A Book of Kells recalls the lives of John Kell and Kathleen Ward who meet in 1917 when he is a Canadian sailor stationed in Portsmouth, England. Her father, a Methodist Sunday School teacher, brings him home for tea. Kathleen’s sister writes to Jack until she gets married in 1924 and Kathleen takes up the correspondence. Meanwhile, Jack has been getting an education and has spent a year as a student minister on a Cree mission field where he plans to return for another five years. When he gets Kathleen’s letter it is like manna from heaven. The courtship is awkward and tumultuous. She asks him to come over for another look but, when he does, she rebuffs him. However, they agree to give themselves a year to reconsider. Seventy-two letters get through, even though the Indian reserve is cut off from civilization for six months of the year. They marry in 1927, she goes up to Oxford House by canoe along the old fur trade route, and she treks for five days by horse-drawn toboggan in mid-winter to give birth to a baby. When I enter the picture during the Great Depression, a stressed-out minister’s wife and three little girls are crammed into a duplex on a working-class street in Toronto. We’re working our hearts out as little "examples," trying to help Father. In later years, I discovered an emotional toll to pay. I couldn’t sit through a church service without breaking into unrestrained weeping. My teen-age and college years were full of turmoil. What seemed to be the fundamental problem was that I had been trained to put away my ego in favor of redeeming my soul. Still, religion was a great strength, protecting our family from tendencies towards alcoholism and mental illness. I struggle desperately to avoid the pitfall of black sheep, which seemed inevitable for the youngest of three "perfect" minister’s daughters. The name of this family voyage recalls the famous ninth-century gospel manuscript illuminated by monks.

In the wilderness, one false step can make the difference between a delightful respite and a brush with death. On a beautiful summer afternoon in 1998, Dan Stephens, a 22-year-old canoeist, was leading a trip deep into Ontario’s Quetico Provincial Park. He stepped into a gap among cedar trees to look for the next portage—and did not return. More than four hours later, Dan awakened with a lump on his head from a fall and stumbled deeper into the woods, confused. Three years later, Jason Rasmussen, a third-year medical student who loved the forest’s solitude, walked alone into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on a crisp fall day. After a two-day trek into a remote area of the woods, he stepped away from his campsite and made a series of seemingly trivial mistakes that left him separated from his supplies, wet, and lost, as cold darkness fell. Enduring days without food or shelter, these men faced the full harsh force of wilderness, the place that they had sought out for tranquil refuge from city life. Lost in the Wild takes readers with them as they enter realms of pain, fear, and courage, as they suffer dizzying confusion and unending frustration, and as they overcome seemingly insurmountable hurdles in a race to survive. “With admirable economy and a flair for suspense . . . [Griffith shows] how even well-prepared wilderness travelers can compound an initial blunder until they are in extreme danger—and what someone in their boots can do to increase his odds of surviving.”—Washington Post Book World  “Simply good reporting, offering an absorbing read and material for thinking about ourselves and the wilderness.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune Cary J. Griffith is a freelance writer who specializes in writing about the outdoors.

In 1930 two novice paddlers--Eric Sevareid and Walter C. Port--launched a secondhand 18-foot canvas canoe into the Minnesota River at Fort Snelling for an ambitious summer-long journey from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay. Without benefit of radio, motor, or good maps, the teenagers made their way over 2,250 miles of rivers, lakes, and difficult portages. Nearly four months later, after shooting hundreds of sets of rapids and surviving exceedingly bad conditions and even worse advice, the ragged, hungry adventurers arrived in York Factory on Hudson Bay--with winter freeze-up on their heels. First published in 1935, Canoeing with the Cree is Sevareid's classic account of this youthful odyssey. The newspaper stories that Sevareid wrote on this trip launched his distinguished journalism career, which included more than a decade as a television correspondent and commentator on the CBS Evening News. Now with a new foreword by Arctic explorer, Ann Bancroft.

Known internationally as "the Bible of canoe building," Canoecraft is back, and it's bigger and better than ever. The best-selling how-to guide has been completely revised and expanded, and master canoe builder Ted Moores again infuses the pages with the experience and wisdom acquired over almost three decades. His step-by-step instructions, generously illustrated with new photographs and diagrams and incorporated into an accessible fresh design, will allow even the beginner to create a reasonably priced classic. North America's leading builder of woodstrip/epoxy canoes, Moores is a longtime teacher of wooden-boat construction as well. With students who have ranged in age from 11 to 87, Moores has discovered that all have been motivated by the same dream: to build something beautiful and functional. Canoecraft is the road map to that dream. In it, Moores offers comprehensive instructions for the first-time builder and, with the second-time builder in mind, includes a larger variety of canoe plans -- five of which are brand-new. In this edition, each plan is presented as a traditional table of offsets. Moores has also added a series of builder's tips and new techniques and an entire chapter on carving a paddle, the perfect accompaniment to your handcrafted canoe. His message is straightforward: When good materials are used and simple steps performed with care, professional results are sure to follow. Whether your goal is to build a general-purpose recreational canoe, an efficient modern tripping canoe or a full-decked fast-cruising canoe with walnut veneer, Canoecraft can help you make it happen.

More than twenty years before Mia Hamm led the U.S. womens soccer team to win the 1999 World Cup, a group of amazing women rowed their way to international success, battling sexual prejudice, bureaucracy, and male domination in one of the most grueling and competitive sports. Now their gripping story of bravery, and determination is told in The Red Rose Crew.

Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior offers a unique wilderness experience. Unlike many national parks where tourists spend only a few hours gazing at the sights, Isle Royale visitors stay in the park for an average of four days. Each year about 17,000 people journey to this magnificent landscape, drawn by its half-million acres of remote trails and its delightful chain of a dozen lakes. Animal sightings are plentiful; the island is home to everything from beavers to loons, moose to wolves. Readers will find this book a key reference in planning a trip to the island. Individual route listings include terrain, distance, highlights of the route, input and output sites, and the amenities available at each destination. Introductory material covers the park's campgrounds and shelter, wildlife, fishing spots, portage system, history, access, and data. Jim DuFresne first explored Isle Royale when he was nine years old and has more than five decades of experience on the island. While writing the third edition of this book, DuFresne chose to journey on foot, crossing many of the park's 165 miles of trails with just a backpack. An avid hiker who has trekked around the world, DuFresne has written more than 15 guidebooks, including titles for Alaska, New Zealand, Australia, and Nepal.

Enjoy days of exploring the flat-water lakes, ponds, and rivers of New Hampshire and Vermont with this new guide from AMC’s Quiet Water series. Great for families, anglers, and canoeists and kayakers of all abilities, this updated guide features 90 trips, covering the best calm water paddling in New Hampshire and Vermont. Explore the many ponds of Pillsbury State Park and camp overnight, paddle Chocorua lake and view one of New England’s most scenic mountains, and rediscover Vermont’s scenic Lake Champlain.  Each trip includes detailed descriptions of each lake, pond and river, with maps, photographs, paddling routes, and GPS coordinates to help drivers reach the access point for the trip. New to this edition are updated trip descriptions and a useful At-a-Glance Trip Planner featuring helpful information about trip time, distance, difficulty, and special features. Inside you’ll also find resources on local outfitters, safety and equipment tips, and complete driving, parking, and put-in instructions. 

Now completely revised and updated, with a new format that's easier to use, Quiet Water Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island describes 100 spectacular paddling destinations in southern New England.

Follow the red canoe from page to page as it journeys down river carrying the family on a camping tour. It's the next best thing to paddling it yourself.