What do you think?
Rate this book
Paddling North: A Solo Adventure Along the Inside Passage
In a tale remarkable for its quiet confidence and acute natural observation, the author of Paddling Hawaii begins with her decision, at age 60, to undertake a solo, summer-long voyage along the southeast coast of Alaska in an inflatable kayak. Paddling North is a compilation of Sutherland’s first two (of over 20) such annual trips and her day-by-day travels through the Inside Passage from Ketchikan to Skagway. With illustrations and the author’s recipes.
172 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2012
113 people are currently reading
1391 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
December 13, 2016
Similar to "Wild" but without the hype and drama. At age 60, Audrey Sutherland kayaks alone along the northeast coast of Alaska. She'd previously paddled alone along some of the more remote shores of the Hawaiian Islands. She understands how to read maps and plan smartly. This trip isn't the result of some emotional breakdown or a desire to "find herself" and it doesn't involve any drama or disaster. She simply and thoughtfully evaluated her priorities and went for it. Her writing is unpretentious and pleasing, yet very, very inspiring. For the woman who wants to do it, not just read about it.
December 28, 2020
This book is a description of an extraordinary accomplishment, but it is not an extraordinary story. It is the day-by-day journal of and 850 mile boat trip on the ocean in a slow rubber boat. Missing from this story is a more personal sense of the author or her motivations and philosophies. Also missing is a more intimate sense of nature and the environment in which she is paddling.
Included are many unnecessary details of, for example, the intricacies of her equipment or her recipes for food she cooks along the way, some of which is just typical camping fare. (She describes using Tang as an ingredient in an alcoholic drink.) Along the way she develops a repetitive motion injury and it seems, and sometimes she says, that she is simply suffering on a interminable soggy three month 850 mile slog.
It is evident the she is an excellent planner and highly competent and so the trip, except for a few tense moments, goes smoothly and mostly without the ingredients of a more interesting story.
Included are many unnecessary details of, for example, the intricacies of her equipment or her recipes for food she cooks along the way, some of which is just typical camping fare. (She describes using Tang as an ingredient in an alcoholic drink.) Along the way she develops a repetitive motion injury and it seems, and sometimes she says, that she is simply suffering on a interminable soggy three month 850 mile slog.
It is evident the she is an excellent planner and highly competent and so the trip, except for a few tense moments, goes smoothly and mostly without the ingredients of a more interesting story.
December 19, 2022
I love that this was my 100th book of the year and what put me over the edge in my reading challenge. I can only hope to be as adventurous as Sutherland, at any age!
November 5, 2016
Reading along with Aud as she paddled started me on a journey of my own. It was so easy to day dream with her as she battled and relentlessly pushed on through her 90 day journey from Ketchikan to Skagway on her inflatable kayak. Her writing slipped between accounts of her meals, navigation, cabins and campsites to that of the more ethereal observations from her own life. She passed on accounts from the first western navigators of Alaska, knowledge she had gleaned from Indians and stories that inspired her to never stop pursuing her own dreams. It never struck me as a truly unique tale, since I've read many adventures stories, but as the end of her journey in Alaska came into view, I was struck more and more by the power of her spirit and the humble manner in which she chose to share this particular journey.
A few passages in her book stuck out more than others. The way she embraces adventuring alone. She makes a great point about how often, with another human being present, vision immediately becomes double vision. Instead of deciphering the original impact of a sound, vista or thought, we inevitably wonder what our companion or our group is thinking when they observe the same thing. Being alone allows an individual to focus on that original vision, on the first impact instead.
Another passage is when she talks about the 5 things any city or town needs as a place to live. I love her list, it's been composed by someone who has found exactly what resources they need to thrive. 1. Community college to take or teach classes. 2. A good public library. 3. A National Park for access to the knowledge of the naturalists and historians. 4. A warm water swimming pool. 5. A thrift shop.
