While the Yukon River has a tremendous wilderness quality, there are many small villages along the river. Most of these are accessible only by boat. For nearly all your trip, you will be many miles from the nearest road, telephone or supply source. There are no rapids on the Yukon River in Alaska, but the river is wide, and the current is swift during the short summer canoeing season. The canoeing season is very short, and weather can be a problem any time.
Mosquitoes can be fierce.
Notwithstanding these difficulties, every summer some canoeists float the entire Yukon River from Lake Laberge to the Bering Sea. You can read about the first all-women group to complete this adventure in the book Yukon Wild written by our good friend Beth Johnson. This trip of nearly 2,000 miles took 76 days, virtually the entire canoeing season. For a shorter trip through some of the most scenic parts of the Yukon River, you might consider the 253 mile stretch from Dawson City, Yukon Territory, to Circle City Alaska. Small plane transport is frequently used to get to remote destinations.