The Yukon River has been called the world’s longest museum. This makes it the perfect setting for River Time, Whitehorse author John Firth’s paean to the Klondike.

Firth is president of the Yukon River Marathon Paddling Association, and River Time chronicles his participation in the 1997 race from Dyea, Alaska, to Dawson City, Yukon Territory, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the gold rush. Many of the participants in the race are typical of the extreme athletes who commonly push their bodies and minds to the limit in various wilderness events. The rest seek a more spiritual challenge, and Firth finds his in relating his activities to the past.

The bulk of the book outlines the modern experience and catalogues the difficulties overcome and pain suffered. It is entertainingly written and filled with interesting tales and asides. Unfortunately, a bewildering number of other racers and local inhabitants, along with numerous time jumps to historical incidents and past personal experiences, confuse the narrative.

What sets River Time apart are the occasional letters and poems written by T. A. Firth, the author’s grandfather, as he travelled the same route in the 1890s. The letters are fictional, the originals having been lost in a fire, but they ring true to the time and include poems that, although they fall short of great literature, give the reader a sense of a different time and set of experiences.

Despite the hardships suffered by the author, the star of River Time is T. A. Firth, who did the trip without Gore-Tex or freeze-dried food. There is not enough of his voice, fictionalized as it is, in the book, but there is probably enough here to appeal to armchair northerners, gold rush aficionados, and adventure canoeists.