And finally, a piece of advice from her about planning for the future. She was talking to a few friends she met at a hot spring. They wanted to make a change in their life. She asks, "If you had a year to do anything you wanted and had all the money you needed, and could come back to where you are now, what would you do?" When her friends had thought of the answer, her follow up question was, " Why aren't you doing it?". There will always be excuses in my life that keep me tethered to where I am now or perhaps bind me from chasing future dreams but Aud doesn't stop with those excuses. "When can you do it? Can you do part of it? How can you plan toward it?" These are the questions she has been asking herself over her 60 years. Every 5 years she makes a point of starting over with those same questions. Perhaps that's why she has a life rich with meaningful experiences and perhaps that's why even now she hasn't bothered to stop exploring and finding new adventures. I'm inspired to do the same.
A few passages in her book stuck out more than others. The way she embraces adventuring alone. She makes a great point about how often, with another human being present, vision immediately becomes double vision. Instead of deciphering the original impact of a sound, vista or thought, we inevitably wonder what our companion or our group is thinking when they observe the same thing. Being alone allows an individual to focus on that original vision, on the first impact instead.
Another passage is when she talks about the 5 things any city or town needs as a place to live. I love her list, it's been composed by someone who has found exactly what resources they need to thrive. 1. Community college to take or teach classes. 2. A good public library. 3. A National Park for access to the knowledge of the naturalists and historians. 4. A warm water swimming pool. 5. A thrift shop.
And finally, a piece of advice from her about planning for the future. She was talking to a few friends she met at a hot spring. They wanted to make a change in their life. She asks, "If you had a year to do anything you wanted and had all the money you needed, and could come back to where you are now, what would you do?" When her friends had thought of the answer, her follow up question was, " Why aren't you doing it?". There will always be excuses in my life that keep me tethered to where I am now or perhaps bind me from chasing future dreams but Aud doesn't stop with those excuses. "When can you do it? Can you do part of it? How can you plan toward it?" These are the questions she has been asking herself over her 60 years. Every 5 years she makes a point of starting over with those same questions. Perhaps that's why she has a life rich with meaningful experiences and perhaps that's why even now she hasn't bothered to stop exploring and finding new adventures. I'm inspired to do the same.
October 29, 2015
As I read the reviews posted here, it looks as though many of the people reviewing actually knew Audrey Sutherland so I can understand their overwhelmingly positive reactiuon to this work. I didn't know her. I certainly admire her strength in so many ways-- yet, the book was not at all what I expected. There were few reflections on the majesty of the land- Mostly this was a day to day account of searching for a place to camp, fears and food. When I did some research I found that later in her life Audrey suffered from dementia- She died in 2015 and was over 90- She wrote this is 2012- Again, I admire her courage, but the book did nothing for me.
August 14, 2020
I enjoy reading this type of book. I gravitate to them. Memoirs, travelogues , biographies and the like are some of my favorite reads. There is usually so much to learn form the authors remembrances and emotions that one can be transformed vicariously to relive the experiences. I have the greatest respect and admiration for her fearless and undaunted strengths and tenacious mental fortitude. Just plain bravery I'll say. I enjoyed this story and would have rated it a bit higher, but it just lacked something that extra flare that other books of this ilk sometimes have that sets them a bit higher. Still very enjoyable.
May 26, 2020
Fascinating story but the writing is awkward and the author couldn’t seem to decide if it was a travel log, cookbook, adventure story, or memoir.
August 25, 2022
DNF after about 50 pages, just couldn't get into it. I completely devoured her triplog through Moloka'i Paddling My Own Canoe, so I'm not sure what went wrong here. For Moloka'i there seemed to be more of a story, of fighting this intense coastline again and again, and continually improving her setup. There was more human context of what was going on with her life and job and family, and more reflection.
