We're back on the Yukon River
This time in St. Mary's, Alaska where the Healing Journey was born! My wife, Mary and I arrived here late yesterday evening just as the lights of this lovely village were twinkling to life. Perched on the sloping banks of the Yukon River in Western Alaska, St. Mary's will serve as our base camp for the next 10 days. Since we flew the nearly 500 air miles from Anchorage in a Cessna 206, we feel pretty fortunate that the weather was beautiful and the 3+ hour flight was smooth. Of course, that's thanks to our uber capable pilot, David - who is also the CFO of the YRITWC, the non-profit org that I direct. (Only in Alaska, right?) The temperature here now is a whopping zero degrees F, but the sky is filled with dancing green northern lights - the upside to a cold night in the Far North!
Track our progress with this GPS Tracker as we visit with friends and make new ones on this Winter Healing Journey.
We are also very excited to connect through technology and join our good buddy, Dr. John Francis, aka: the Planetwalker as he walks with a group of college students across part of Indiana. Each year, around Earth Day, John retraces a cross-country protest walk he took in the 70s after witnessing an oil spill in San Francisco Bay. The walk from one coast to the other took him 7 years - but he stopped riding in motorized vehicles for an incredible 22! We are looking forward to connecting with John and his trekkers from the rural Alaska classrooms we'll be visiting while here.
Welcome to The Healing Journey
Thanks for joining us! Now that you've arrived here - you are a part of it. We hope this site will inspire you to come out, connect with nature, connect with each other and help make this world a healthier place.
| The Healing Journey
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The Healing Journey began on the Yukon River in 2007 and has since become a global river event. Utilizing canoes to transport participants via rivers and tributaries from village to village, the Healing Journey focus is gathering traditional knowledge through stories told by river inhabitants, as well as collecting modern water-quality related scientific data along the way through adventure science and local ecological knowledge.
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| Jon Waterhouse |
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Jon Waterhouse is a Native American who was born in France, spending the majority of his formative years in Europe. His family moved back to the United States when Jon was 14, an adjustment which proved to be difficult for him. Shortly after starting high school he left home and quit school. Disobedient and rebellious, he quickly fell into a sketchy lifestyle and eventually found himself in front of a judge. The choice was Jon's; for a very serious altercation with law enforcement officials he could go to prison or he could join the military. Thus began Jon's first journey.
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"Our modern world is so disconnected from the environment, and it's hard for people to care if they don't understand it or feel that connection to it."
~Jon Waterhouse
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