"Beyond the Trees: A Journey Alone Across Canada's Arctic" (Adam Shoalts, 2020)
In 2017, to celebrate Canada's sesquicentennial anniversary, Adam Shoalts travelled across the Canadian Arctic. This book chronicles his journey.
Shoalts' expedition is one of the greatest feats of exploration of the 21st century. He travelled nearly 4,000 kilometers across the far north. Shoalts started in Eagle Plains in May (as winter retreated) and, through hiking, canoeing and portaging, he reached Baker Lake in September (as the long, cold, dark Arctic winter threatened to return). Although some people paddle downstream along these remote rivers, Shoalts spent much of the expedition going upstream. To make things even more challenging, Shoalts did the journey alone. Aside from three supply drops, he was self-sufficient throughout the entire four months.
During his expedition, Shoalts faced a number of challenges, including encounters with dangerous wildlife (grizzly bears, muskox, and wolves), icy lakes that prevented him from canoeing, impenetrable swamps, rapids and waterfalls, vicious swarms of insects, navigational difficulties, and thunderstorms and heavy wind that forced him to stay put. Shoalts (who, in addition to being an adventurer, also holds a doctorate degree) is a methodical problem solver. He often talks about the upsides and risks to his planned courses of action. In this sense, he reminds me of author and legendary Himalayan mountaineer Ed Viesturs (who also makes careful, well-reasoned decisions under dangerous circumstances).
The majority of the book consists of detailed descriptions of the ever-changing landscape, and accounts of the obstacles Shoalts encounters. I suspect this approach was taken for two reasons. First, producing such a thorough report should allow Shoalts to prove to any doubters that he did, in fact, complete this journey. Second, he mentioned that, while planning his trip, he found little information about many of the rivers he visited. (For example, in one case, he found that the landscape was so different from an account that was published in the 1970's, he speculated that the authors may not have even visited that area). Thus, Shoalts' book could serve as a guide for anyone brave enough to do this journey in the future (though it would have been helpful to have more than a single map in the book).
Unfortunately, I found the book's heavy emphasis on factual descriptions detrimental. I appreciate Shoalts' thoroughness, but I began losing interest after reading about his umpteenth encounter with rapids. Similarly, the considerable detail about his paddling techniques, although interesting at first, grew wearisome after 21 chapters. The deviations from his normal routines (such as the very infrequent encounters with other people, or tales about the region's often harsh history) quickly became my favourite parts. Although there were some reflections on solitude and the tranquility of nature, I wish Shoalts spent more time talking about how the journey affected him psychologically. (Generally, he seemed to maintain a positive attitude throughout - but after reading the book, I'm not clear on what his low points were, or how four months of nearly complete isolation from other humans impacted him).
The expedition itself is a staggering accomplishment. I enjoyed the book, even though I found it repetitive at times. It's quite possible that another 150 years will pass before someone else attempts the same route.
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