This one, so far, had been just a straight play-by-play of paddling through Alaska, stopping at this or that cabin, unpacking and eating, and then setting off to paddle some more. Dry and there was no story. Strangely, I didn't feel any of the "danger" that I'll admit I like to experience in these stories. I'm sure these were exceptionally fraught and cold waters, but I just didn't feel any of that through the writing. Put it down after the third or fourth uneventful cabin stop. And to be clear, you don't necessarily want "events" to happen on these stories (I want my paddling to be as uneventful as possible), but you do want a story.
This one, so far, had been just a straight play-by-play of paddling through Alaska, stopping at this or that cabin, unpacking and eating, and then setting off to paddle some more. Dry and there was no story. Strangely, I didn't feel any of the "danger" that I'll admit I like to experience in these stories. I'm sure these were exceptionally fraught and cold waters, but I just didn't feel any of that through the writing. Put it down after the third or fourth uneventful cabin stop. And to be clear, you don't necessarily want "events" to happen on these stories (I want my paddling to be as uneventful as possible), but you do want a story.
January 1, 2025
This book feels like a breath of fresh air. In this memoir, I've gotten a glimpse into the unpeopled solitude Aud (the author) had experienced when it came to her solo journey in the outdoors. Equipped with topographic maps, hearty meals and an unwavering determination to "go simple, go solo, go now," she paddled over 800 miles in 85 days.
The practicality of her writing mimics the practical mind you would need when spending some time in the outdoors. However there were times I found her writing to be overly technical to the point that I do not understand the terms and landmarks she uses, leaving me disconnected with her journey.
Despite these occasional troubles, Condensed into this book is a journey of determination, wonder and self-discovery. IT gave me a certain peacefulness and calm (especially when I needed it).
I found it to be a really peaceful and contented 4.
Somewhere along my reading journey, I've also come to realize that it's really difficult to rate books just because different books create different experiences and evoke many unique intertwined emotions. It makes you feel so much that it cannot be condensed into a single category, even more so to an oversimplified ordinal number.
The practicality of her writing mimics the practical mind you would need when spending some time in the outdoors. However there were times I found her writing to be overly technical to the point that I do not understand the terms and landmarks she uses, leaving me disconnected with her journey.
Despite these occasional troubles, Condensed into this book is a journey of determination, wonder and self-discovery. IT gave me a certain peacefulness and calm (especially when I needed it).
I found it to be a really peaceful and contented 4.
Somewhere along my reading journey, I've also come to realize that it's really difficult to rate books just because different books create different experiences and evoke many unique intertwined emotions. It makes you feel so much that it cannot be condensed into a single category, even more so to an oversimplified ordinal number.
January 11, 2024
Pleasant book to read, very impressive that author paddled 850 miles at age 60 in an inflatable kayak. I admire her courage, strength, and endurance.
January 13, 2025
At age 60, Audrey Sutherland took her first kayaking trip (of 20 trips!!!!) to Alaska. This book records that trip, as she travels slowly and deliberately, moving with weather and flora and fauna. Ultimately this is a book about finding pleasure in the rhythm of life, especially amidst the hardships of spartan travel. Sutherland finds it in good food, observing the world around her, interacting with others, and seeking out what interests and pleases her. Just a simple, lovely little trip memoir.
Illustrations by Yoshiko Yamamoto add to the cozy beauty of the book.
Illustrations by Yoshiko Yamamoto add to the cozy beauty of the book.
September 26, 2016
Remarkable achievements, say, to paddle an inflatable kayak alone in remote Alaskan waters, does not make you a remarkable storyteller. If you want to go on a similar voyage, or to the same place, by all means read this book.
