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An Adirondack Passage: The Cruise of the Canoe Sairy Gamp
This book chronicles two journeys. In 1883, G. W. Sears ("Nessmuk") paddled 266 miles of Adirondack waterways. Over 100 years later, the author retraced his journey. By Christine Jerome. 288 pages. Softcover.
- GenresNonfictionTravelHistory
244 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 1, 2014
Review notes: An Adirondack Passage Christine Jerome 1994
2 stars
The book jacket indicates that this is an “Exhilarating” 180 mile canoe trip. I really take issue with book jacket writers attempting to inject excitement and significance for sales appeal.
This is a historical narrative based on a similar trip written about by George Sears in the late 1880's and 90's. This narrative covers the people and land development along the route in the Adirondacks. It has both historical and environmental overtones.
The actual contemporary recreation trip, taken in 1990 was very tightly intertwined into the historical narrative. Many paragraphs of the actual trip began with a contemporary sentence describing the conditions and time of day, and mention a landmark shoreline location or structure. That mention then became an insertion point for 2-3 pages of historical narrative. For myself, this historical narrative was not interesting in the sense that I am not familiar with the geography, people, or climate of the area. The historical narrations began to resemble trivial pursuit topics in some sections. They (the historical narratives) probably constituted 85% of the total page volume. The author even stated at one point that this had become more of a historical narrative than a travel narrative.
A general summation of the book's history and area would be that wealthy developers moved into the area and destroyed the original environmental bio-culture. Most of the streams and rivers had been dammed at some point. Logging, and hunting for sport decimated the wildlife populations to the point that many of the animals and fish are no longer resident, and many of the tree species in the current forested areas are different than the original forest species.
The current area as described indicates that the area is largely urbanized to the extent that many pockets of land and shoreline are held privately and are inaccessible to the public. The areas that are accessible, are handled as a state or nation forest preserve. This means designated campsite restrictions with most of the modern amenities which only lack the hotel room structure. Overcrowding during weekends, the summer, and holidays sounds very typical of anyplace America. The average recreational pursuer requires big powerful fast boats on any water surface, loud music, and assumes that any trash is for tossing. The landowners are confrontational to tourists.
The descriptive narrations of these conditions might have been accurate and well directed, but they didn't make for exciting reading, and don't stand out as being unique problems that haven't been narrated in similar forms many years before the 90's, and every year since.
I began reading this book for the narrative experience of a long canoe voyage. This “voyage” was practically a long stay in a state park, with narrations of small lakes and relatively small streams/rivers. The camping was rarely primitive, and often involved hotels and restaurants. The average speed was only 8 miles per day.
The boat being used was a mostly accurate recreation in terms of size, handling, and seaworthiness. And by seaworthiness, it could be forcibly stated that this boat was only suited to very flat water in very small bodies of water on calm days. It was pointed out that racing canoes on the same water can cover 90 miles in 3 days, so conceivably they could have done this entire journey in less than a week, and had a large part of the weekend for return travel. The author used the better part of a month for the trip. I don't have an objection to that except that the “exhilarating” action never kicked in.
I would have liked to see a three part book with cross-referenced sections regarding the historical settlement, and the ecological changes, more segregated form the travel narrative.
2 stars
The book jacket indicates that this is an “Exhilarating” 180 mile canoe trip. I really take issue with book jacket writers attempting to inject excitement and significance for sales appeal.
This is a historical narrative based on a similar trip written about by George Sears in the late 1880's and 90's. This narrative covers the people and land development along the route in the Adirondacks. It has both historical and environmental overtones.
The actual contemporary recreation trip, taken in 1990 was very tightly intertwined into the historical narrative. Many paragraphs of the actual trip began with a contemporary sentence describing the conditions and time of day, and mention a landmark shoreline location or structure. That mention then became an insertion point for 2-3 pages of historical narrative. For myself, this historical narrative was not interesting in the sense that I am not familiar with the geography, people, or climate of the area. The historical narrations began to resemble trivial pursuit topics in some sections. They (the historical narratives) probably constituted 85% of the total page volume. The author even stated at one point that this had become more of a historical narrative than a travel narrative.
A general summation of the book's history and area would be that wealthy developers moved into the area and destroyed the original environmental bio-culture. Most of the streams and rivers had been dammed at some point. Logging, and hunting for sport decimated the wildlife populations to the point that many of the animals and fish are no longer resident, and many of the tree species in the current forested areas are different than the original forest species.
The current area as described indicates that the area is largely urbanized to the extent that many pockets of land and shoreline are held privately and are inaccessible to the public. The areas that are accessible, are handled as a state or nation forest preserve. This means designated campsite restrictions with most of the modern amenities which only lack the hotel room structure. Overcrowding during weekends, the summer, and holidays sounds very typical of anyplace America. The average recreational pursuer requires big powerful fast boats on any water surface, loud music, and assumes that any trash is for tossing. The landowners are confrontational to tourists.
The descriptive narrations of these conditions might have been accurate and well directed, but they didn't make for exciting reading, and don't stand out as being unique problems that haven't been narrated in similar forms many years before the 90's, and every year since.
