Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

This was a fantastic tale of adventure through one of our last wildernesses. Shoalts' voice shines as he tells of his trials and the characters he meets along the way. He also sprinkles in enjoyable historical information about the places he visits and the people who have traveled there before him.

Beyond the Trees: A Journey Alone Across Canada’s Arctic by Adam Shoalts is an amazing, adventurous true story that makes the heart yearn for desolate, wild places. Most significant is how any human can make a trip of this magnitude all alone. I constantly feared for Adam’s safety and sanity.

I can relate to the magnificence of the wilderness, but I enjoy it with a few more conveniences. This book enthused me with its awareness to be in tune with my own surroundings. Although I was on the fringe of a state forest in a tiny camper with running water and electricity while reading this book, I envied Adam his fearlessness and physical ability. His words made me yearn for solitude and oneness with nature.

Not that I don’t feel that way when I camp. It’s why I go. But I very avidly lived through his experiences with a wistful heart.

It’s hard to believe that 288 pages of repetitive landscape and animal sightings can be so fascinating, but I thoroughly enjoyed this adventure. Each bend in a river, or lap of the waves when he reaches shore held me captive.

As with any adventure, there’s danger – real or imagined. Nothing worthwhile is done without fear. I lived it with Adam, hoping he survived and flourished because of his experiences.

After reading this book, I can easily imagine a week or two of wilderness trekking. But months all alone through treacherous terrain? Not even. I think the hardest part would be to be without my camera. Even though I’m sure I’d never forget an experience like this, I’d miss the photos to jog my memory of the small details we inevitably forget. The view of pristine, untouched by man, wildlife and scenery had to make all Adam’s sacrifices worth it.

In the end, the book made me smile. Make sure you read it cover-to-cover, including the acknowledgements.

Beyond the Trees is perfect for every nature enthusiast, with the call of the wild to enhance your arm-chair adventure. Recommended!

Review by Dorine, courtesy of TheZestQuest.com.

Traveling alone by canoe across Canada's Far North, Adam Shoalts saw the Arctic at its best and worst. Forced to keep moving due to the breakup of the ice and the oncoming winter, he had a small window to do this expedition. Nature writing at its best!

I am not very outdoorsy but I drove through some of the Yukon and Alaska this summer, it was beautiful, wild and remote. So, when I saw this I was intrigued, I wanted to know more about this area and I did enjoy that about this book quite a bit. I think some of the story lagged a bit for me just because my own lack of outdoor exploration experience but I think my husband will love this book as he is an avid hiker/climber/camper.

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

"Are you insane?" he was asked. Professional adventurer Adam Shoalts wanted to do something "that hadn't already been done" in celebration of Canada's sesquicentennial. What he came up with combined his passion for paddling wild lakes and rivers with his desire for a challenge that would raise awareness about our vanishing wild places. His plan was "unlikely to succeed" and questions regarding his sanity were many, even with respect to the "easy" parts.

Beyond the Trees is the result of Shoalts surviving a months-long, 2,500-mile trek across the Canadian Arctic with nothing but his canoe, a backpack and two barrels crammed with rations (more than 170 pounds of dead weight). He faced down grizzly bears and muskox (sometimes right at his tent opening) and battled severe winds, chunks of ice drifting like jigsaw-puzzle pieces and hordes of blood-sucking insects. Most remarkable (and perilous) was that to chase the ice melt, Shoalts's route required he travel upstream, against the flow of rapids that generally called for parties of six to 12 to travel down safely.

Shoalts approaches the many dangers with smarts and aplomb, while also transmitting the tension in his recounting. Despite the risks Shoalts conveys, Beyond the Trees is an earnest love story to one of the last portions of the Earth that remains undeveloped and where large animals still roam free. Peppered with Shoalts's corny humor and legends of lone trappers' unspeakable deeds, this white-knuckle affair is a travelogue, adventure story and horror-movie-in-waiting that sparks an urge to get out and go.

STREET SENSE: An intrepid explorer paddles and portages the vast and treacherous Canadian Arctic, sharing its unparalleled beauty and crucial need for its preservation. Nature lovers, risk-takers, travel nerds alike will dig this one.

