A Canoe Quest in the Wake of Canada's Prince of Explorers: One Day at a Time

"Two hundred years after the Scottish-born explorer Alexander Mackenzie first crossed Canada to the Arctic and Pacific oceans by canoe, John Donaldson fulfilled a personal dream by making the same voyages. At the age of sixty he began retracing the voyages of his boyhood hero, armed with a little recreational canoeing experience, a wood and canvas canoe, and a grand sense of adventure. His travels took him more than 12,000 kilometers from Mackenzie's starting point at Montreal to the Pacific and then the Arctic Ocean. He encountered cranky bears and rabid coyotes, impenetrable fogs and raging rapids. He nearly capsized in the wake of a Lake Superior freighter and was marooned on dismal Lake Winnipeg without a paddle. A trigger-happy madman nearly ended his journey at Buffalo Narrows. But five summers in the wilderness retracing the routes of the great explorer brought about a healing of a wounded spirit and strengthened his determination to make Canadians aware of this country's extraordinarily rich history, and the vulnerability of this great natural wonder."--canadabooksonline.com.