I was walking around the neighborhood a week or so ago and bumped into my neighbor who told me about this book he read about a guy who paddled across northern Canada from the Yukon to Hudson Bay. I mentioned that I had been to the NorthWest Territories and Nunavut fishing which was just south of where Adam paddled.
Could I borrow your book?
Wow, I could not put this book down. For anyone who loves the outdoors, this is some amazing insight to a part of the world few people will ever see. The northern part of Canada is special and I have been fortunate enough to have been fishing there over the years. Kasba Lodge on Kasba Lake in the NW Territories is the furthest north I have ever been. One year we even took a float plane to a fly-out camp they have on an even more remote lake. From that lake we we fished a north-flowing river for Arctic Grayling that went in to Ennadai Lake in Nunavut, the gateway to Hudson Bay (after a few more rivers and lakes). Spectacular country.
But this is nothing compared to what Adam Shoalts did.
He started his journey in May 2017 in the Yukon waiting for the ice to break up and ended on Baker Lake in Nunavut in September, over 4,000 kilometers (2500 miles for us Americans) later.
He paddled from the Yukon, up the Mackenzie River. Yes, UP! Across to Great Bear Lake the 8th largest lake in the world and in July was still partially iced over, across more rivers and lakes to again paddle UP the Coppermine River, eventually ending up at Baker Lake at the mouth of Hudson Bay. The solitude and beauty of the tundra with its unique wildlife is a story to be remembered.
Needless to say, he saw few people on this journey but lots of grizzly bears, moose, musk ox, bird life, and more.
For anyone who loves the outdoors, fellow canoe-trippers and backpackers, you should read this book. He does a great job at describing the country, animals, solitude and weaves in some occasional understated humor to keep you going 🙂
Once a black bear was not happy with him and the bear would not leave. So he yelled, banged his paddles on the canoe which was sitting next to his tent and finally decided to shoot one of his four “bangers” to scare this bear away. A “banger” goes off as a flare in the sky and then booms, like a shotgun, very loud, and it had worked to get a musk ox to move away already. “…the bear barely flinched. He remained exactly where he was, starring straight at me with an icy look in his dark eyes. Apparently, bears don’t find bear bangers as frightening as muskox do”.
One of my favorite books in a long time.