Art Karts Huseonica is planning a big summer of 2024. He has confirmed plans to complete his delayed Yukon River expedition. Immediately after, he will join the Northwest Passage expedition to complete an ocean row of the Northwest Passage led by record holder rower Leven Brown of Scotland. It’s also known as The Expedition of Our Time. More details will be forthcoming. Meanwhile, here is the link to the Northwest Passage expedition: https://nwpexpedition.com/
As I look forward to 2024, I am reminded of my major disappointment in not completing my Yukon 2020 expedition to paddle the length of the Yukon River in 2023. Stopping short 100 miles/160km from the Bering Sea hit me hard mentally because I always finish what I start. My U.S. Coast Guard contact reminded me that, “It’s better to return home defeated than in a body bag.”
I have no immediate plans to return to the Yukon River in 2024 due to finances. I’m still paying off this year’s expedition costs. Ugh. I’ve certainly been invited to participate in numerous adventures and expeditions in 2024, but the monies simply aren’t there. I’ll still do regional hikes and mini-adventures solo and with a few select friends.
I’m staying very busy with training hikes, volunteering on various projects, and catching up on my reading. Subjects include adventures, biographies, and self-help books from eclectic authors. Refocusing on staying in touch with friends and family is helping to keep my mind off the Yukon. Of course, there is pressure from a lot of folks for me to write my memoirs. We’ll see.
Yukon River expedition Website: http://www.yukon2020.com
I will always greatly appreciate your support and encouragement. Be well my friends.
(August 27, 2023; Sun City, AZ, USA) The Whitehorse Star newspaper published a comprehensive article about Kart’s failure to reach the Bering Sea and set a record. You can read the article for free here. Journalist Morris Prokop has followed Karts’ adventure on the Yukon River for two years after his attempt last year was thwarted by 100-year flood event.
(March 21, 2023) Art “Karts” Huseonica is excited to announce that Melinda Land has joined the Yukon 2020™ team paddling from Carmacks to Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada. You can read all about Melinda for free without a subscription here.
(February 27, 2023; Sun City, AZ, USA) The kind folks at the Sun City INDEPENDENT newspaper recently published a feature news story about my upcoming Yukon River expediton. You can read it HERE for free without a subscription.
(February 9, 2023; Sun City, Arizona, USA) Art “Karts” Huseonica is excited that his reboot of Yukon 2020 is fast approaching. He plans to put-in on May 28th at Carmacks, Yukon Territory, Canada where he pulled out on June 21, 2022. He’ll be joined by guest paddlers, including Bruce Jobin and Melinda Land. Karts will have more about his special guest paddlers in the coming months leading up to the expedition.
Before he puts in, Karts will publish a GPS link so that you can follow his track and progress from Carmacks out to the Bering Sea. This track is part of the trilogy of proof required verify his adventure. Other required items of proof include documenting all eye witnesses and location selfies and videos.
Recently, Karts announced that he is going to dedicate his Yukon River expedition to his brother Joe Huseonica. On Christmas morning, the Huseonica family lost Joe. He was born in Lucerne Mines, Pennsylvania, USA in 1944 and has always provided enouragement and support for Karts.
Karts believes that Joe is going to be on the river with him, guiding and protecting him with every paddle stroke. The expedition canoe will have decals remembering Joe. In addition, all relevant YouTube videos and the expedition’s documentary film will be dedicated to him.
Fundraising continues as the reboot costs and inflation continue to ravage his original budget. Please visit: https://www.yukon2020.com/support
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.
You can be part of my record-attempt expedition by donating at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/frm3wy-yukon-2020-river-expedition. There is also an option to memorialize someone by dedicating the expedition and documentary film in their name. See https://www.yukon2020.com/support for more information. A detailed cost outline can be provided by upon request.
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.
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.
March 4, 2022, Sun City, AZ, USA) Members of several Yukon Territory First Nations will be padding segments of the Yukon River with Art “Karts” Huseonica this summer on his record-attempt Yukon River expedition. This aspect of the expedition will provide unique learning opportunities for Karts, ensure that he camps in indigenous territories with permission, and garner the respect of the First Nations. To learn more about this, here’s the LINK to a recent article describing this part of the expedition. The expedition is keeping its Yukon2020™ branding. The expediton is 2,020 miles long.
Updated January 6, 2022 (April 27, 2020, Arizona USA) The Yukon 2020™ team will be interacting with First Nation residents in the Yukon Territory of Canada. In Alaska, the team will be visiting select Alaska Natives’ fishing villages along the Yukon River.
In addition, Art “Karts” Huseonica will have indigenous peoples paddling with him for certain river segments. This has never been done before in modern recorded history. In some circles, it’s being referred to as The Kindness Expedition.
Karts of Sun City, Arizona USA is expected to be a good representative of a professional expedition. Besides being the right thing to do, it is in his character to be accepting of and learning about all peoples’ beliefs and way of life. He’s also sensitive to being respectful to a village leader’s decision whether or not to permit the team access to their village.
Mr. Huseonica will have already met with members of the Alaska Natives peoples and received helpful information and advice. The team will also coordinate visits with the village leaders far in advance of their anticipated arrival. Before starting their expedition on May 27, weather permitting, the team will meet with First Nation representatives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory at the Council of Yukon First Nations headquarters.
They will seek from the First Nations representatives guidance about which villages to visit for the purposes of resting and making minimal resupply food purchases. Working in the other direction, Mr. Huseonica will make inquires into what items, within cost and bulk limitations they can bring with them that the villages might need.
In Alaska, the team will be working with the Alaskan state government and the Alaska Federation of Natives. As the team moves down the river they will be in satellite contact with community leaders. Contact will be determined through the prodigious use of the State of Alaska’s community database at the Community Online Database. Similar to the Yukon Territory villages, the team will make inquires into what items to bring that the villages are in desperate need of.
Except in villages, meeting people on the river will be relatively rare. When the opportunity does presents itself, interactions with others will be a unique opportunity to learn about the people and to share with them stories and information about the team’s expedition.
Mr. Huseonica will avoid interactions if he’s feeling ill or suspect others are sick. When he visits isolated towns or fishing villages, it will be impossible to avoid people so social distancing will be practiced if conditions at that time warrant it. The team will carry an amble supply of face masks, latex gloves, sanitary wipes, and hand sanitizer with them at all times.
At remote villages, the team will be an interesting distraction to residents, and most likely bring attention to themselves since they are strangers. The team has provided this Blog link to the Canadian government to help explain plans for interactions with First Nations peoples in the Yukon Territory. The link was also provided to the Council of Yukon First Nations. And also to the US State Department to demonstrate the team’s good-faith intentions regarding interactions with Alaska Natives. The team is also in communication with the Yukon Territory’s COVID-19 Enforement Information Team and the Yukon First Nations Culture and Tourism Association.
For more information about the Yukon 2020™ expedition or to donate or sponsor, obtain naming rights to the expedition’s custom canoe, please visit www.yukon2020.com.
Arizonian Explorer 