In the Wake

Disillusioned with the boundaries of wilderness parks, two paddlers in one canoe sought wilderness that was wild by nature, not by law. In 1991, they loaded a canoe with food for three months and paddled away from the end of the road toward the most remote spot on the continent. After 80 grueling days, they returned, having found their deep wilderness and seen the imprints of past cultures who once called the Canadian north home. Nostalgic about times past, they could not know that they, too, witnessed the end of an era before the information revolution took hold. In the Wake is their story about deep wilderness in those end times.

"In the Wake carries the reader deep into the canoe county of northern Canada, from the boreal forest to the Barren Lands and back again. A pencil line tracing the route used by Jim and Laurie McNamara in 1991 wouldn't do their trip justice. Neither would straightforward numbers: two people, one seventeen-foot-long canoe, eighty days of travel, 850 pounds of food and equipment, and one thousand miles of portaging and paddling. Instead, you must read the book-and in doing so, grab a taste of their adventure, experience the numbing weariness of hauling a 100-pound pack across a trailless portage, feel the ecstasy of sinking deeply into wilderness, and understand the uncertainty of not knowing where your route might take you, in the era before GPS devices and satellite phones made wilderness travel a less challenging undertaking than it is today."

-Christopher Norment, author of In the North of Our Lives: A Year in the Wilderness of Northern Canada and Return to Warden's Grove: Science, Desire, and the Lives of Sparrows

"In a somewhat insane canoe route, Jim and Laurie McNamara's journey harkens back to that time across the divide, before GPS, In Reach devices, and Gaia pinpointing locations. Back to a time of 1:250,000 maps that leave A LOT out. Back to severing the umbilical cord with society, only reconnecting after re-emergence from the wilds. Their travel account and historical asides were a lovely immersion for me, steeped in that endless space, vibrant with energy, infused with youthful vigor, and anchored in reverence. I recognize kindred spirits in these pages and am thankful for the company. Kudos to their partnership, shared sentiments, and lives forged in the wake of those experiences."

-Alan Kesselheim, Author of Water and Sky, Going Inside, and Let Them Paddle