Book Review: Alone Against The North

(*Spoilers ahead* If you don't know the premise of the book)

Adam Shoalts made headlines back in 2013 when he accidentally stumbled upon a waterfall while exploring Ontario's Northern backcountry. It was quite a discovery, especially in an age of digital surveillance, you would think there was nothing left to discover. You're just a few clicks away from zooming in to Adam's route on Google Earth and lo and behold even with 2015 data... no waterfalls are visible.

No high-resolution data here!

Adam Shoalts yearned to paddle the Again River and Alone Against the North is his firsthand account of what it took to get to the river, the stumbling blocks throughout his journey, and what he encountered along the way.

His adventure starts the same way I'm sure any of our adventures start... staring at maps. While I'm sure we've all fought off clouds of mosquitoes, spent nights shivering in our tents, and slogged through waist deep muck to get to deeper water, that's where the similarities end. Our adventures wrap-up after anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, where as Adam's quest brought him back three times over the course of numerous years to try and conquer his goal. There were no route maps, no trail markers, and definitely no portage path to walk along (at one point he even mentions the 153 km of bog he waded through just to get to deeper water so he could paddle again). The best resource he had were geographical papers and cartographers maps (made from black and white aerial photographs) from the 60's & early 70's to have some bearing as to where he was at all.

Adam is a true adventurer and even more of a marvel is that his final trip to conquer the Again was purely solo! There are a few times in the book where he comes off as a little egotistical. He lambasts his friends who didn't have the eternal drive to keep up with him, and throws caution to the wind numerous times in his blind pursuit...  but you have to hand it to a guy who's personal drive helped him push past injury and mental fatigue to accomplish what no other recorded person has done.

So what made paddling the Again such an enduring goal for Adam? "Because no one I knew had ever canoed it.". While it is completely possible that the Again had already been discovered by aboriginal explorers, the thrill of this story comes in the journey. I think we all dream of doing something like this, and Adam's book tells a grand tale that is both captivating, and quite remarkable. It would have been nice if he included some of the photos that he took along the way, but the book is an enjoyable read and well worth your time! I'm sure Alone Against the North will spark your sense of adventure while reading about Adam's journey in a shallow 13' canoe deep within Canada's North.

Purchase Alone Against the North at your local bookstore, or online at Chapters/Indigo, Amazon.ca, Apple iBooks, and Google Play.