On November 22, 2025 single mother Nikki Bettis and her seven youngest children finished paddling the Mississippi River, reaching the Gulf of Mexico after 2,350 miles in 96 days. In 2023, the family, including the oldest eight children, had hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. The crew took on the name 32 Feet Up, accounting for the 15 sets of feet of her children and Bettis herself.
The Mississippi paddlers in Bettis’ family range in age from six to fourteen, and the family was accompanied by their adopted grandfather, Smoky. Paddling Mag caught up with Bettis to learn more about the logistics, challenges and rewards of thru-paddling with kids.
Single mom thru-paddles Mississippi with seven children
Bettis shared that going outside with kids, whether for a short paddle or the entire Mississippi can feel daunting.
“My biggest thing I have learned,” explained Bettis, “[is that] you’ll never ever have all of the answers.”
With a background in hiking and mountains, paddling the Mississippi was a new challenge for the family; the risks and hazards were different from what Bettis expected.
“The internet screams whirlpools, eddies, currents, things like that… and that kind of shocked me how many people are actually afraid of the river itself. You get out here and if you have some common sense and go into it educated, this is absolutely possible.”
For Bettis, the perceived dangers of the trip, steep eddylines and whirlpools, didn’t match up with the reality the family experienced on the water. In fact, the biggest hazards for the family came from close calls with other humans.
“Speedboats on lakes… those were the most dangerous things we’ve encountered so far,” shared Bettis, adding that the scariest moment of the trip for her was when a speed boat on a lake cut through the group, separating the family and throwing a wake. “We communicate well with our VHF radios but it was actually the speedboats of the lakes up north [that posed a hazard].”
Education through paddling along the Mississippi River
While the traditional thru-paddle might go for speed or miles, Bettis’ goal was to use the river as an interactive classroom and teaching tool for her homeschooled children. After traditionally homeschooling her older eight children, Bettis shared some of the merits of the hands-on classroom the outdoors offers.
“Everything comes to life,” explained Bettis about homeschooling from the water. “They’re a lot more prone to remembering things and identifying with it if they’ve touched it, seen it, smelled it, lived it.”
Bettis’ homeschooling on the river was made possible by a support vehicle, enabling the family to leave the river banks and head into towns and cities along the way to better learn. Leading up to the trail, Bettis focused on researching and educating her children on water safety. Once on the trail, the education goals shifted to science, geography and history.
“We’re not doing paperwork. It’s just not happening on the trail,” explained Bettis. “I want to give them experiences… honestly I still to this day kind of hated history up until this trail. Then you realize the things that happened around you, and you’re standing on the ground it actually happened on.”
Nikki Bettis hopes her journeys with her family will inspire others to get outside
After hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2023 with all 15 of her children, it took some time to adjust to the dynamics of a smaller group with the younger seven children and become acquainted with a new type of trail.
“It’s almost like a relationship that develops. You begin to fall in love with the sound of barges at night and the trains,” said Bettis. “It’s a very bittersweet feeling and I think that goes with any trail because you realize all these things are coming to an end.”
Ultimately, hopes in sharing about her and her families’ adventures is that they inspire other families and people to get outside.
“You don’t have to thru-paddle or thru-hike anything… just get out there and start having experiences,” shared Bettis. “One of the best things for us as a family is getting away from screens… when you’re paddling, your hands are tied up. You’re not drinking as much water, you’re not testing and it forces you to just be in the moment. I think more people need to do that, just get outside.”