COVER NERD SAYS: Pretty picture, passable fonts with good balance. Subtitle here passes muster, as the title needs a little more explanation. I will say this photo makes the trip look much more peaceful than it was. A little more urgency or danger might have added to it, but overall a great looking cover.

Spring 2017 sees Adam Shoalts begin his incredible journey from Eagle Plains, Yukon Territory, by canoe and portaging to Baker Lake, Nunavut. He travels solo across a vast place where you can go without seeing another person for weeks, kept company only by the indigenous wildlife, trying to keep one step ahead of the encroaching winter.

It was an interesting read and a mammoth journey. I love my alone time but I'm not sure I could go so long without seeing another human being. Hats off to him. Although some of the minutiae was a little repetitive in places, the author has included plenty of stories about old-time trappers and adventurers who tried to tame the wild land and paid with their sanity and their lives. Chilling stuff. Overall, well worth a read.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers, Penguin Random House Canada / Allen Lane, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

This is the sort of book I love to read in bed with the wind roaring outside and the rain lashing on the window. I'm tucked up cosy and comfortable reading about an adventurer canoeing alone across the north of Canada and having to sit it out for days because the ice is too thick to break through with out damaging his canoe. I sip my tea and give thanks that people like Adam Shoalts are driven to do these things so I can read about them!

I am not in the least adventurous. I get panicked if I have to go to a new supermarket but I love to read about people who can push themselves beyond their limits - and survive. That's the main thing. Mr Shoalts takes his canoe through arctic conditions as a celebration of 150 years of Canada and it is terrifying at times but it is written in a quite matter of fact way. He talks about portage as if it is something added to the price of a bottle of port instead of carrying his belongings over several kilometres because the water ways are not appropriate for his canoe. And its not as if he just sits there paddling and enjoying the view because a lot of it, he has to push along the bottom to manoeuvre his canoe through rough terrain.

He gives a potted history of the areas he goes through and he interacts occasionally - and increasingly unwillingly - with fellow humans but overall this is one man and his canoe describing his journey and it is excellent.

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

This is the newest release from a man known as Canada's greatest explorer. His previous books were 'Alone Against The North' and 'A History Of Canada In Ten Maps'. In this book Shoalts writes of his solo canoe trip across the Canadian Arctic in honor of Canada's 150th birthday. The trip started in Eagle Plains, Yukon Territory and ended, after travelling almost 4000 kilometers, in Baker Lake, Nunavut. Along the way he makes many difficult portages, canoes over various rapids and has many wildlife encounters. He talks about his decision making process and his endeavors to stay somewhat safe. I really enjoyed the story of his adventure and his writing style makes it an easy and fun read.

Beyond the Trees is Adam Shoalts’s account of his solo journey traversing Canada’s Arctic from west to east, a feat largely considered impossible. Armed with only his tent, canoe and rations, Adam sets off on an epic journey across unforgiving terrain and upriver, fighting against the current and ice most of the way. His descriptions of the landscapes he passes through and the wildlife he encounters are captivating, but at times it reads as a very literal report of his actions, where I would have liked to learn more about the emotional experience of his voyage. Fans of travelogues and nature writing will really enjoy this.

As soon as I read the description of this book, I knew that I had to read it. I have not been disappointed. This is one of the best travelogues I have read. There are wonderfully descriptive passages about the Canadian Arctic's physical characteristics, fauna and flora backed up by just the right amount of human interest, such as, the history of previous travellers, and the author's physical and mental experiences. As a fellow geographer, I was amused by his assertion that, "geographers are fond of arguing"; I suspect my family would agree! The book held my attention from beginning to end.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me a copy in exchange for this honest review.

Canada's "Indiana Jones" treks through Canada's arctic in Beyond the Trees, an often exciting (if sometimes repetitive) chronicle of a solo trip many deemed "impossible."

As a sucker for true survival/thrilling nature stories, I knew I had to request this as soon as I saw it on Netgalley. Shoalts does not disappoint when it comes to adventure, detailing bears running at him, poling through the Great Bear lake, and racing against the often brutal arctic weather. While Shoalts' own journey was fascinating, I was also appreciative that he took the time to talk about other explorers who had tried before him and their own (sometimes grisly) tales. I don't know too much about this particular region of Canada, so these stories and his descriptive nature writing helped flesh it out and made for a more immersive experience.

