Media Coverage

One man walks across America to help others

Jenna Schnuer
December 11, 2005


After being diagnosed with congestive heart failure at 52, Carlin "Buckwheat" Donahue of rural Skagway, Alaska (population 862), decided to start walking his way to a healthier life. On his early treks, "I tried to remember every date I'd ever had," the gregarious Donahue, 54, says. "You think about first loves, lost loves and missed opportunities. I reviewed my whole life. Sometimes, I even talked to [people I've lost] out loud." FULL STORY



Alaska man trekking across continent for clinic

Samantha L. Thomas
Daily Mail staff
Tuesday January 10, 2006

An Alaskan man walking and kayaking cross-continent from Miami, Fla., back to his hometown is passing through Charleston this week with more than 1,000 walking miles under his belt. FULL STORY
Courtesy of Charleston Daily Mail





Man stops to see Flyers while taking walk to Alaska

With the University of Dayton men's basketball having a season about as exciting as Orville Wright's suits, it has to be a real fan who would walk hundreds of miles to a game. But that's what Carlin "Buckwheat" Donahue did Wednesday night. Sort of. FULL STORY
Courtesy of Dayton Daily News





IN FOR THE LONG HAUL

Jenna Schnuer
American Way Magazine
January 15th, 2006


Carlin “Buckwheat” Donahue could have done without the heat and humidity that still owned Miami in early October. When you’re a resident of Skagway, Alaska, it’s not like you live for hot weather. But his route was set, and if he was going to make it back to Alaska by Labor Day 2006, he’d just have to deal with it. When you’re about to walk 5,500 miles and paddle another 2,400 by canoe and sea kayak, a bit of discomfort is to be expected. So October 1 and the Miami heat it was. FULL STORY
Courtesy of American Way Magazine

Donahue hopes to raise $125,000 for Skagway medical clinic

Jason Steele

February 11, 2006

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Anyone who was in Chicago Feb. 6 and saw Carlin "Buckwheat" Donahue strutting down Chicago's famed Lakeshore Drive with his backpack would have seen little sign of his past struggles with diabetes, his heart and injured feet. FULL STORY


Alaskan walks for hospital fundraiser

Dan Hinkel
Janesville Gazette
February 14, 2006

DELAVAN-Buckwheat Donahue cut an alien figure Monday, walking along Highway 11 on the desolate, wind-ripped planet of nude cornfields that is western Walworth County in February. Drivers who blew past him didn't know they weren't passing a tough-luck drifter. They were passing Buckwheat, a howling ball of boisterous enthusiasm, on the 136th day of a cross-continental charity stroll. FULL STORY

Alaskan walks through Morrison County on his way home

Tina Snell
Morrison County Record
March 21, 2006

Carlin Donahue, or best known as Buckwheat by his friends, is walking from Miami, FL to Nome, AK to raise money for a new clinic in Skagway, AK. Not only does the Kenny Rogers look-alike want to improve the clinic with new equipment through donations, but he also wants to help build a whole new clinic. FULL STORY

Stolen bike and health troubles don't keep man from epic trek

If you're driving the Alaska Highway this month, be on the lookout for two things:
A thief pedaling -- or more likely, peddling -- a Specialist Crossroads hybrid bicycle. And a silver-bearded bear of a man walking and hitchhiking his way north in a quest for better health for both himself and the people of his beloved Skagway. FULL STORY

Note: after this story appeared Buckwheat since has had another bike donated by the City of Fort St. John.

Walking with Buckwheat

Jeff Brady
Skagway News

I’ve been following the Heartbeat Trail all winter, probably closer than anyone. After all, that’s my best friend out there on the long and winding road. It’s been a strange relationship these past eight months. My usual twice weekly winter lunches with Skagway’s Buckwheat Donahue have been replaced with e-mails or phone calls along the entire length of his route from Miami on up to the Yukon, so I can pass on information and photos to the website crafters at PR Services. FULL STORY

Paddling with Buckwheat on the Heartbeat Trail

Observations from the Yukon River by Jeff Brady
Skagway News
I am on the road again on Monday, June 12, this time to meet up with Buckwheat in Carmacks, Yukon for part of the paddling portion of his Heartbeat Trail journey on the Yukon River. I had delivered his canoe from Kanoe People at the start of the Teslin River in Johnson’s Crossing the previous Thursday, and he was due into Carmacks, about 200 miles down river, that day. We had a great send-off at JC with Bob Ward, Dottie Demark and Elaine Brummett of Skagway, and Cindy Murray, the JC proprietor who made lemon tarts every morning for Buckwheat during his stay there getting ready for the river. FULL STORY

Rollin' on the river

Casey Grove
Anchorage Press
After walking all the way from Miami to Johson's Crossing, Yukon Territory and paddling a canoe down the Yukon River to Galena, Skagway's Buckwheat Donahue has been on the road or the river for about 300 days now and he says he's even lost some weight. FULL STORY