Customer Reviews

Distant Fires

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an astonishing book about two young men who want so much to have a great adventure experience before they get too old and can't go. So, they set out in their canoe to recreate an adventure 50 years ago, by Eric Sevareid, to canoe 2000 miles, from Duluth, Minn. to the Hudson's Bay. Every step along the way they encounter adversity, bugs, hardship, danger- yet they press on with a determination and will to complete this task, and win. They do so with much humor and dry wit. I found myself laughing out loud in many places. Where else can you read about two young men moving at the speed of a canoe paddle, going upstream, battling headwinds, eight foot waves that could easily swamp their canoe, rapids, portages through dense growth, beaver dams, and of course, mosquitos, mosquitos and more....?

It seems that they must have never been dry or warm over this journey that took them over three months to complete. But they never lost their sense of humor and never gave up, even though the odds were immense.

I greatly reccommend this book. It reads easily, and will be an excellent choice for young as well as older readers who enjoy a good travel adventure. It is a wonderful inspiration to all who read the book.

This is the book I read when I feel "displaced" from wherever the Air Force has me at the present time. If you are familiar with the outdoors lifestyle of northern Minnesota, this book will refresh any memories you have of trips up "The Shore" (north shore of Lake Superior) or the Boundary Waters. The author is a Duluth, MN native who tells his story of an extended canoe trip that started at his home and ended in Hudson Bay. The reading is light, and is enhanced with a lot of local color humor.

"Distant Fires" was published in 1990 and is the true account of a summer canoe trip from Duluth Minnesota to Hudson Bay Canada by two men in their early 20's. More than anything else, this book speaks to the modern charisma and abilities of the author, who planned and accomplished the journey, then, wrote such a wonderful and humorous account of it. Chapter by chapter, the reader is taken to the water, along the route, and into the perspective of the adventure. This book is testomony to what's in the future and beyond the horizon. It cannot be over-recommended for young and old. Thank you Scott Anderson for sharing your uncommon knowledge and insight of "Distant Fires" on earth and in our lives.

I was one of the fortunate ones to meet Scott Anderson. Within the first two minutes of converstaion with him, you knew you were talking with someone special. Scott lived life to the fullest and it was reflected in the way he died. While employed as an F-16 Fighter pilot for the Minnesota Air National Guard in Duluth, he also had a side job as a test pilot for Cirrus Aviation in the same city. The Cirrus aircraft that he was testing developed control problems and struck a building at the Duluth airport. Needless to say that it was a big loss for the state of Minnesota.
About the book. It speaks to those who say that there are no challenges left for modern day young adults. This is an inspirational story, mixed with generous amounts of humor, and one that should be on the "must read" list for any child. The start of this epic journey from his home in Duluth to Hudson Bay required him to carry the canoe and a pack four miles to the Lake Superior shore, before the water adventure could even get underway! Armed with 45 pounds of Macaroni & Cheese, Scott and friend Steve Baker headed North up the big lake. The trials and tribulations are well chronicled and will make you feel that you are a part of the voyage. The race to get to Hudson Bay before being trapped by the onset of winter and the thoughts of ending up in polar bear country at the finish is the timeless story of man against nature.
Scott and Steve were inspired by the book written in 1935 by famous newsman Eric Sevareid titled "Canoeing with the Cree". Eric and friend Walter Port canoed from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay by a different route, but with the same destination. To have a better appreciation of Scott Anderson's trip, it is recommended that you read Sevareid's book first.
A word of caution. Reading these accounts may cause you to run out and purchase a large aluminum object and talk some other fool into attempting something crazy!

Distant Fires is a fast read, but an enjoyable one. Scott Anderson and his friend Steve Baker spend several months during the summer of 1987 in a canoe, following the path of two of their explorer heroes - Walter Port and Eric Sevareid, who wrote Canoeing with the Cree. The latter two men made a voyage from Lake Superior up through Canada to Hudson bay in 1930 (I'm reading that book now and am really enjoying it!). Anderson and his friend did their best to exactly duplicate this trip, down to details like carrying their canoe from their front door in Duluth Minnesota to the lake several miles away.

What I really enjoyed about this book was the upbeat writing style. Even recounting miserable nights spent in sleeping bags in frigid rain, Anderson adds a little humor and understatement to the story. A similar book I read recently got bogged down in the difficult parts, which changed the whole mood of the book. I liked that they were broke college kids and didn't have the best and latest in wilderness gear or food. I enjoyed the way they interacted with American, Canadian and Native locals along the way. I wish I'd had adventures like theirs when I was a carefree 20 year old!

The book is full of the things you'd expect of a river adventure in Canada - mosquitoes and blackflies, portaging through swamps and around rapids, getting lost on the wrong branches of rivers, and sightings of moose, caribou and large fish. But Anderson adds a magical touch to his story when he tells of nights that they saw the Aurora Borealis, and about the spray from the falls and the mass hatching of Mayflies/Fishflies they paddled through.

This is a really great book that I'm sure any outdoorsy person will enjoy.

Nice Book as a follow up to "Canoeing with the Cree" which really should be read first to get the whole picture and set the tone. Wished for more pictures and more on the author's premature death.

I really enjoyed this adventure of 2 men canoing up in the Northland to Hudson Bay. They actually canoed across lakes that I have camped on. They even commented on the huge mosquitos that invaded while camping on the Canadian lake that I grew up visiting! I concur. A quick read.

While it wasn't the exciting adventure I had anticipated, it was a true protrayal of a long distance canoe trip. Learning from our mistakes is what makes us a good outdoorsman and sometimes making the same mistake repeatedly makes for a funny story. The author does a fantastic job describing the efforts of their epic trip. However, don't look for a great survival story or weaving a poet view of the outdoors.

I think this book was great. It was so great because it told a true story of courage. I recommend it to anyone who wants adventure.

Interested in wilderness experiences and especially the North. Good read so far. Great sense of humor. I can feel the bugs and the "getting lost" frustration. Good complement to "Canoeing with the Cree".