Going with the flow: Great Falls man rows toward adventure

A Great Falls man has embarked on a 3,500-mile river adventure in a rowboat that he built himself that is expected to end four months from now in New Orleans.

Mark Juras, 32, went right to the Missouri River’s source and launched June 9 in Three Forks and arrived in his hometown of Great Falls nine days later.

“It’s something I have always wanted to do,” he said of the trip before him. “It’s been on my bucket list for many years.”

It took him eight days to make the trip from Three Forks to the Electric City, which by road is about 156 miles. But it was something of a test run, allowing him to assess what he had packed and make adjustments. 

The trip experienced a snag Wednesday when the boat, known as the Sturnella, hit some rocks in the Morony Rapids, Juras said, adding it had cracked and would have to be mended before he could continue.

He said he was able to see the rocks using mirrors mounted on the boat.

"I tried my best to avoid it," he said Thursday. "I just cracked it."

Juras said the repairs would likely take him about a week. And then he would return to the river.

"I learned a good lesson ...," he said. "It’s not going to stop me from doing the trip."

Juras, who graduated from C.M. Russell High School, said he spent a lot of time on the Missouri River as a child. 

He built the 18-foot row boat and will propel himself by sculling, in which the person uses an oar in each hand and there is a sliding seat. Juras said the legs are the main muscle used.

“I’m hoping to lose 40 pounds,” he said.

Juras said this is his first experience in a sculling rowboat.

“I have been a canoer all my life,” he said.

He said his goal is to row 10 hours a day, but had done six to eight hours a day in his first eight days.

But Juras is not fighting the current.

“I’m going with the flow,” he said.

Juras named the boat the Sturnella, a genus of meadowlark. The name was actually made on a lark as he said he had planned to name it after the Jeannette, a ship that went on an unsuccessful trip into the arctic in the 19th century.

But “Sturnella” now suits him fine.

“It’s a great name,” Juras said. “I am happy with the name.”

The Missouri begins at the confluence of the Madison and Jefferson rivers in Missouri Headwaters State Park, which is near Three Forks, according to worldatlas.com. The river is 2,341 miles long and is among America’s longest. It flows through seven states: Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri. The mouth of the river is at Spanish Lake, Missouri, where it drains into the Mississippi River.

The region near the river’s mouth features cities such as St. Louis, which has a population of nearly 3 million, worldatlas.com notes.

But Juras said he plans on going another 1,000 miles on the Mississippi River to New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico.

“I love the ocean and spent time there as a child,” he said, adding his family would vacation there. “I feel like that is my destination.”

He said he will have about 250 pounds of gear in the boat, including camping gear, food, cooking supplies, water, some fishing gear and clothes.

He said it takes him at least four trips for each portage and one trip just with the boat.

Juras said he plans to camp along the river, camp on public campsites or on islands on the river, which are state owned. He said he may stay at a hotel on occasion.

He believes the entire trip will cost him about $5,000, in which much of the cost was for the boat. Juras has a cellphone and a solar charger, USGS maps on the phone.

He said he is not afraid of solitude.

“What keeps my mind busy is a bunch of sermons on my phone,” Juras said. “I listen to those as I row.”

He balks at saying this is a spiritual journey.

"I would call it ‘growing in my faith of the God of the Bible,’” Juras said.

He said he left his job as a civil engineer and hopes to reenter the workforce to do nonprofit engineering and Third World engineering.

He is the son of John and Kristen Juras.

“They are very supportive,” he said of his parents, family and friends.

Kristen Juras wrote about her son’s adventure on Facebook.

“My son Mark launched today at the headwaters of the Missouri River in the expedition rowboat he built. New Orleans is his destination -- 3500 River miles and estimated 16 weeks away.”

Mark Juras said no one has questioned his sanity about making the trip.

“No one has told me I am crazy,” he said, adding some friends wanted to come with him for a portion of the voyage, but later backed out due to other responsibilities.

Juras said his two biggest concerns are heat and the potential of  someone trying to hurt him and steal his boat.

There is a plan in place for how he returns to Montana after this 16-week adventure comes to a close.

“My mom told me she would come and get me,” he said. 

Reporter Phil Drake is our eye on the state capitol. For tips, suggestions or comment, he can be reached at 406-231-9021 or pdrake@greatfallstribune.com.To support his work, subscribe today and get a special offer.