A Guide To Paddling In The Yukon

Paddling the Yukon River and its Tributaries covers more than 4,000 miles of watery trail. The Yukon, Tanana, Porcupine, Koyukuk, and Kuskokwim Rivers are the five longest rivers in Alaska, extending into the Yukon Territory. This water flows freely, almost entirely undammed. Salmon surge against current. Moose, bears, and wolves wander the banks. Birds swarm in spectacular density. Roads rarely cross. Many residents live a subsistence lifestyle. No permits are required to be here. These channels are a natural path through the last large wilderness in North America.Paddling the Yukon River and its Tributaries approaches journeys of this magnitude like a through-hiker on the Appalachian Trail, but with a canoe or kayak. Each river is described from beginning to end, detailing access points, resupply options, and navigation tips throughout the flow. There are 35 original maps. Although the approach assumes long voyages, information is supplied for a range of trip lengths. Anything from an afternoon to a weekend to a week to a two-month float is possible. Paddling the Yukon River and its Tributaries is the only guide book to paddling the entire Yukon River from beginning to end.

Comprehensive paddling (canoe) guide to 63 northern rivers that covers the Yukon, northern British Columbia and western Northwest Territories.

A stunning new voice in nature writing makes an epic journey along the Yukon River to give us the stories of its people and its protagonist--the king salmon, or the Chinook--and the deepening threat to a singular way of life, in a lyrical, evocative and captivating narrative. The Yukon River is 3,190 kilometres long, flowing northwest from British Columbia through the Yukon Territory and Alaska to the Bering Sea. Every summer, millions of salmon migrate the distance of this river to their spawning ground, where they go to breed and then die. The Chinook is the most highly prized among the five species of Pacific salmon for its large size and rich, healthy oils. It has long since formed the lifeblood of the economy and culture along the Yukon--there are few communities that have been so reliant on a single source. Now, as the region contends with the effects of a globalized economy, climate change, fishing quotas and the general drift towards urban life, the health and numbers of the Chinook are in question, as is the fate of the communities that depend on them. Travelling in a canoe along the Yukon River with the migrating salmon, a three-month journey through untrammeled wilderness, Adam Weymouth traces the profound interconnectedness of the people and the Chinook through searing portraits of the individuals he encounters. He offers a powerful, nuanced glimpse into the erosion of indigenous culture, and into our ever-complicated relationship with the natural world. Weaving in the history of the salmon run and their mysterious life cycle, Kings of the Yukon is extraordinary adventure and nature writing and social history at its most compelling.

Canoe across large lakes, up and down rivers and rapids; labour over portages and through a miasma of blackflies; bask in the golden evenings of the Subarctic. In this account of an 800-mile canoe trip – which begins at Reindeer Lake on the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border, continues into Nunavut past the treeline, and ends on Hudson Bay – Peter Kazaks conveys the experience of being in the north by describing the daily details that bring the trip to life. He captures the flavour of an extended wilderness canoe trip and reflects on living in unfettered wilderness. The reader will also grasp something of the serene beauty of the barren lands and begin to understand why its intoxicating nature keeps drawing some back. The first half of the trip, essentially from Reindeer Lake to Nueltin Lake, retraces P.G. Downes' voyage described in his classic Sleeping Island. Next the four men of this expedition, led by George Luste, entered the barren lands and followed the Thlewiaza River, the Kognak River, South Henik Lake and the Maguse River north and east to the shore of Hudson Bay. These lands, seldom visited, are close to a true wilderness – one of the few remaining ones.

The rich tapestry of Alaska is threaded together by 365,000 miles of waterways, from cascading mountain streams to meandering valley rivers, from the meltwaters of glaciers to broad rivers that empty into the sea. This guide profiles a wide variety of rivers from all over Alaska, concentrating on trips for intermediate boaters, and including a few major expeditions for the experienced river-runner. A section on gear outlines what to take into the backcountry.

A comprehensive 265-page guidebook for all visitors to the Yukon and South Eastern Alaska. The Yukon is in the far northwestern corner of Canada. The area offers some of the longest and untamed rivers to float on with a canoe, historic trails, wilderness lakes, mile upon mile of highways through wilderness, moose and other wildlife viewing, and gold rush history.