Just as in a novel, it is important for the reader to have some emotional engagement with the main character. Here, I found Audrey Sutherland somewhat inaccessible. The other challenge for true adventure travel stories is how not to descend into a day to day description of what is, at the pace a small kayak, remarkably repetitive. I got up, had breakfast, paddled, made camp, had dinner, went to bed. Repeat next day. Insert bear, capsize, big wind, rain, cold, passing ships, whales, in random order. The author here has made a good effort, with recipes for meals she prepares at the end of each chapter, but all too often her linking of thoughts and history and literature within a single paragraph leaves the reader disjointed. Sometimes, just as we are feeling the rain and cold, we find we are suddenly in Hawaii, her home. The point of reading this sort of adventure is to feel we are there too, and this sudden tropical diversion pulled us out of the story. There is no way I'm ever actually going to paddle an inflatable kayak in bear country where the water temperature is close to ice, so for me this immersion into the story of the trip was sorely missed. I wanted to feel more that I was there with the author. Sorry, only two out of five.
Just as in a novel, it is important for the reader to have some emotional engagement with the main character. Here, I found Audrey Sutherland somewhat inaccessible. The other challenge for true adventure travel stories is how not to descend into a day to day description of what is, at the pace a small kayak, remarkably repetitive. I got up, had breakfast, paddled, made camp, had dinner, went to bed. Repeat next day. Insert bear, capsize, big wind, rain, cold, passing ships, whales, in random order. The author here has made a good effort, with recipes for meals she prepares at the end of each chapter, but all too often her linking of thoughts and history and literature within a single paragraph leaves the reader disjointed. Sometimes, just as we are feeling the rain and cold, we find we are suddenly in Hawaii, her home. The point of reading this sort of adventure is to feel we are there too, and this sudden tropical diversion pulled us out of the story. There is no way I'm ever actually going to paddle an inflatable kayak in bear country where the water temperature is close to ice, so for me this immersion into the story of the trip was sorely missed. I wanted to feel more that I was there with the author. Sorry, only two out of five.
June 2, 2022
Loved this book and like most adventurers - I fell in love with Audrey Southerland while reading it. Her writing style was so perfect for the adventure and gave a clear window into her unpretentious soul. She clearly wrote to help and to encourage more people to follow their passion without thought of trying to have her writing outshine the adventure and country (coastal Alaska in this case). What an amazing person - clearly one of a kind. I feel fortunate to have been pointed towards her works while reading another book recently (Ordinary Hero's, by Joseph Pfeifer). It was also especially gratifying to read as Audrey references a work on Alaska by Dave Bohn - an exceptional photographer, author and adventurer who I am related to by marriage. His father was married to my Aunt Mary and he was always so proud to show me Dave (Davis') work when ever I would visit he and Aunt Mary.
March 21, 2025
Book 9 of 2015: Paddling North: A Solo Adventure Along the Inside Passage by Audrey Sutherland with illustrations by Yoshiko Yamamoto (2018): Patagonia Works, 303 p.
Wow.
This was an EXCELLENT read. Sutherland's prose puts you right in the seat of her yellow inflatable kayak as she paddles the Alaska coastline from Ketchikan to Skagway. ~800 miles over two months. The narrative is captivating and, in a way, serves as a how to guide for treks such as these. She even includes equipment lists and recipes.
The book is illustrated by beautiful color blockprints by Yoshiko Yamamoto. Absolutely gorgeous in their simplicity. They reminded me of the blockprints of Everett Ruess.
This book is really a work of art. Not just the writing and the illustrations, but the construction of the book. A sturdy paperback with thick paper pages that are a tactile delight to handle.
This is one of the best books I've read (and handled) in my 63 rotations around the sun.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Wow.
This was an EXCELLENT read. Sutherland's prose puts you right in the seat of her yellow inflatable kayak as she paddles the Alaska coastline from Ketchikan to Skagway. ~800 miles over two months. The narrative is captivating and, in a way, serves as a how to guide for treks such as these. She even includes equipment lists and recipes.
The book is illustrated by beautiful color blockprints by Yoshiko Yamamoto. Absolutely gorgeous in their simplicity. They reminded me of the blockprints of Everett Ruess.
This book is really a work of art. Not just the writing and the illustrations, but the construction of the book. A sturdy paperback with thick paper pages that are a tactile delight to handle.
