ROWING THEYUKON.

Source to sea. One rowing boat down the entire
length of the Yukon River, to the Bering Sea coast.

Explore the route

01 — The challenge

EVERY MILE,UNDER OARS.

Project Yukon is my attempt to row the Yukon River from end to end. It starts among the glacier-fed headwater lakes of north-west Canada, crosses the Yukon Territory, cuts the full width of Alaska and finishes where the river empties into the Bering Sea — the cold water that separates North America from Asia.

There are no shortcuts on a river like this. Almost none of it is reachable by road, the season between ice-out and freeze-up is short, and the only way to the finish is to keep pulling downstream, day after day, until the banks fall away and the water turns to salt.

3,190km
Length of the river
1,980 miles, source to sea
2
Countries crossed
Canada and the United States
66°33′N
The river touches the
Arctic Circle at Fort Yukon
4
Road bridges in
the last 2,500 km

02 — The route

FROM THE LAKESTO THE SEA.

  1. 01

    The headwater lakes

    Atlin, Tagish and Marsh lakes in British Columbia and the southern Yukon. Flat, glacier-cold water with no current to help, and wind that decides the day.

    Atlin Lake → Whitehorse
  2. 02

    The Klondike reach

    Across the long, exposed fetch of Lake Laberge, through Five Finger Rapids and on to the gold-rush town of Dawson City, following the route the stampeders took in 1898.

    Whitehorse → Dawson City · ≈ 715 km
  3. 03

    Across the border and the Flats

    Into Alaska at Eagle, then the Yukon Flats — a maze of braided channels and islands where the river spreads miles wide and brushes the Arctic Circle at Fort Yukon.

    Dawson City → Dalton Highway bridge · ≈ 885 km
  4. 04

    The lower river

    Past Tanana, Ruby, Galena and Kaltag, where the river is a mile across and the villages are days apart. Big water, big headwinds and no road out.

    Dalton Highway bridge → Mountain Village
  5. 05

    The delta and the coast

    The river splits into a fan of channels across the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta. The row ends past Emmonak, where the current finally gives out into the Bering Sea.

    Mountain Village → Bering Sea

03 — The river

WHAT THE RIVERASKS FOR.

A

Cold water

Fed by glaciers and snowmelt, the Yukon stays cold all summer. A capsize far from the bank is the single most serious risk on the river.

B

Wind

On Lake Laberge and the wide lower river, an upstream wind can raise steep waves in minutes and stop a rowing boat dead.

C

Braids and silt

Through the Flats the main channel moves from year to year. Pick wrong and you are dragging a boat over gravel bars in grey, silt-thick water.

D

Distance from help

For most of its length the river has no road beside it. Resupply comes from small villages; anything else has to already be in the boat.

E

Wildlife

Grizzly and black bear, moose and wolves share every bank and island. Camps are kept clean and food is kept well away from where you sleep.

F

The clock

The river is only open between spring break-up and autumn freeze-up. Every slow day upstream is borrowed from the weather at the coast.

04 — Follow

FOLLOW ITTO THE SEA.

Dates, the boat, live tracking and how to support
the row will all be posted here as they are confirmed.