By Ben Olson
Reader Staff
When Nate Christensen made the decision to leave North Idaho, he wanted to head out with a bang. Christensen plans to circumnavigate Lake Pend Oreille’s shoreline solo on a stand up paddleboard starting April 25 — both as a personal challenge as well as an effort to support the Ethan Murray Fund, a nonprofit organization started by local business owner Justine Murray, which aims to empower and support individuals in need by providing financial assistance for mental health services in the community.
Christensen told the Reader that he came back to North Idaho a year ago after traveling the world, hoping to find work in freelance photo and video and reconnect with the place where he was born and raised. However, when a job opportunity popped up in Colorado, he again made plans to leave, but not before a final adventure.
Nate Christensen will circumnavigate Lake Pend Oreille on a paddleboard starting April 25. Photo by Kristina Brown.
“I recently worked with this organization down in California which did a channel crossing from Catalina Island to the Huntington Pier in outrigger canoes,” Christensen said. “I did the crossing with them and got really inspired by it. I grew up on the lake, on whitewater. I thought, ‘I should do something like that.’”
Christensen looked into whether anyone has ever circumnavigated Lake Pend Oreille on just a SUP. While many have done the voyage in kayaks, canoes and other crafts, Christensen might be the first to attempt it on a paddleboard.
“If anyone has, please reach out to me,” he said. “I really want to get your input to help plan this mission.”
Christensen said the quest is also a way to come to terms with this region after life experiences left something to be desired.
“I’ve had a really rough childhood here,” he said. “It was a rough experience and transition out of this area. I moved back and went through a divorce a year and a half ago. To me, it’s a way of making peace with the area.”
To help him navigate all 111 miles of shoreline, he received help from Jason Hershey — also known as Ocean — who Christensen said was a sort of pioneer of paddleboarding.
“He’s lending me an ocean paddleboard called a Perfect Wave,” Christensen said. “It’s 14 or 15 feet long and 30 inches wide. It’s a big boy. Full fiberglass board.”
Depending on the wind and weather, Christensen estimates he’ll average about three miles an hour with the board.
“I’m taking very minimal gear, so I don’t force a big weight load on the board,” he said. “I want to do it in less than five days. I tossed around the idea of literally pushing as fast and hard as I could. … Obviously, the goal is to finish it, but I also want to enjoy myself. I’m not going to make myself miserable to finish 12 hours sooner.”
He plans to start April 25 — depending on the weather — with a departure from Sandpoint City Beach and proceeding counterclockwise around the lake. While Christensen plans to do the trip alone, he said friends have pledged to join him for legs along the way, and a couple of local charter boats that plan to be on standby in case he needs to fire off an SOS and get a ride out.
Christensen said it isn’t necessarily the long paddling time that concerns him, especially with lake temperatures hovering in the high 30s to low 40s in April.
“It’s the weather I’m more worried about,” he said. “I’ve gotten generous donations of gear. I have a friend who did a circumnavigation in a sea kayak that loaned me a dry suit and a nice paddle.”
Along with loaned gear, Chrstensen is currently raising pledges for the journey.
“Justine has put up a pledge board at her store [La Chic Boutique]. … People can pledge per mile or donate a lump sum.”
Either way, the donations will all benefit the Ethan Murray Fund, named for Justine’s son Ethan, who suffered from mental illness and was killed by a Spokane County Sheriff’s deputy in 2019. Spokane County agreed to a $1 million settlement to the Murray family for shooting and killing Ethan while he was unarmed. Since then, Justine has channeled her grief into activism, establishing the Ethan Murray Fund to help provide support for mental health, homeless and addiction services.
“I really wanted to do a personal challenge before I leave town, and I’ve been friends with the Murray family for a while,” Christensen said. “I wanted to do this for a purpose beyond myself, and that kind of spurred this along. I’m leaving this community, and I might as well help leave it better before I go.”
Christensen said he was also inspired by a nonprofit organization he worked with called Until Death Collective based in Texas.
“Their slogan is ‘Movement is Medicine,’” Christensen said. “They encourage people in their communities to get out and do stuff, to bring people with you who might need that extra push. This is a way for me to demonstrate to people that if I can do it, anybody can.”
To learn more about the Ethan Murray Fund, or to donate or pledge to Nate Christensen’s mission, visit ethanmurrayfund.com, or stop by La Chic Boutique, 107 Main St. in Sandpoint.
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