Nate Denofre of Ishpeming, right, who has no legs below the knees, is shown with combat-disabled Don Jokinen of Iron Mountain. The two plan to soon canoe the Mississippi River from its headwaters in Lake Itasca, Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. (Photo courtesy of Nate Denofre)

MARQUETTE — It’s one thing to travel down the Mississippi River on a large riverboat meant for inland water excursions, like something out of a Mark Twain novel.

It’s another to take on this mightiest of American rivers by canoe, especially with physical challenges.

No later than May 7-8, Nate Denofre of Ishpeming and Don Jokinen of Iron Mountain will embark on an epic adventure: canoeing the entire Mississippi River from start to finish.

Denofre, who has no legs below the knee, is CEO of Courage Incorporated, a nonprofit that offers 100% free trips and adventures to disabled veterans and adults, such as Jokinen, who served in the U.S. Army engineers in Iraq and is a 100% combat-disabled veteran.

The trip will last 100 nights across over 2,500 miles from Lake Itasca, Minnesota — the headwaters of the Mississippi River — to the Gulf of Mexico.

“Our biggest goal is to accomplish the fact that ‘what one person can do, another can do,'” Denofre said at paddlingtopersevere.org. “The only disability is in our hearts and the biggest disability is fear.”

Courage Incorporated has been focusing on this idea since 2015 by helping disabled veterans and adults, showing them this perspective. Denofre and the founders started the nonprofit when he spent 159 nights in the woods with his dog and traveled from Silver Lake Basin up to the Copper Country, all to encourage and inspire others.

Denofre was born with amniotic band syndrome, with left him without legs below the knee. However, that didn’t stop him from taking part in football and wrestling, and he eventually started his own survival school and became a licensed wilderness guide. Over the years, though, wear and tear on his body left him with degenerative spine narrowing in his back, which eventually will limit his mobility.

With a portion of the money raised from a previous outdoor excursion named “Nate’s Last Stand,” with the help of a friend, Erik Conradson, Denofre founded Courage Incorporated.

Jokinen is one of the people helped because of Courage Incorporated. During his time in Iraq, Jokinen suffered multiple blast injuries, combat stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic arthritis and other ailments. Upon returning home, while riding a motorcycle, he suffered broken ribs, a collapsed lung and other injuries, which compounded the already difficult task of recovering from the war.

Eventually he learned about Courage Incorporated, which allowed him to better enjoy the outdoors.

“These injuries impact my life on a daily basis and have completely changed my life,” Jokinen wrote on the website.

He has many new and wonderful memories of the outdoors, but others haven’t had the chance.

“Too many of our brothers and sisters have ended their own struggles,” Jokinen said. “Sometimes I understand them completely. Other days I wish I could have taken them to a waterfall/fishing hole.”

There a good chance Jokinen and his friend will make more memories while traveling down the Mississippi River.

At 2,553 miles, the Mighty Mississippi will be lengthier than the Huron Mountains crossing up Lake Superior, but the latter trip was almost two months longer.

Complicating the upcoming river trip, however, is the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“Two years of planning has completely switched 180, but I really can’t think of a better place to be isolated,” Denofre said in a phone interview with The Mining Journal.

Although they will take separate canoes, he and Jokinen will self-quarantine together as recommended. However, Denofre said resupplying themselves on the trip is scaring them now, although they do have a goal.

“We’re trying to make it at least probably 60, 65 days without resupply,” Denofre said.

In the meantime, he’s drying meat for future sustenance.

“We’ve been running the dehydrator for, like, two weeks,” Denofre said.

The May-through-August adventure will be covered extensively on social media. Courage Incorporated has a YouTube channel with a Facebook page where viewers can watch the two canoe one of the largest rivers on Earth while carrying the American flag.

In fact, their conditions could show people what people with so-called limitations can accomplish.

“A book can’t be judged by its cover,” Denofre said.

Although the two undoubtedly will see many sights unique to the Mississippi River, things probably won’t go perfectly smooth every paddle stroke along the way. Denofre believes the biggest challenge of the whole trip will be the first month in Minnesota just because of the sheer number of portages and the fact the journey is during a pandemic.

“We had the volunteers signed up, a lot of veteran organizations and stuff coming to help us, and now because of this, we have to do all our own portaging – and that’s a lot,” Denofre said.

The trip will be one way, with about 100 nights sleeping on the riverbank. Denofre said after a rest, friends and families will bring them back north.

At paddletopersevere.org, Denofre detailed some of the trip’s goals.

He hopes his trip generates not only inspiration, but funds as well. The ever-growing Courage Incorporated needs more and newer boats as well as better gear to not only keep up with its client-demand, but more importantly, to keep members safe on rustic adventures. Outdoor gear is expensive, he stressed, and the organization hopes this trip will help. 

Denofre said the community has given his nonprofit some fantastic gear in the last five to six years, but some specific safety items are needed for the Mississippi River trip. For example, they wants items such as emergency radios and new backpacks that would make their trip a lot more secure. Gear costs and travel expenses will be around $2,000 and they’ve looked to Upper Peninsula friends to raise the funds.

All new gear for this trip will be used in all future Courage Incorporated adventures offered to the disabled community, Denofre said.

A local financial institution, mBank, is taking donations at its branches for the trip, under the account name “Courage Incorporated.” Checks can also be mailed to: Courage Incorporated, 551 Adams St., Ishpeming, MI 49849.

To donate online, visit paddletopersevere.org.

Christie Mastric can be reached at cbleck@miningjournal.net.