**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Penguin Random House Canada.**

I must admit there is nothing I like reading quite as much as a real life adventure travel tale. Done well it can transport the imaginative reader to places they will never ever experience in their lifetime and connect with yearnings that many of us have to escape the trials and tribulations of an increasingly interconnected and stressful modern world. There is no doubt that bestselling author and professional adventurer Adam Shoalts achieves just that in his remarkable account of his seemingly impossible venture to travel 4,000 kilometres solo from west to east across Canada's Arctic territory..

Accompanied by his trusty canoe this would be a journey that is made largely upstream rather then downstream with all the inherent difficulties this will present as he travels across the rugged and often poorly mapped terrain. The prose style is simple, direct and unadorned devoid of any superfluous meanderings much like the journey itself. Along the journey he will encounter a plethora of wildlife some presenting danger including bears, wolves and muskox (surprisingly it is the latter that presents the most problems).

There are also stories of past adventures made during the last 200 years or so, many of them leading to gruesome deaths. But ultimately it is not the animals or the terrain, rivers or huge inland lakes that present the biggest challenge to the success of the venture but rather it is the weather. This is a race against time to complete the journey before the onset of the fast approaching winter conditions. Literally every moment counts.

If nothing else I learnt a new word from the book which was "portaging" (you will encounter it many times in this story). If you would like to get lost in a real wild adventure then you will not be disappointed by this book.

I devour travelogues and travel adventures the way a thoroughly unadventurous stationary person might. Voraciously. So I came across this one on Netgalley and it’s advertised as written by Canada’s Indiana Jones. What? Ok, yeah, bring it. But what comes to mind trying to imagine a Canadian Indiana Jones? Like a really mild mannered, polite one? I mean, I don’t get how the comparison holds up, not based on this book anyway. This isn’t Indiana Jones, this is a guy who loves nature and solitude and crazily demanding endurance expeditions for the sake of pushing himself and proving he can do it. Which is great, but, you know, no treasures, no babes, no evil masterminds, none of that. An occasional fellow canoer and a few locals here and there, but otherwise a primarily solitary trip as a way to commemorate Canada’s sesquicentennial (that’s 150th for those forgetting their Latin) national celebration. So Adam Shoalts sets off to canoe across the Canadian Arctic. We’re talking forbidding climates, dangerous nature and at times impenetrably rugged terrain. And the idea is to canoe against the current in waters where even going with the current isn’t especially safe or easy. And all of this done completely alone. Depending on your perspective, this is either insanely exciting, insanely masochistic or plain insane. But obviously, Shoalts manages to complete his mission, otherwise there wouldn’t be a book about it. Or there would be, but you wouldn’t want to read it. So the bulk of the story is a man canoeing alone. It’s pretty exciting considering, because Shoalts has a definite talent for writing about nature. He’s obviously very, very passionate about it, but there is also a cinematic quality to his descriptions. But if you’re thinking you’re going to lean about different cultures, like the First Nation people living up north, there’s barely any of that. There’s some historical accounts of early exploits of the area. But mostly, one man, one canoe. And as much as I enjoy the peace of mind nature offers, this journey was just much too much to relate to the enjoyability of it. It sounded brutal and punishing in an unnecessary sort of way. Maybe I don’t relate to personal endurance quests that much. I always found endurance magic to be the least exciting of all magic too. David Blaine was so much more fun before he started pushing personal limitations of whatever the f. And there’s also the why of it all. Some of the brave and tragic souls that have boldly gone back in the day where Shoalts did recently did so for a proper reason, like discovering Northern passage or mapping out the territory. What would they think of someone undergoing such punishing privations for no reason but establishing some sort of personal record. I mean, I know some really get off on the idea of proving something originally deemed impossible possible, just not sure always as to why. But these are just some random thoughts and I don’t want it to seem like I didn’t enjoy the book, because I did. Surprisingly so, considering. From the relative comfort of my couch it was an enjoyable, albeit somewhat bewildering, trip plus it’s somewhere I’d certainly never travel to on my own, so thanks to the author that’s another place in the world checked out vicariously. Mine is the first review here on GR, hope it’s an encouraging one. No idea what Indiana Jones would think about all this, Probably something along the lines of general confusion. But fans of nature writing would delight in this trip. Thanks Netgalley.