I began reading this book for the narrative experience of a long canoe voyage. This “voyage” was practically a long stay in a state park, with narrations of small lakes and relatively small streams/rivers. The camping was rarely primitive, and often involved hotels and restaurants. The average speed was only 8 miles per day.
The boat being used was a mostly accurate recreation in terms of size, handling, and seaworthiness. And by seaworthiness, it could be forcibly stated that this boat was only suited to very flat water in very small bodies of water on calm days. It was pointed out that racing canoes on the same water can cover 90 miles in 3 days, so conceivably they could have done this entire journey in less than a week, and had a large part of the weekend for return travel. The author used the better part of a month for the trip. I don't have an objection to that except that the “exhilarating” action never kicked in.
I would have liked to see a three part book with cross-referenced sections regarding the historical settlement, and the ecological changes, more segregated form the travel narrative.
April 27, 2021
I couldn't put this book down. I've paddled a number of the areas covered in the route the author and "Nessmuk" (George Washington Sears) took on their route from Old Forge to the St. Regis Canoe area. I literally kepts a paddler's map open the entire time I was reading this book. The author did a fabulous job of mixing her experiences on the trip with that of the historical record of "Nessmuk's" trip in 1883. What a wonderful read.
August 31, 2018
This book was so good. I've read travel books before but never a nature travel book. I don't think I even realize there were books like this. Please recommend anything like this one to me. I think I've been missing out on something.
January 28, 2025
Read this book while in the Adirondacks, for that moment it was very interesting. Jerome has a ton of great historical inserts that were fun to learn about while in the area, but if it wasn't for that I probably wouldn't read it completely.
May 10, 2018
Fun memories of Adirondack vacations and camping trips.
November 12, 2018
I liked this book a lot for it is inspiring me to take up many of the same routes the author took for paddling trips in the near future.
August 16, 2024
I have a canoe and kayak. I love the Adirondacks. I had to read this book. I was not disappointed. It was a wonderful exploration of the area. It flowed very well and was very enjoyable.
keep-in-mind
May 22, 2013Added 5/22/13.
I first heard about this book while listening to NPR radio in May 2013. The book was first published April 1st 1994.
The Adirondacks are of special interest to me because we vacationed in the area for 25 years and then moved there when we retired in 1991.
A GR review summarizes the book well, saying: "A woman recreates George Sears 19th century canoe trip."
George Sears pen name was "Nessmuk". The canoe was called "Sairy Gamp".
The GR book description says: "An Adirondack Passage is part social history, part natural history, part biography of Sears, and part chronicle of a voyage."
The NPR radio program said that the book contains not only the words of Christine Jerome but also the words of George Sears, written about the same canoe trip. The comparison of the descriptions must be an interesting aspect of the book.
The Sairey Gamp canoe was a light weight solo canoe designed to carry their owner and a reasonable amount of gear comfortably on the water. It was made by the Rushton Canoe Company in the late 1800’s when canoeing was at its peak in the USA.
INFO FROM: http://www.duckworksbbs.com/plans/nic...
"The Sairy Gamp [canoe] was named for a character in Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit, (spelled "Sairey Gamp" there), who 'never took water'."
FROM: http://robroy.dyndns.info/books/gws/C...
WIKI says: "Sarah or Sairey Gamp was a nurse in the novel Martin Chuzzlewit, written by Charles Dickens and first published as a serial in 1843–1844."
FROM:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Gamp
"George Washington Sears (1821–1890) was a sportswriter for Forest and Stream magazine in the 1880s and an early conservationist. His stories, appearing under the pen name, 'Nessmuk' popularized self-guided canoe camping tours of the Adirondack lakes in open, lightweight solo canoes...."
...
"Sears wrote Woodcraft, a book on camping, in 1884, that has remained in print ever since. A book of poems, Forest Runes, appeared in 1887. He died at his home in Pennsylvania seven years later. Mount Nessmuk, in northern Pennsylvania, is named after him."
FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_S...
"Sears was born in Oxford Plains, Mass., Dec. 2, 1821... A young Narragansett Indian named Nessmuk ("wood drake") befriended him and taught him hunting, fishing, and camping. Later he took that as his pen name, and also as the name of a couple of his canoes."
FROM: http://www.oldjimbo.com/survival/racq...
Evidently there is a type of knife called "the Nessmuk knife". "The design of the nessmuk is as a simple efficient slicer, that's comfortable and easy to use for skinning and camp cooking and basic woodcraft. Thin blade, thin grind, offset handle."
...
"Nessmuk favored a “trinity” system of cutting tools, his little double bit hatchet, a light fixed blade and a substantial Moose pattern folder. Nessmuk’s views towards knives are arch-typical of the classic outdoorsmen; he preferred thin knives, keen edges and a useable length. Nessmuk, like other classic outdoorsmen, recognized that a hatchet or small axe was the tool of choice for chopping, and wrote with disfavor of large, thick “Bowie” knives. Instead, a smaller knife designed for cutting efficiency was highly favored."
