Imagine living in a tent for 100 days in the middle of the wilderness. Now picture your tent bolted to a huge wooden raft, set adrift on one of the longest wild rivers on the planet. Creature comforts quickly become a thing of the past, as you leave behind the luxury of running water and the comfort of a toilet. The river will present many obstacles, not the least of which is the constant onslaught of relentless mosquitoes. And yet you continue on, eating, sleeping and living on this floating microcosm, making daily sacrifices in order to contribute to the greater good of both the group and to the ultimate success of the journey. The River knows itself; it is the rafter that has much to learn in order to safely navigate the ever-changing current and the vast unknown obstacles that lay ahead.

For Brett Rogers and his eight-crew mates, this was their real life adventure as they set out to build a raft and take on the mighty current of the Yukon River. The Yukon River is a sparsely populated and relatively undisturbed wilderness that runs from Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, for 3000 km to the Bering Sea at the edge of Alaska in the United States of America.

Equipped with two video cameras and a box of mini DV tapes to capture the journey, Brett and his team pushed out of Whitehorse on their 48-foot long raft with an unbridled sense of adventure and the cameras rolling. The team's mission was to raft a distance of 3000 km's (Next Column)

(equivalent to the distance between Toronto, Canada to Kingston, Jamaica) completely independent of the use of fossil fuels. Only the power of the mighty current would dictate their course. Solar power would charge the camera equipment and the occasional ipod, leaving two giant sweeper oars to steer the raft around snags, sweepers and sandbars.

Once on the river, the crew is quickly tested when the melting spring ice transforms the Yukon River into an unstoppable gauntlet of rushing water and floating debris. The speed of the current would make it impossible to steer the raft inland and for forty hours the river holds the raft and crew in its grip. Deeper into their journey river conditions dramatically change. A sudden drop in the river forces the raft onto dry land and the team is faced with difficult decisions and backbreaking solutions. With each challenge, the team pulls closer together, determined not so much to conquer the river as to become, if only briefly, a part of it.

Along the river the crew encounters a tapestry of characters including many Native Americans who take the time to share their unique perspective of life in the North. In Whitehorse, Native artists offer to paint the rafts' tent, creating a beautiful mural of artwork, further connecting the crew to the true spirit of the North. (Scroll down to read more...)

Native fisherman share fresh King Salmon providing the team with a welcome break from their regular vegetarian diet of rice and lentils.

The adventure continues to unfold in Fort Yukon, Alaska. It is here that the team learns of the recent death of Traditional Chief of the Gwich’in people, Jonathan Solomon. Chief Solomon was a leading voice for the protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge, threatened to be opened up for oil development, a proposal that is supported by George W. Bush and his corporate buddies would destroy America's last wilderness. The refuge is the breeding ground for the famed Porcupine Caribou herd. This herd of 100,000 animals, spends their winters in Canada before migrating to Alaska to calve. For millennia the caribou have provided the Gwich’in people with a vital source of food, clothing and cultural meaning. The crew, honored by an invitation to stay the week to attend the Chiefs’ funeral, gain a first-hand look inside a thriving, yet threatened Native culture. (Next Column)

Fort Yukon serves as the half-way point of the adventure, as time marches on, the team must continue on their way. As August approaches the temperature cools and the weather turns hostile. Progress comes to a stand still as the result of the strong winds of the Bering Sea but nothing could prepare the team for the grisly discovery trapped beneath their raft in the middle of a dark Alaskan night.

100 Days on the Yukon resonates to a time long past while at the same time capturing the modern implications that put a human face to the changes transforming life in the North. This true-life adventure was captured without a production crew or even a modest budget. The film presents genuine insight into a journey on one of world's greatest rivers and serves as a reminder that adventure, isolation and solitude can still be realized, even among a crowded planet of 6.7 billion people.