Nahanni Trailhead

In an eloquent bit of understatement, RM Patterson called the savage South Nahanni River "The Dangerous River". Despite this advance billing, John Moore proposed marriage to his fiancée and, at the same time, suggested that they spend their honeymoon homesteading for one year in the wildly remote Nahanni valley. Joanne accepted and the rest, as they say, is history. Lovers of adventure reading will savor "Nahanni Trailhead", the distillation of Joanne's journal from their wilderness year, compiled from diary notes written at the end of almost every challenging day. Courage, romance, hardship, excitement, cold, danger, peace, tranquility, fulfilment, loneliness and occasionally even tedium ... but all of it in an easy going style of writing that flows naturally from first page to last. Read it once and, I guarantee it, you'll read it again. Highly recommended! Paul Weiss

I love this book and reread it every couple of years. It has always been my dream to live in the wilderness for a year, as this honeymooning couple did. It is well and simply written, with a few maps but only disappointingly blurry pictures. There's lots of great description, including the occasional tedium of holing up for the winter, the joys they had exploring the area once spring arrived, and the terror of dealing with wolves (or was it bears?) trying to break into their cabin. They are candid about what they did wrong and how they dealt with spending so much uninterrupted time together.