Sun City resident Art “Karts” Huseonica’s attempt to become the oldest person to paddle the length of the Yukon River came up short again.
“I’m totally devastated to make this decision,” he stated in a Facebook message to the Independent. “It wasn’t made in a vacuum, but relying on official organizations and local elders here in St Mary’s and Emmonak, Alaska.”
Huseonica was within 100 miles of the Bering Sea, the end point of his nearly 2,020-mile expedition from Bennett Lake in the Yukon Territory of Canada to the Bering Sea. The trip was twice postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, then was aborted in 2022 due to extreme flooding after he had paddled only 250 miles. This year’s trip ended when a rescue helicopter pilot visit his campsite.
