In The Wake: An 80 Day Canoe Odyssey into Canada's Northern Wilderness

by James McNamara

Disillusioned with the boundaries of wilderness parks, two paddlers in one canoe sought wilderness that was wild by nature, not by law. In 1991, they loaded a canoe with food for three months and paddled away from the end of the road toward the most remote spot on the continent. After 80 grueling days, they returned, having found their deep wilderness and seen the imprints of past cultures who once called the Canadian north home. Nostalgic about times past, they could not know that they, too, witnessed the end of an era before the information revolution took hold. In the Wake is their story about deep wilderness in those end times.

"In the Wake carries the reader deep into the canoe county of northern Canada, from the boreal forest to the Barren Lands and back again. A pencil line tracing the route used by Jim and Laurie McNamara in 1991 wouldn’t do their trip justice. Neither would straightforward two people, one seventeen-foot-long canoe, eighty days of travel, 850 pounds of food and equipment, and one thousand miles of portaging and paddling. Instead, you must read the book—and in doing so, grab a taste of their adventure, experience the numbing weariness of hauling a 100-pound pack across a trailless portage, feel the ecstasy of sinking deeply into wilderness, and understand the uncertainty of not knowing where your route might take you, in the era before GPS devices and satellite phones made wilderness travel a less challenging undertaking than it is today."
-Christopher Norment, author of In the North of Our A Year in the Wilderness of Northern Canada and Return to Warden’s Science, Desire, and the Lives of Sparrows

"In a somewhat insane canoe route, Jim and Laurie McNamara’s journey harkens back to that time across the divide, before GPS, In Reach devices, and Gaia pinpointing locations. Back to a time of 1:250,000 maps that leave A LOT out. Back to severing the umbilical cord with society, only reconnecting after re-emergence from the wilds. Their travel account and historical asides were a lovely immersion for me, steeped in that endless space, vibrant with energy, infused with youthful vigor, and anchored in reverence. I recognize kindred spirits in these pages and am thankful for the company. Kudos to their partnership, shared sentiments, and lives forged in the wake of those experiences."
-Alan Kesselheim, Author of Water and Sky, Going Inside, and Let Them Paddle

Kindle Edition

Published January 21, 2025

Reviews

[DeWayne Neel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being on a canoe for 80 days in the roadless Canadian wilderness, living on campfire rations, sleeping on rocks, and hoping to get home before it freezes, is not my cup of tea. I loved the 10-day Colorado high country fishing trips, but the extreme journey takes a special kind of person, and James and Laurie fit that bill as they did a trip of a lifetime and waited thirty years to publish the story. Mosquitos, black flies, gnats, and other biting bugs were a constant companion on this one-thousand-mile journey as the couple paddled, did portaging, and waded while pulling the canoe through the little-traveled mid-lands of Canada. James tells of the history of the recent times of its indigenous peoples, who no longer hunt and fish for a living in this ever-changing land. I had chills in my warm home reading their ever-changing weather patterns, and even bathing in ice-cold waters of the many lakes and streams. The experience of "sleeping" with the caribou as they migrated from the birthing ground was a highlight for me.
A required reading for the canoe enthusiast.