Washougal man completes 1,000-mile trek on paddleboard

After seven years, three surgeries, 18 months of physical therapy, more than $56,000 in charitable donations and 1,000 miles of rigorous paddleboarding, Michael Curtis is about to complete the most ambitious journey of his self-described “adventurous life.”

Curtis, a Washougal resident, is finishing his journey to traverse the entire length of the Columbia River on a stand-up paddleboard to raise money for Northwest Battle Buddies (NWBB), a Battle Ground nonprofit dedicated to gifting professionally trained service dogs to military veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“It’s definitely been a rollercoaster,” Curtis said. “Every (leg of the journey has) presented different challenges. But it’s also been very physically and mentally rewarding. It allows me to pull away from the daily grind for a week or so and reset and re-calibrate.”

On Aug. 10, Curtis set out on his fifth and final 150-mile leg (from Black Sand Beach, about 3 miles south of the United States-Canada border, to Grand Coulee Dam in central Washington) of his expedition, which he’s named Stand-up Paddleboard for Northwest Battle Buddies (SUP4NWBB). He completed the final stretch one week later, on Saturday, Aug. 17.

A celebration event was held for Curtis the following day, on Sunday, Aug. 18, at Chinook Landing Marine Park in Fairview, Oregon.

“(After I’m done), I’ll probably right away start thinking about, ‘What can I do next?’” Curtis told The Post-Record earlier this month. “I don’t know where to go from here. Maybe I redo one of the legs, or redo the whole thing. I like setting the bar high for myself.”

The expedition began in 2016, when Curtis and a friend, who had recently started paddling “for fun,” jokingly asked themselves over dinner and drinks how far they could go on a paddleboard.

“And so we decided to take a week off work and go up to the Bonneville Dam and see how far we could make it down river,” Curtis recalled. “There were lots of hurdles to overcome, not knowing what to bring, not knowing how to pack the gear, but we just went for it. We made it about 70 miles on that first trek.”

In 2017, Curtis decided to give it another shot. He once again started from Bonneville Dam, but this time navigated all the way to the mouth of the Columbia River, near Astoria, Oregon, completing a 125-mile journey.

“At that point, I decided I was going to try to do this for charity the next year,” he said.

He began researching nonprofit organizations and came across NWBB, which appealed to him due to his background as a former United States Army officer.

“I reached out to them and was like, ‘Hey, I have this crazy idea. What do you guys think? I’ve already done one section. I’d like to check out a new one, and if this becomes a thing, maybe I’m going to just keep going and try to do the whole river,’” he said. “They thought I was crazy, but they were on board to give it a shot.”

In the summer of 2018, Curtis paddled from Umtatilla, Oregon, to Portland on a 190-mile journey.

“That one was a huge success,” he said. “I learned how to publish my location with an app so people could follow along. I posted (updates) as I went, and then I did some live feeds talking about the benefits of service animals to veterans struggling with PTSD. (At that point), I set the goal for myself to explore the entirety from the Canadian border down to the coast.”

In 2019, Curtis navigated to Umatilla, Oregon, from Wenatchee, Washington, a distance of 198 miles.

“With my wife as my support, we navigated around three dams and had a very successful adventure,” Curtis said.

The expedition encountered some significant challenges after that, however.

Curtis took a year off in 2020 due the COVID-19 pandemic. His plan to traverse from Fort Spokane to Weantchee in the summer of 2021 was halted due to fires in the area, so he decided to move downriver and regroup. Then, he experienced physical limitations.

“I got caught in some really heavy winds, and I overexerted myself and collapsed the disc in my neck, which caused me to lose the ability to use my left hand,” he said. “It took me four hours to get out of the river.”

After multiple surgeries and extensive rehabilitation sidelined him for the next 18 months, Curtis resumed his expedition in the summer of 2023, when he went 121 miles from Grand Coulee Dam to Wenatchee.

“You have ups, you have downs, you have days out there where you don’t feel good and your body hurts, and it’s 100 degrees outside and you’re sweating to death, sunburned, but you just keep driving forward,” he said. “‘Embrace the suck’ is what we say in the Army.”

