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While it wasn't the exciting adventure I had anticipated, it was a true protrayal of a long distance canoe trip. Learning from our mistakes is what makes us a good outdoorsman and sometimes making the same mistake repeatedly makes for a funny story. The author does a fantastic job describing the efforts of their epic trip. However, don't look for a great survival story or weaving a poet view of the outdoors.
Within the first two minutes of converstaion with him, you knew you were talking with someone special. The start of this epic journey from his home in Duluth to Hudson Bay required him to carry the canoe and a pack four miles to the Lake Superior shore, before the water adventure could even get underway. Needless to say that it was a big loss for the state of Minnesota. The race to get to Hudson Bay before being trapped by the onset of winter and the thoughts of ending up in polar bear country at the finish is the timeless story of man against nature. While employed as an F-16 Fighter pilot for the Minnesota Air National Guard in Duluth, he also had a side job as a test pilot for Cirrus Aviation in the same city. The Cirrus aircraft that he was testing developed control problems and struck a building at the Duluth airport. I was one of the fortunate ones to meet Scott Anderson. The trials and tribulations are well chronicled and will make you feel that you are a part of the voyage.
To have a better appreciation of Scott Anderson's trip, it is recommended that you read Sevareid's book first. Armed with 45 pounds of Macaroni & Cheese, Scott and friend Steve Baker headed North up the big lake. A word of caution. It speaks to those who say that there are no challenges left for modern day young adults. Scott lived life to the fullest and it was reflected in the way he died. Scott and Steve were inspired by the book written in 1935 by famous newsman Eric Sevareid titled "Canoeing with the Cree".
About the book. This is an inspirational story, mixed with generous amounts of humor, and one that should be on the "must read" list for any child. Eric and friend Walter Port canoed from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay by a different route, but with the same destination. Reading these accounts may cause you to run out and purchase a large aluminum object and talk some other fool into attempting something crazy.
"Distant Fires" was published in 1990 and is the true account of a summer canoe trip from Duluth Minnesota to Hudson Bay Canada by two men in their early 20's. This book is testomony to what's in the future and beyond the horizon. More than anything else, this book speaks to the modern charisma and abilities of the author, who planned and accomplished the journey, then, wrote such a wonderful and humorous account of it. Chapter by chapter, the reader is taken to the water, along the route, and into the perspective of the adventure. It cannot be over-recommended for young and old. Thank you Scott Anderson for sharing your uncommon knowledge and insight of "Distant Fires" on earth and in our lives.
I think this book was great. It was so great because it told a true story of courage. I recommend it to anyone who wants adventure.
It reads easily, and will be an excellent choice for young as well as older readers who enjoy a good travel adventure. Where else can you read about two young men moving at the speed of a canoe paddle, going upstream, battling headwinds, eight foot waves that could easily swamp their canoe, rapids, portages through dense growth, beaver dams, and of course, mosquitos, mosquitos and more.It seems that they must have never been dry or warm over this journey that took them over three months to complete.
So, they set out in their canoe to recreate an adventure 50 years ago, by Eric Sevareid, to canoe 2000 miles, from Duluth, Minn. to the Hudson's Bay.
This is an astonishing book about two young men who want so much to have a great adventure experience before they get too old and can't go. I found myself laughing out loud in many places.
Every step along the way they encounter adversity, bugs, hardship, danger- yet they press on with a determination and will to complete this task, and win. They do so with much humor and dry wit.
But they never lost their sense of humor and never gave up, even though the odds were immense.I greatly reccommend this book. It is a wonderful inspiration to all who read the book.
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