This is one of the best books I've read (and handled) in my 63 rotations around the sun.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
January 17, 2024
What's most amazing about this book is not the writing, but the content - the solo 85-day, 850 mile paddle journey this 60-year old woman took in unforgiving Alaskan waters and countryside, and the fact that she did annual solo trips there for the next 22 years!
Her motto is "go simple, go solo, go now", and she lives that motto, telling an entertaining story with interesting details on the practical matters involved, and her courage and ingenuity shines through the telling. I liked her insistence on good comfort meals, wine, and hot springs to balance out cold, rain, hard work, and wet paddling and camping.
If you've journeyed in wilderness, this book will whet your appetite for more. If you haven't, it'll give you a look inside that world, and maybe prompt you to launch your own adventure.
Her motto is "go simple, go solo, go now", and she lives that motto, telling an entertaining story with interesting details on the practical matters involved, and her courage and ingenuity shines through the telling. I liked her insistence on good comfort meals, wine, and hot springs to balance out cold, rain, hard work, and wet paddling and camping.
If you've journeyed in wilderness, this book will whet your appetite for more. If you haven't, it'll give you a look inside that world, and maybe prompt you to launch your own adventure.
September 11, 2025
This non-fiction story of Sutherland’s solo kayak journey up a portion of the inside passage of Alaska was well written and engaging.
I am a sea kayaker and have had multi day excursions with some very challenging 12+ hour days on the water myself. So, I was keen to read her account.
The only things missing here for me were the psychological, and perhaps spiritual, motivators that drive a person to set out on a journey like this and those that keep them on it, once it’s begun.
What the reader gets, instead, is more like a daily journal of wave heights, flora and fauna observed, and what culinary delights Sutherland whipped up at camp each night.
I will give her that: her ability to make an amazing sounding meal (including wine!) every night was pretty astounding, maybe even more than the kayaking itself :)
I am a sea kayaker and have had multi day excursions with some very challenging 12+ hour days on the water myself. So, I was keen to read her account.
The only things missing here for me were the psychological, and perhaps spiritual, motivators that drive a person to set out on a journey like this and those that keep them on it, once it’s begun.
What the reader gets, instead, is more like a daily journal of wave heights, flora and fauna observed, and what culinary delights Sutherland whipped up at camp each night.
I will give her that: her ability to make an amazing sounding meal (including wine!) every night was pretty astounding, maybe even more than the kayaking itself :)
October 4, 2021
Really good escapist travelogue/meditation/autobiography. The author, then 60 in 2012, decides to quit her job in Hawaii to paddle and camp solo along the coast of Alaska. Well-written and brisk. Highly recommend. Oh and she grew up near where I live now (what a coincidence).
February 11, 2025
beautiful illustrations and some nice recipes in here. sometimes a paragraph would be so suddenly personal it was like a jump scare amongst the paddling journey and nature of it all. i liked it
November 16, 2022
After reading and loving Paddling My Own Canoe, I was pleased to find Paddling North just as good.
I think many of the negative reviews that find this boring or flat, come in with the expectation that it’s going to be along the lines of Wild by Cheryl Strayed. In fact, it seems like women in the outdoors who write (or just female nature writers in general) are expected to bring some deep emotional/tragic element, people expect “broken woman goes into the wilderness to be healed”. As if a woman needs something drastic to happen in order to propel her towards attempting an extreme, difficult, and dangerous route outdoors. She isn’t given the grace that men are, to simply do it because she wants to and believes she can.
There’s no angrily tossing your boots over a cliff moment here. There’s no long flashbacks to the tragic moments that led her here. The people who find the book boring likely aren’t fans of nature writing in general, because there’s more action and adventure in this book than a good many standards in the genre. The writing is clear, descriptive enough to put the scene in your mind in detail without being monotonous, and just enough personality sprinkled in where you grow to cheer for Sutherland affectionately. This book isn’t about Audrey. It’s about her journey.
