Exhausted paddlers finish historic Yukon River trip in dugout canoe

Ten paddlers in a Tlingit cedar dugout canoe completed a historic Yukon River journey from Whitehorse to Moosehide near Dawson City Thursday.

• 'Healing canoe' begins historic journey down Yukon River

The canoe and paddlers left Whitehorse on July 20 and organizers said it's the first time in over a century a dugout canoe has made the 700 kilometre journey to Moosehide.    

"I would like to welcome, it's a great honour and privilege to welcome you all here to Moosehide Gathering 2016," Chief Joseph said.

"Mahsi Cho for coming and making this a meaningful strong journey for all our people across the Yukon and elsewhere."

The voyage was one of healing for paddler Wayne Carlick, who said he's recovering from the death of his daughter on Easter Sunday.

"There were so many things to experience, not only the beautiful country that we went through, every turn was different, the rain, the environment, it just never let up on us as it pushed us to the limit of our strength," Carlick said.

"We were hungry, and we were sleeping under the trees with nothing to eat. We were angry about things, we were also enjoying every moment we were in the canoe."