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Beyond the Trees

A Journey Alone Across Canada's Arctic

ebook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 8 weeks
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 8 weeks
National bestseller
A thrilling odyssey through an unforgiving landscape, from "Canada's greatest living explorer."

In the spring of 2017, Adam Shoalts, bestselling author and adventurer, set off on an unprecedented solo journey across North America's greatest wilderness. A place where, in our increasingly interconnected, digital world, it's still possible to wander for months without crossing a single road, or even see another human being.
Between his starting point in Eagle Plains, Yukon Territory, to his destination in Baker Lake, Nunavut, lies a maze of obstacles: shifting ice floes, swollen rivers, fog-bound lakes, and gale-force storms. And Shoalts must time his departure by the breakup of the spring ice, then sprint across nearly 4,000 kilometers of rugged, wild terrain to arrive before winter closes in.
He travels alone up raging rivers that only the most expert white-water canoeists dare travel even downstream. He must portage across fields of jagged rocks that stretch to the horizon, and navigate labyrinths of swamps, tormented by clouds of mosquitoes every step of the way. And the race against the calendar means that he cannot afford the luxuries of rest, or of making mistakes. Shoalts must trek tirelessly, well into the endless Arctic summer nights, at times not even pausing to eat.
But his reward is the adventure of a lifetime.
Heart-stopping, wonder-filled, and attentive to the majesty of the natural world, Beyond the Trees captures the ache for adventure that afflicts us all.
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    • Library Journal

      September 13, 2019

      To mark his country's 150th anniversary in 2017, Shoalts, "Canada's Indiana Jones," had an ambitious plan to cross the Arctic solo, heading west to east, from the Yukon to Nunavut, distance of some 2,500 miles, or 4,000 kilometers. It takes him four months, with many 13-hour days in his canoe, paddling the powerful Mackenzie River upstream, using a pole to push his canoe through the ice on Great Bear Lake, portaging for miles at several points with canoe and supplies, wading and hauling his canoe through Coppermine River rocks and rapids, and, near the end, battling the frigid winds and waves of the Dismal Lakes. The dangers and irritants are legion: grizzlies, muskox, swarms of biting insects, and risks of damage to canoe and equipment. The most worrisome, though, is time with the short Arctic summer allowing slim margins for mishap or lingering. The prose is lean, muscular--readers feel every paddle stroke. Those looking for introspection or meditations on the landscape will be disappointed, though Arctic flora and fauna are noted, as are the explorers who went before.

      VERDICT Outdoor enthusiasts will enjoy the author's sheer athleticism and technical aspects of his feat, while armchair adventurers can marvel at the far north's natural beauties.--Robert Eagan, Windsor P.L., Ont.

      Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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