I think many of the negative reviews that find this boring or flat, come in with the expectation that it’s going to be along the lines of Wild by Cheryl Strayed. In fact, it seems like women in the outdoors who write (or just female nature writers in general) are expected to bring some deep emotional/tragic element, people expect “broken woman goes into the wilderness to be healed”. As if a woman needs something drastic to happen in order to propel her towards attempting an extreme, difficult, and dangerous route outdoors. She isn’t given the grace that men are, to simply do it because she wants to and believes she can.
There’s no angrily tossing your boots over a cliff moment here. There’s no long flashbacks to the tragic moments that led her here. The people who find the book boring likely aren’t fans of nature writing in general, because there’s more action and adventure in this book than a good many standards in the genre. The writing is clear, descriptive enough to put the scene in your mind in detail without being monotonous, and just enough personality sprinkled in where you grow to cheer for Sutherland affectionately. This book isn’t about Audrey. It’s about her journey.
October 27, 2019
Found out about this book from a NYT acrostic which didn't really give me a good idea of what to expect. It turned out to be an 850 mile long paddle along the Alaskan coast, a coast I had once marveled at from a plane en route to Fairbanks. As hockey has skaters, canoeing has paddlers, and all that time alone provided means for Sutherland to muse upon her craft. There is a lot about Hawaii in the book because Sutherland lives there and actually she herself wonders what draws her to that overcast rainy climate when she lives in Eden. There is the lack of people, in areas "made for the pace of a kayak" and has many wonders (I won't soon forget the fire left burning near a cabin). A "wooden beach". A black wolf. Finally, the ability to forget the trip's many hardships that allowed Sutherland, like Muir, to write this account later. I liked the design of the book very much - it resembled a logbook somehow - and the maps and illustrations were perfect for it.
October 10, 2012
Audrey is blunt, funny, and inspiring. Her motto: "Go simple, go solo, go now," reminds all of us that it is never too late to achieve your goals and experience the adventures you dream of. I loved her resourcefulness, resilience, and self reliance. And the recipes are wonderful too! Even better than Wild!
May 11, 2024
I first read Sutherland's work when I picked up Paddling My Own Canoe, the narrative of her experiences canoeing the coast of Molokai. When I saw that she had another work about her solo kayak trip along the Alaskan interior passage at the age of 60, I had to pick it up. So often tales of outdoor adventures tell about people facing some kind of personal crisis and undertake the journey as a way of resolving it or at least dealing with it. This isn't that kind of a story. Sutherland thought about what she most wanted to do and it was this --so she saved her money and figured out a way to carve out the summer to spend it on a solo kayaking journey in the spectacular Alaskan wilderness. I like her writing - there is something both comfortable and compelling about it- it is in essence, a journal of her experience and I found her writing to feel like sitting with a good friend talking. Near the end, there are some reflections about aging and making your moments count that resonated without being sappy or preachy.
November 14, 2023
If you are like me you found this book because you were trying to consume more of the art of Yoshiko Yamamoto and were thrilled to find out she illustrated a book! I did not expect this book to leave me feeling at once inspired and awe-struck. As Audrey carefully plans her meals, encounters unexpected animals, and truly explores the wilderness, you can't help but be ALL in. My mind kept coming back to the fact that she began this journey in her 6th decade, at a time before cellphones, and built her itinerary upon research and a little bit of serendipity. My only gripe with the book is that I love to hear stories of people, and while Audrey is not doubt a fascinating creature, there are few other humans that enter the narrative. This is of course the nature of the book -a solo canoe trip through the arctic! And although she was alone, she was decidedly not lonely and her story made me question-- just what roadblocks stand in the way of my own adventures?
