North American Odyssey: 12,000 Miles Across the Continent by Kayak, Canoe, and Dogsled

(Hardback)

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From the acclaimed authors of A Year in the Wilderness, an extraordinary account of a 12,000-mile, human-powered journey across the continent, and of how the authors experiences along the way awakened a deep commitment to environmental activism

In 2010, Amy and Dave Freeman married and set out on an unusual honeymoon: a 12,000 mile, human-powered journey across North America. They begin in the Pacific Northwest, kayaking up the Inside Passage to Alaska, navigating tidal rapids and encountering sea lions and majestic humpback whales. In Skagway, they trade their kayaks for backpacks, retracing the path taken by prospectors in the Klondike Gold Rush. They canoe the Yukon, Blackstone, Peel, and Mackenzie Rivers, navigating whitewater rapids and avoiding grizzly bears and moose. From the Northwest Territories in Canada, they dogsled south across the frozen landscape, skiing and snowshoeing stretches through blizzards accented by howling wolves, then resume travel on interconnected waterways, paddling along the routes taken by voyageurs centuries before, migrating tundra swans high above. They paddle kayaks across Lake Superior, through the Soo Locks, and down the Saint Lawrence River, dodging seals, container ships, and fishing boats. Finally, they descend the Atlantic seaboard mostly along the Intracoastal Waterway, their journey interrupted for a few days by Hurricane Sandy, then paddle across the Suwannee River and through Everglades National Park, with manatees, alligators, and sharks, before emerging into Florida Bay and concluding the expedition in Key West.

Experienced wilderness travelersthey were named Adventurers of the Year by National Geographic in 2014the Freemans completed this extraordinary odyssey over the better part of three years. Along the way they meet Indigenous water protectors and subsistence hunters and encounter painful signs of the legacy of colonization and environmental degradation: remote beaches covered with plastic, retreating glaciers, mountainsides stripped clean of all trees, infernal forest fires, Indigenous communities flooded by dams. Listening with humility to the land and those who live in close relation to it, and stopping to visit school assemblies and share online content with the Wilderness Classroom, a nonprofit organization providing resources for environmental education, the Freemans gain confidence along the way in their ability to survive in wild places, but they also come to feel increasingly small as human beings, mindful of our place in life on Earth.

At once an extraordinary adventure story and a clarion call for change in the way we live, North American Odyssey is an essential book for our times.

Reviews

Praise for A Year in the Wilderness

Named one of Twenty Big Indie Books of Fall 2017 byPublishers Weekly

For 365 days in 2015 and 2016, the Freemans lived in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, paddling a canoe or towing a toboggan from campsite to campsite. They fell through the ice. They were trailed by wolves. They drank from the lakes. Mostly, they bore witness.Minneapolis Star Tribune
Gorgeous [. . . the Freemans] words are complemented by an outstanding selection of photographs that immerse the reader in the watery landscape, making an indelible impact.Canoe & Kayak

Through evocative personal narrative and nature photography, the Freemans [. . .] speak with a single attentive and amiable voice that centers the joys and challenges of navigating the land and water. . . . Gorgeous color photographs focus on the human experience of being in wilderness and augment a novel work that should draw attention to the plight of the Boundary Waters.Publishers Weekly

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is among our nations great natural treasures. It is also fragile, and increasingly threatened by the prospect of sulfide-ore copper mining. At this moment in our history, when calls are growing to privatize public lands and weaken national parks, adventurers Amy and Dave Freeman spent a year in the Boundary Waters, experiencing its singular beauty and advocating for its preservation. In this extraordinary book, they have done us all an invaluable service, offering a wonderfully compelling testimony for the value of wild places and the creatures who inhabit them. I urge you to read it, and then to join the Freemans in advocating for the preservation of the Boundary Waters.Vice President Walter Mondale

Recounting their adventure in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Amy and Dave Freeman offer a compelling tale about the beauty as well as the brutal challenges of living a year in this northern wildernessone of our nations very first areas protected by the Wilderness Act of 1964. Their first-hand observations about the wild, the land ethic, and threats to this natural heritage build on a long tradition. Exemplifying a new generation of outdoors writer-adventurers, the Freemans infuse excitement and energy into the wilderness canon crafted by Mardy and Olaus Murie, Sigurd Olson, and other champions in earlier generations who have done so much to protect our wild places by describing them with a keen eye and a passionate heart.Jamie Williams, President, The Wilderness Society

Heres the story of a great adventure in one of the planets most gorgeous wildernessesand with high stakes at risk in a fight to stave off a truly gross assault on its integrity. So many reasons to read this book!Bill McKibben, author ofWandering Home

Although my adventures have taken me to both ends of the earth, I share with Amy and Dave Freeman the same life-affirming natural centerpoint for physical and spiritual sustenance: Minnesotas Boundary Waters wilderness. While I occasionally get to taste the wonders of this pristine place, they got to live and breathe it for a full year. The depth of their insights in this remarkable book reflects the intensity of their extraordinary experience and their love for this amazing national treasure.Ann Bancroft

All-in-all this is a fantastic narrative, with something for every outdoor-loving reader. The descriptions of the wilderness in four seasons will make nature-lovers happy. Stories of the gear, sled dogs and campings constant problem-solving will please experienced trekkers. And there is a note of nostalgia in the effort, proof that a man and a woman can leave the city behind and make a difference in the world.Dave and Amy Freeman understand something very significantthat an iconic object such as a canoe can make a strong political statement, in this case in opposition to sulfide-ore mining in a pristine wildernessmuch like an earlier American hero, Woody Guthrie, used his guitar to fight fascism. This land, they all say, is your land.Mark Neuzil, coauthor ofCanoes: A Natural History in North America

Author Bio

Amy and Dave Freeman are the authors of North American Odyssey. They have traveled over 50,000 miles through some of the worlds wildest places, from the Amazon to the Arctic. They were named Adventurers of the Year by National Geographicin 2014, and they are also the authors of A Year in the Wilderness, an award-winning book about the year they spent in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. When they arent on expeditions, their sailboat, or speaking tours, they are based in Ely, Minnesota, where they organize and lead canoe and dogsled trips.