Curtis, who admitted he “may never be 100% again” after his injuries, said he hopes that, by completing his expedition on the Columbia, he can serve as an inspiration to others with physical impairments.

“I live life to the fullest,” he said. “I don’t let my disabilities prevent me from doing the things I love. One of my biggest missions is to inspire other people who may be in similar shoes to get out and live life and do the best they can with their abilities and adapt.”

Curtis said he had to conquer logistical challenges, too, in order to complete his journey.

“I’ve got a filter, so I drink water out of the river instead of bringing five gallons or 50 pounds of water on my board,” he said. “I’ve got a sponsor who helps with dehydrated food, so that alleviates a lot of board space and allows me to bring just a small cook stove.

“And transportation is always an issue. This year, I’ve got to leave a car at the finish line, then get up to the start point. Usually, I have somebody who will basically leave their car at the end point, drive me up to the drop-off point in my car with all my gear, and then they go back and leave my car at the end. I’ve got a spare key, and when I finish, I get in my car and drive home.”

Curtis has had to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as park services and public utility districts, to navigate around river dams.

“What most people don’t realize is that the Columbia River is a federal waterway, and because the dams, a lot of them being privately owned, block the river, (the organizations are) required by federal law to help you with portage,” he said. “Once I learned that, I started working with them so they would pick me up at the dam and coordinate me around. Logistically speaking, that could be a bit of a nightmare because I had to set hard dates and try to be there at a specific time, and sometimes I didn’t have cell service.”

Curtis has overcome all of those challenges to raise more than $56,000 for NWBB. According to the National Center for PTSD, at least 7% of veterans experience PTSD, and more than 8,000 veterans commit suicide every year due to symptoms of PTSD.

“It has been a humbling experience watching Michael over the past seven years push his mind and body to its very limit, all in support of NWBB and the veterans we serve,” said Shannon Walker, the founder and chief executive officer of NWBB. “Michael has experienced personal physical hardship, put himself in harm’s way during terrible forest fires, and every year put his life on hold to fulfill his mission to paddle the Columbia River, all to bring awareness and continue to serve his fellow veterans. Michael is driven with uncommon courage and dedication.”

Curtis has raised enough money to fund two service dogs, according to Walker.

“(Those dogs will) forever change the lives of the veterans who received them,” she said. “Michael is an inspiration to anyone who listens to him talk about why he continues to press the limits for his fellow veterans. We will always be grateful for the awareness his efforts have brought and the lives he has impacted forever.”

Curtis said he feels good being able to help other veterans through NWBB.

“It makes me want to do more, to help more,” he said. “Seeing that one person and some crazy ideas can make a difference, it makes me want to do more and inspire others to go out and find unique ways of promoting awareness and raising funds to help those in need.”

Curtis served in the U.S. Army, primarily as a communications officer, from 2000 to 2016.

“I’ve lost a lot of friends and (fellow) soldiers in the military to suicide, most of which as a result of post-traumatic stress,” he said. “Seeing what the Northwest Battle Buddies were doing with service animals to help combat that, their success rate, the ‘befores’ and the ‘afters’ for the veterans? It’s literally like their life takes a 180-degree turn. They’re back in public. They’re doing the things they love, and they’ve got their ‘battle buddy’ to lean on and care for, who also loves them and helps guide them and is trained specifically to accommodate their needs.”

Curtis said he hopes to remain affiliated with NWBB in the future.

“I foresee this being long-term,” he said. “That could involve me doing an adventure or using my platform to do some sort of open-to-the-public adventure, where it becomes an annual challenge and everybody runs their own little fundraisers.”

“I definitely see a future in this,” he said. “We’ve built the base, we’ve built the platform. We’ve got the attention. I see more and more interest from people in the sports world, specifically the paddle-boarding world and kayaking world, that are taking a huge interest in what we’re doing and want to be a part of it.”

To donate to the SUP4NWBB cause, visit northwestbattlebuddies.org/sup4nwbb.