June 21, 2022
Excellent book. Great story, better writer. Read on paperback and loved the illustrations. I don't really know where to start, for one Audrey is an inspiration in doing what you want. My High School English teacher might not love my grammar but it's the best way to say it. The way she described her adventure on her yellow small boat made you feel as if you were there and her outlook on solo travel was amazing. If Alaska wasn't on your bucket list before this it will be after. While long journeys are not necessarily popular in modern-day outdoorsmanship they are much easier than when Aud did it and her level of preparation and courage are beyond impressive. I would recommend this to everyone, not that solo travel is for everyone but because a mindset of your time on earth and its place in nature is explored beautifully here.
June 30, 2017
To be fair to this book, I had just finished a very excellent book on rowing around Alaska and the Arctic so this one didn't strike me as good as "Rowing to Latitude" by Jill Fredston. This may have contributed a bit to the disappointment I felt with this book. Or perhaps it was my unhappiness with her lack of knowledge of PNW flora and fauna. Having grown up in the area I had little patience when often in the book she had little clue as to what she was seeing. It was still an enjoyable read, it just fell a little flat for me. Audrey was an incredibly strong woman and there's much to be admired - perhaps others will enjoy the book more than me.
June 19, 2024
This is another beautifully published book by Patagonia. But like a few others, it’s maybe not what I should have been.
I loved the story, and as attractive as the maps were, the author often referenced places which were on them, which left it hard to follow at times.
The worst part for me were the references to cooking. I want an outdoor adventure story. I hate cooking, mind you, and find references to it outside a cook-book pretentious. Neither does being ‘good wine’ on such an expedition lend itself to someone completely up against the odds. Cheryl Strayed she ain’t. Middle-class problems etc.
I loved the story, and as attractive as the maps were, the author often referenced places which were on them, which left it hard to follow at times.
The worst part for me were the references to cooking. I want an outdoor adventure story. I hate cooking, mind you, and find references to it outside a cook-book pretentious. Neither does being ‘good wine’ on such an expedition lend itself to someone completely up against the odds. Cheryl Strayed she ain’t. Middle-class problems etc.
January 2, 2025
One of my favorite books of all time. As a woman in her mid-thirties, I have started facing my mortality more regularly (or at all, lol), and this book was exactly what I needed to hear. Audrey makes you believe you can do anything. And not in that psychotic, infinite, sometimes unattainable and unrealistic way. It's concrete, stable, I can hold it in my hands. I have never felt so inspired to take small steps, to be intentional and present, to notice, to appreciate, and to just START, even if *gasp* everything isn't perfect. I wish I could read this book for my first time over and over again for the rest of my (ahem, long and powerful) life.
August 26, 2017
Audrey is a wonderful adventure companion, sure to make you laugh and feel a part of her journey. She'll take you right along with seals and whales, delicious dinners in desolate campsites with thoughts on ecology, survival, and adrenaline. Its a quick read, 170 pages of relaxation, learning from her thought process as she explores the coast of Alaska in her inflatable canoe/kayak. You will find in Audrey an endearing and inspirational friend who will make you question; What will my adventure be?
July 30, 2019
I struggled between rating this book one star or two stars. Basically, Paddling North is much like the waters the author was traveling along the Alaskan shoreline; there's high tides and low tides. Unfortunately, there are more low tides that the other. There are just enough high tides to keep you interested in the journey. So, it's a toss up. Don't expect much and you might find yourself surpised. Don't be disappointed of the slow leak in the kayak, a bit of patchwork will keep you afloat for a few more pages.
February 17, 2021
Interesting tale of a grand adventure. The author is a very tough person considering all that she went thru during this trip. She has some beautiful drawings in the boat and I love the art work. She embarked on this long paddle solo and at times she really enjoyed it and at other times she craved some human contact. The descriptions of the scenery and what she encountered where very vivid.
She also described her meals and gathering food in detail.
Don't think I could have done this as I don't enjoy paddling in the rain all the time and am just not strong enough. Enjoyed the story.
She also described her meals and gathering food in detail.
Don't think I could have done this as I don't enjoy paddling in the rain all the time and am just not strong enough. Enjoyed the story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews