ultimately forced him to learn to walk again.
Prior to the injury, Frank had learned to unicycle. When his surgeon told him he’d be lucky to walk and would never ride his unicycle again, he took it as a challenge, said Frank.
In the all-or-nothing fashion, at age 19, Frank unicycled across the country and raised over $30,000 for the Beacon House, a non-profit that offers a home away from home for patients and their families receiving medical care in the Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The Beacon House helped him and his family while he was receiving treatments from his injury.
“I was honored to be able to be a part of that organization,” he said.
Since beginning his journeys, Frank has developed and maintained a philosophy of true connection and experience and developing character by doing something challenging that will better his future self.
He looks to the Japanese concept of “Ikagai” as a way to appreciate the life he’s been given. Frank described the concept as finding a passion that gives reason and joy, that can support yourself financially, that you’re good at, and benefits the world around you.
Frank said he’s found a love for writing of his experiences and he finds that if he’s inspiring folks to follow their dreams and take unlikely risks, he’s benefitting those who follow his journeys.
“This is my favorite part of life. Exploring. Not just the world, but also myself,” he said.
While Frank left the Northern Neck and continued his trek several days ago, his current goal is to make it to Florida by January.
“Life is a continuum. Without creating, there would be nothing to inspire,” he said.
To keep up with Frank’s adventures and contribute to his “rotisserie chicken fund” to help finance his sustenance along the way, visit whereispeterfrank.com.
