Art “Karts” Huseonica (me) is staying focused on being fit and preparing to reboot https://www.yukon2020.com in May 2023. In case you missed them, below are two very short YouTube videos to keep you updated. Later this month I’ll publish another video with a more detailed update. Meanwhile, I’m back to fundraising for the expensive expedition reboot.
It was a fabulous Yukon River expedition until I rode the crest of the flooding into Carmacks. I was healthy and strong doing 50 miles/silent 82km per day easily. The river rose every day after that and submerged the few available camps down river and making it impossible to reach streams with fresh water entering the river. The amount and size of debris was according to local residents, the worst they’d ever seen. Carmacks officials called it a 50+ year event.
Yukon River in Carmacks
I had the gear, supplies, and the skills to navigate a flooded river, BUT local and regional authorities advised me against continuing on. This included the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the First Nations. I had to consider this because if I continued and something happened that it would come back to bite me and reflect poorly on my expedition, aka, the Kindness Expedition.
The First Nations hold the Yukon River sacred, and see it as an interconnectiveness to all life. To continue on would disrespect that belief and bring discredit to me and the expedition. Right now I’m totally gutted. I had this, I was strong & healthy, but a very quick spring thaw sent the feeder rivers into flood stages which poured into the Yukon River. I could have sat it out three more weeks until the flooding receded, but that would put me past my August 15th deadline to be back up river out of the Bering Sea. The weather there gets really bad after August 15th. Plus, there’s very limited and costly extraction areas further into Alaska.
Everyone tells me that I made the right decision, but still. Ugh. A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reporter who interviewed me said that I don’t appreciate all the attention that my expedition had gotten in Canada. She hoped that I would make the “right decision.” My international legal counsel and my Native American liaison assured me that I did the right think to demonstrate respect and kindness; afterall the expedition is also known as “The Kindness Expedition.”
I can’t forget the experiences I had with my First Nations’ interactions and the many people I met and who I paddled with. They gave me the nickname of “He who paddles on clouds.” I got a lot of good information, personal thoughts, photos, and videos for the documentary film. I will reboot the expedition on May 28, 2023 from where I pulled out in Carmacks.
Arizonian Explorer 