The Mississippi Valley Traveler Podcast · Dean Klinkenberg

Outdoor Enthusiasm: Will Collins' Irrepressible Spirit for Adventure

·1 hr 5 min·4 clips

A stranger in Winona handed him a cold six-pack, a place to stay, and a new canoe.

1. The Mississippi Valley Traveler Podcast episode centers on Will Collins and his outdoor life, with a specific focus on his 103-day solo Mississippi River descent. 2. Dean Klinkenberg hosts the conversation, and Will Collins matters because he is a wilderness guide, podcast host, and pig farmer who has paddled thousands of miles. 3. The episode asks why Collins keeps returning to long river trips and what he learned from the Mississippi and Yukon. 4. Collins says his interest in the outdoors started with fishing for bluegill and bass with his dad near DeKalb, Illinois. 5. He credits Camp Manitouish in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, with building his comfort through summer canoe trips, archery, riflery, tennis, and bicycling. 6. At age 16, he completed a 30-day canoe trip in Saskatchewan through the camp. 7. At age 17, he completed a 45-day backpacking trip in Alaska’s Brooks Range. 8. He remembers looking across Alaska and thinking he was "a long way from the cornfields of Illinois." 9. After those trips, he kept organizing shorter canoe and wilderness outings with friends. 10. He says the Mississippi trip began while he was working at a radio station in South Dakota and had saved enough money to try it. 11. The hardest step, he says, was telling his boss he wanted a leave of absence for a 103-day solo canoe trip. 12. He started with an old Town Penobscot and only later switched to a Winona Prism after a visit to Winona Canoes. 13. A teacher he met near Lake Itasca invited him to call when he reached Winona, and that contact turned into a stay with a family and a cold six-pack. 14. The Winona visit also coincided with a factory defect sale and a tour with Winona Canoe Company owner Mike Chiganovsky. 15. Collins says he started on August 23 and liked the timing because bugs had died off and he could follow the changing leaves south. 16. He describes the trip rhythm as slow: morning coffee, a little reading, pushing off around 10, and paddling until sunset. 17. He estimates he stayed with about 20 different people who offered meals, laundry, and rooms along the river. 18. He points to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where a stranger gave him an extra ticket to an LSU game after a tailgate conversation. 19. The interview keeps a conversational, reflective tone, with Dean asking detailed follow-up questions and Collins answering in a relaxed, story-driven style. 20. People who like river travel, canoe stories, and Midwest outdoor history will get the most from it. 21. People wanting a tight gear tutorial or a short factual overview may skip it. 22. Collins says the Mississippi feels less like a ditch and more like "2000 miles of wilderness" through the heart of America. 23. He argues that the upper river’s refuges and islands, plus the lower river’s sandbars, make it unusually campable. 24. He says the river’s generosity came from genuine encounters rather than organized help, which made the trip feel personal. 25. He connects that same idea to his guiding work and podcasting, saying people respond when they sense real passion. 26. The conversation returns several times to authenticity, because Collins thinks people can tell when someone is genuinely excited about the outdoors. 27. Dean and Collins also discuss whether too much preparation can make people overthink a trip before they ever launch. 28. Collins prefers a shakedown paddle or short overnight trip to test gear before a bigger commitment. 29. He describes post-trip letdown as moving from constant attention in river towns to the ordinary pace of work and routine. 30. The episode ends with Collins reflecting on the Mississippi as a public resource that should be easier for people to appreciate.

As heard by us

A loose but useful outdoor conversation that pairs backcountry memories with practical advice.

Dean Klinkenberg talks with Will Collins about how a love of the outdoors can start early and keep growing. The conversation moves from Will's teenage backcountry trips to plain advice about confidence, gear, and learning by doing, with a clear bias toward getting outside before…

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Why you'd press play

If teenage backcountry trips still shape how you move through the woods, this is your lane.

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