Canoeing a Continent: On the Trail of Alexander Mackenzie

Canoeing a Continent: On the Trail of Alexander Mackenzie

by Max Finkelstein
Canoeing a Continent: On the Trail of Alexander Mackenzie

Canoeing a Continent: On the Trail of Alexander Mackenzie

by Max Finkelstein

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Overview

A highly personal account of the travels of Max Finkelstein as he retraces, some two hundred years later, the route of Alexander Mackenzie, the first European to cross North America (1793). Mackenzie’s water trail is now commemorated as the Alexander Mackenzie Voyageur Route.

More than just a travelogue of a canoe trip across Canada, this is an account that crosses more than two centuries. It is an exploration into the heart and mind of Alexander Mackenzie, the explorer, and Max Finkelstein, the "Voyageur-in-Training." Using Mackenzie’s journals and his own journal writings, the author creates a view of the land from two vantage points. The author retraced the route of Alexander Mackenzie across North America from Ottawa through to Cumberland House, Saskatchewan, and paddled the Blackwater, Fraser and Peace Rivers, completing the trip in 1999. This route is the most significant water trail in North America, and perhaps the world.

"A ’must-read’ for everyone who loves wild places and the magic of canoes."

- Cliff Jacobson, Outdoor Writer&Consultant

"Past and present collide in this journey of discovery across the map of Canada. Max craves the extremes. He relishes in coping with what nature throws at him, punishing himself to find his physical limits and experiencing firsthand the inherent dangers in such a voyage. With Alexander Mackenzie as his guide and inspiration, Max finds the strength to carry on against all odds to forge poignant historical and personal links in this incredible cross-Canada paddling odyssey."

- Becky Mason, Artist and Paddler, Chelsea, Quebec


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781770706347
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Publication date: 03/21/2005
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 312
File size: 8 MB

About the Author

Paddler, author, environmentalist and raconteur, Max Finkelstein works as the Communications Officer for the Canadian Heritage Rivers System, Canada’s national program for river conservation. When he is not speaking about, writing about, or otherwise promoting Canada’s river heritage, Max can usually be found paddling on a river. He has paddled over 22,000 kilometres in North America, Europe, Africa and Australia. His first book, Canoeing a Continent: On the Trail of Alexander Mackenzie, which described his experiences retracing the historic first crossing of North America by a European, was released by Natural Heritage in 2002. Paddling the Boreal Forest: Rediscovering A.P. Low, an extraordinary project undertaken with his friend and paddling partner James Stone, sent the two of them to northern Quebec to retrace and experience first-hand the routes of geologist, map-maker and explorer A.P. Low.

Max and his wife, Connie Downes, live in Ottawa, where they are introducing their son, Isaac Thelon, to a life of travelling on and learning about rivers.


Paddler, author, environmentalist and raconteur, Max Finkelstein works as the Communications Officer for the Canadian Heritage Rivers System, Canada's national program for river conservation. When he is not speaking about, writing about, or otherwise promoting Canada's river heritage, Max can usually be found paddling on a river. He has paddled over 22,000 kilometres in North America, Europe, Africa and Australia.

Table of Contents

Forewordix
Acknowledgmentsxi
Prefacexii
Introduction to the Journeys1
1.Mackenzie and Canada3
2.Crossing Canada by Canoe: A Brief History12
Part IOttawa to Cumberland House, May-July 1997
3.Getting Ready29
4.Up the Ottawa: Road to the Pays d'en haut38
5.Over to Georgian Bay52
6.Georgian Bay to Lake Superior60
7.Superior: The Rugged Northern Shore68
8.The Boundary Waters87
9.Winnipeg: River and Lake104
10.Grand Rapids to Cumberland House113
Part IIBella Coola to Fort Chipewyan, May-July 1998
11.Getting Ready ... Again129
12.Bella Coola to Eliguk Lake: The Long Portage134
13.Down the Blackwater: River of No Return145
14.Up the Fraser: A River of Liquid Mountains156
15.Over the Continental Divide: Paddling across the Roof of Canada163
16.Down the Mighty Peace: A Long and Winding Road178
Part IIIFort McMurray to Cumberland House, August-September 1999
17.Getting Ready: The Last Leg209
18.Up the Clearwater: Link to the North213
19.Down the Mighty Churchill: River of the Lonely Land227
20.Sturgeon-Weir: The Road Home245
21.Reflections259
Appendix AWhat to Take263
Appendix BMaking Bannock269
Appendix CIf You Go270
Appendix DIf You Want to Go Farther275
Notes277
Credits for Visuals282
Annotated Bibliography283
Index286
About the Author298
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