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True North
by George Erickson
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300 pages, hard cover, third edition
The Lyons Press, 2002
Limited Qty Available from SPA
$24.95 plus shipping and handling
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Synopsis:
Leaving behind the comforts of civilized life and armed with only a few essentials, award-winning
author and bush pilot George Erickson captures the exhilarating thrill of roughing it in the wild,
as well as evoking the sheer romance of adventuring in the far reaches of North America. The result
is a best-selling book that readers-flyers and armchair travelers alike-will not be able to put down.
Flying solo in his Piper Cub Special seaplane, Erickson revisits some of the arctic flights he once
took with his father. He takes readers on an unforgettable journey through the pristine landscapes of
Alaska, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. Landing on unexplored lakes and rivers to set up
camp, the author fishes for trout using his unique handmade lures, struggles with bad weather, dodges
forest fires, and mingles with polar bears, killer whales, musk oxen, and caribou.
Erickson channels the spirits of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Charles Lindburgh, and other great aviators.
He nearly loses his life-twice-during the trip, but continues to extol the thrill of flying and the science
that enables it. Erickson searches the tundra for clue to the disappearance of a long-missing priest,
and measures the earth like Eratosthenes at the edge of an arctic sea. He tells tales of unscrupulous
missionaries and explorers who starved to death; he communes at fireside with the skull of "Unok" under
flaring northern lights and reexamines the Klondike Gold Rush at Alaska's Chilkoot Pass.
Replete with personal detail, scientific observation, historical fact, and philosophical speculation,
True North is an extraordinary travel narrative.
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