- We've arrived here at River Park in Brooklyn Park to meet up with National Park Ranger Rhys Joaquin.

He's gonna show us some kayaking tips and some unique river features.

But first, we need a kayak.

(laughing) (upbeat music) - The gear you want for kayaking is obviously a kayak, paddle, and life jacket.

Water and sunscreen are also a must.

Consider wearing water shoes, as well as some outdoor safety gear.

For this excursion, we're using Paddle Share.

It's just like the Nice Ride bike rental program, except for kayaks.

Housed in this locker is the kayak.

You reserve it online, get the code.

It comes with a paddle and a life jacket.

And we hit the water.

Hey, hey, Rhys.

- What's up, Chance?

- Well, I got some experience, but what's the best way to get in a kayak?

- Not to step into it, but to actually sit into your kayak.

You want to adjust the foot pedals where your feet are placed, and that way you have a slight bend at your knees, and your back is sitting comfortably to your seat.

We're gonna get a little bit more in the water, then we'll launch.

Couple pointers for kayaking.

You wanna make a goalpost and then hold it up above your head.

Make sure the longer part of the blade is at the very top and the logo of the blade is facing towards you.

And then if you wanted to brake you can just dip your paddle into the water.

Since we're on the river, it's a little bit easier because we are going in one direction, so it doesn't take too much body strength.

- Yeah, until we start to race.

- Until we start to race, exactly.

(dynamic music) - Is it common that you can tip over?

- There's always that risk factor of tipping, but nine out of 10 times it doesn't happen.

You do wanna be mindful of your balance, so you don't want to wobble left or right.

We also get a lot of questions about actually rolling the kayak, and I will say, you don't need to know how to do that.

If you haven't kayaked before, I would stick to something that's a little more landlocked, like a lake.

There's always a lot of different classes that you can go take in the area from different organizations.

Those are all great starting points.

So the route that we're doing, it's a nice route because it's about 8 1/2 miles long.

Takes approximately three hours in length for folks to complete.

- Just kind of followed the flow here.

- [Rhys] Did it take you out over there?

- Yeah, I mean, it just kind of pulled me.

The Mississippi National River and Recreation area stretches for 72 miles, and is the only national park site dedicated exclusively to the Mississippi River.

Established in 1988 as a new type of park known as a Partnership Park.

The National Park Service is not a major landowner and does not have control over the use of the land.

(chill music) - The Park Service, our mission is to preserve the natural scenery, but also to provide access to these beautiful spaces.

The Mississippi River, it's just beautiful for lots of different wildlife, especially birds, because the river itself is also known as the Mississippi Flyway.

So birds use it as essentially route navigation.

- Oh, I love watching birds.

We've already seen some osprey, a bald eagle, blue heron, a green heron.

- If we were doing this about maybe 50 years ago, we wouldn't see as many birds as we're seeing today because there was a time when the water quality of the river was not great.

Mussels are really great species because they're a indicator species of how well the water quality is, and they also help out in cleaning out the water.

So this is a pink heeled splitter.

Mussels will filter out bacteria, contaminants that are in the water.

They're a pretty important piece to the puzzle of the entire ecological system.

It's just really fascinating to learn more about the history of the river and what it's been through.

And seeing those improvements today, and there's some progress that's happening.

Not only for ourselves and our way of lives, but also for those other species that call the river its home.

- Yeah, I've definitely driven over this bridge and observed it from up there.

But it's lot more serene down here.

A little slower moving too.

(Rhys laughs) - It's such a good contrast of what's happening up there versus what's happening on the waterway.

- So at this point, how far do you think we've gone of the eight miles?

- We've done two.

- Two miles.

(dynamic music) What is that?

- Those posts are called booms, remnants of the logging industry from back in the late 1800s to early 1900s.

- That just reminds me of some vocab from season one with the world champion boom runner and Boom Island.

It's all coming together now, okay.

And what's this building here?

- This is Minneapolis Waterworks, a treatment facility for the drinking water for the residents of Minneapolis.

- If you hadn't heard that before, all that Minneapolis tap water is coming from the Mississippi River.

So what is it that you love most about the outdoors?

- That it takes me away from some of the distractions in society.

There's a whole world out there and this is it, for me to be alive, and kind of just experience nature.

- When you're out in nature you get to experience all your senses.

So how did you end up becoming a park ranger?

- So I used to work in the fashion industry for a small business.

When that business kind of fizzled out, I decided to go back to college, get a degree in geology.

And so that kind of brought me to the park service, eventually.

When I did a study abroad in Mexico I just saw my professor hiking around, talking to us about nature.

And I was like, what?

He's getting paid?

- Dream job.

- So I ended up finding this internship with the National Park Service, and the rest is kind of history from there.

- (laughs) That's a cool story, man.

(funky music) So this here is the Upper Harbor Terminal, North Minneapolis.

Tell me a little bit about what's going on here.

- This terminal was the furthest north that barge traffic or commercial traffic could navigate on the Mississippi River.

They're currently demolishing the site right now.

And it's kind of this hope to bring it to what the future vision is for residents of the Twin Cities.

Moving away from that industrialization on the river banks, reconnecting residents back to these spaces.

- Valuing this riverfront property rather than just using it to drive industry.

- All right, Chance.

We're gonna pull over right over here.

I've got something I wanna show you.

(funky music) So this is one of my favorite spots in Minneapolis.

This island doesn't have an official name, but we sometimes call it the Heron Rookery, and that's because up in these really tall cottonwood trees are different nests for herons and egrets that nest here during the summertime.

- I love that contrast of industry and nature that Minnesota's so full of.

- Definitely.

And we got some cormorants that are about to land on some of these branches around here too.

- [Chance] Sweet.

So I don't see any blue herons here.

- The nesting season is over for the summer and they are possibly following the Mississippi River on that flyway, migrating south as the winter approaches.

- Yo, this was a sweet island getaway.

I'm parched.

Let's keep it moving.

(both laughing) (dynamic music) I'm really grateful for today.

That was a sweet experience.

I got to hang out with a real cool national park ranger, hear about his experience, his love for nature, and his hope for the future.

That when people put effort and resources into conservation, into restoration, down the road we could have even cleaner waters, more abundant life.

And that's the type of story that we need to be telling each other more often.

I loved all of his input about meeting people that come from around the world to see the Mississippi River.

And if we start to see it ourselves, instead of just driving by, and putting a little pride into these spaces, who knows what the future has in store.

Besides that, I'll probably practice a little bit more before I take on eight miles of paddling.

But you know what, I'm usually up for it, and I'm glad I was here.

Until next time.

Chance signing off.

(laughing)