FROM: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sho...
"A Bowie knife is a pattern of fixed-blade fighting knife first popularized by Colonel James "Jim" Bowie in the early 19th Century. Since the first incarnation was created by James Black, the Bowie knife has come to incorporate several recognizable and characteristic design features, although its common use refers to any large sheath knife with a crossguard and a clip point."
FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowie_knife
I first heard about this book while listening to NPR radio in May 2013. The book was first published April 1st 1994.
The Adirondacks are of special interest to me because we vacationed in the area for 25 years and then moved there when we retired in 1991.
A GR review summarizes the book well, saying: "A woman recreates George Sears 19th century canoe trip."
George Sears pen name was "Nessmuk". The canoe was called "Sairy Gamp".
The GR book description says: "An Adirondack Passage is part social history, part natural history, part biography of Sears, and part chronicle of a voyage."
The NPR radio program said that the book contains not only the words of Christine Jerome but also the words of George Sears, written about the same canoe trip. The comparison of the descriptions must be an interesting aspect of the book.
The Sairey Gamp canoe was a light weight solo canoe designed to carry their owner and a reasonable amount of gear comfortably on the water. It was made by the Rushton Canoe Company in the late 1800’s when canoeing was at its peak in the USA.
INFO FROM: http://www.duckworksbbs.com/plans/nic...
"The Sairy Gamp [canoe] was named for a character in Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit, (spelled "Sairey Gamp" there), who 'never took water'."
FROM: http://robroy.dyndns.info/books/gws/C...
WIKI says: "Sarah or Sairey Gamp was a nurse in the novel Martin Chuzzlewit, written by Charles Dickens and first published as a serial in 1843–1844."
FROM:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Gamp
"George Washington Sears (1821–1890) was a sportswriter for Forest and Stream magazine in the 1880s and an early conservationist. His stories, appearing under the pen name, 'Nessmuk' popularized self-guided canoe camping tours of the Adirondack lakes in open, lightweight solo canoes...."
...
"Sears wrote Woodcraft, a book on camping, in 1884, that has remained in print ever since. A book of poems, Forest Runes, appeared in 1887. He died at his home in Pennsylvania seven years later. Mount Nessmuk, in northern Pennsylvania, is named after him."
FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_S...
"Sears was born in Oxford Plains, Mass., Dec. 2, 1821... A young Narragansett Indian named Nessmuk ("wood drake") befriended him and taught him hunting, fishing, and camping. Later he took that as his pen name, and also as the name of a couple of his canoes."
FROM: http://www.oldjimbo.com/survival/racq...
Evidently there is a type of knife called "the Nessmuk knife". "The design of the nessmuk is as a simple efficient slicer, that's comfortable and easy to use for skinning and camp cooking and basic woodcraft. Thin blade, thin grind, offset handle."
...
"Nessmuk favored a “trinity” system of cutting tools, his little double bit hatchet, a light fixed blade and a substantial Moose pattern folder. Nessmuk’s views towards knives are arch-typical of the classic outdoorsmen; he preferred thin knives, keen edges and a useable length. Nessmuk, like other classic outdoorsmen, recognized that a hatchet or small axe was the tool of choice for chopping, and wrote with disfavor of large, thick “Bowie” knives. Instead, a smaller knife designed for cutting efficiency was highly favored."
FROM: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sho...
"A Bowie knife is a pattern of fixed-blade fighting knife first popularized by Colonel James "Jim" Bowie in the early 19th Century. Since the first incarnation was created by James Black, the Bowie knife has come to incorporate several recognizable and characteristic design features, although its common use refers to any large sheath knife with a crossguard and a clip point."
FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowie_knife
April 5, 2013
An Adirondack Passage is a sweet, gentle introspective account of the author's recreation of the voyage of the Sairy Gamp, a boat and journey well known to Adirondack canoeists. Jerome has no bones to pick and her simple yet perceptive descriptions of the people and landscapes she encounters are a fair reflection of the Adirondacks as they really are. Possibly she makes a little too much of the challenge of this route - after all these waters are traversed by hundreds if not thousands every season - but then again, Jerome is admittedly an inexperienced paddler. I've covered these routes multiple times both alone and with my father. An Adirondack Passage transported me back effortlessly to those happy days.
October 30, 2013
I first read this book in 2001 and have been returning to it off and on ever since. I'm enjoying it as much this time around as the first time: reading it is the next best thing to paddling across an Adirondack lake, plus you don't have to get wet or cold or bitten by black flies. Christine Jerome writes beautifully and shares loads of wonderful stories from the region. I love this book.
August 11, 2008
A woman recreates George Sears 19th century canoe trip.
June 17, 2015
A lovely natural history and travelogue written by Christine Jerome who decides to retrace George Sears' epic solo canoe trip in the summer of 1883.
Read
July 18, 2016Tough, tough, tough men and women back in the days.
October 6, 2016
Interesting account of a journey that weaves in well researched historical information about the Adirondacks. Very readable.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews