Yukon Wild: The Adventures of Four Texas Women Who Paddled 2,000 Miles through America’s Last Frontier
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Beth Johnson
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Houston Canoe Club is delighted to welcome back one of our most popular speakers and topics since her first presentation 30+ years ago, Beth Johnson presenting “Yukon Wild: The Adventures of Four Texas Women Who Paddled 2,000 Miles through America’s Last Frontier.” A Dallasite, Johnson led the 1982 Texas Women’s Yukon River Expedition, the first all-female group to descend the length of Canada and Alaska’s Yukon River in muscle-powered craft. She narrates a lively and humorous slide show highlighting the adventures and escapades of the 76-day canoe trip by four women who were experienced paddlers and wilderness campers but who had never set foot in Alaska or grizzly country, nor canoed longer than two weeks at a stretch or more than two days together as a group.
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She will also autograph and sell new unused copies of her acclaimed book about the adventure, Yukon Wild, an out-of-print collector’s item since 1994 following ten years in print by Berkshire Traveller Press (400 pages trade paperback, with B&W photos, bibliography and index, $25 including tax). In addition to a fast-paced “you-are-there” account of the fun-filled expedition from inspiration to welcome-home celebration, it includes a meticulous, one-of-a-kind 25-page “Yukon River Guide and Logistics Summary” with indispensable section-by-section info on village or waypoint services and river mileages and paddle times between them, as well as detailed info and advice about river and wilderness characteristics by section, boat type considerations, trip timing and budget, put-in/takeout and other transportation logistics, maps/permits/safety/weather, food types/weight/space/resupply logistics, and clothing, equipment, and medical supplies taken on the trip. The first-hand account and its information have inspired and guided paddlers from Utah to New England to Alaska, and its cover includes high praise from Congressman Morris Udall, sponsor of the nation’s largest wildlands protection bill, the Alaska lands bill; Michael Frome, noted outdoor writer; Texas’ own Sissy Farenthold, former Texas legislator and gubernatorial candidate, lawyer, and educator; and Celia Hunter, prominent Alaska wilderness advocate.
Beth served as professional staff and/or consultant for the Alaska Lands Coalition, Sierra Club and other non-profit environmental advocacy organizations in Texas, Southern Plains, and Washington, D.C. for 29 years. Since 2005 she has been a full-time Dallas-based Realtor with an added specialty and consultancy in green building—directly helping North Texas clients buy, build, rent, sell or upgrade their homes, and vetting and referring clients to qualified agents elsewhere throughout the world.