Product Description

Imagine a land more than a dozen times the size of Montana, a land of immense inland seas, oceans of uncut forests, and myriad untamed rivers filled with huge northern pike, arctic grayling, and char. It is also a land of rock and of ice that lies glistening beneath flickering northern lights, a place where grizzlies wander among isolated mountain ranges, where polar bears roam among herds of caribou on the tundra flats. This is Canada’s far north, the place of Arctic Aurora.

Author John Holt has made nine trips to this wild place, covering some fifty thousand miles in his exploration of its magic. Through his words -- sometimes lyrical and introspective, sometimes insightfully humorous -- you’ll share in his adventures. Sometimes, they involve the miners, trappers, bush pilots, and even the odd tourist he encountered. At others, his focus is the cold-water game fish that he cast to and hooked in every corner of the Yukon and Northwest Territories. Includes striking color and black-and-white photographs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1143043 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

From Booklist
Canada's Northwest Territories--an area larger than California, Montana, and Wyoming combined--boast a population of less than 42,000 and, according to Holt, a wealth of terrifying roads, beautiful landscapes, bloodthirsty mosquitoes, and prime fishing spots. Best known for his fly-fishing guides, Holt here compiles a "road report" of his experiences in the territories. These straightforward essays, gleaned from nine trips, outline the people, towns, and wildlife of Canada's Far North. The author doesn't claim to be objective, and many of his frustrations have to do with "bizarrely dressed" tourists who "descend upon the community like a poorly imagined nightmare," and the environmental destruction wrought by oil and mining companies. While Holt is no Barry Lopez or Rick Bass, his love of open country and fishing rescue the book from becoming merely a list of motels, restaurants, and meals taken along the road. A curmudgeonly yet useful guide to planning a trek above the sixtieth parallel. Rebecca Maksel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
A full-time writer, John Holt is the author of several guides to fly fishing in Montana, among other books, and his essays have appeared in the nation’s most prestigious fly-fishing and outdoor publications, including Fly Rod & Reel, Gray’s Sporting Journal, Fly Fisherman, and Field & Stream. John lives in Livingston, Montana.

Customer Reviews

Miners, trappers, bush pilots, and the rare tourist
Adventurer and nature lover John Holt shares his experience from nine trips into the arctic wilderness in Arctic Aurora: Canada's Yukon And Northwest Territories. John tells of encountering miners, trappers, bush pilots, and the rare tourist amid pristine natural beauty and havens for cold-water game fishing. Black-and-white photographs and sixteen-page selection of color plates enhance this majestic tale of exploration and putting personal survival and fishing skills to the test. Arctic Aurora is very highly recommended as informative and entertaining reading.

Blown Away
In Arctic Aurora, John Holt has surpassed himself in this energetic, powerful book. This is the most impassioned title about the Far North, the last true wilderness on the continent, that I've read. Holt nails the beauty, the fear, the fierve wildness and the enormity of this incredible country like no other writer. Arctic Aurora holds its own with Dangerous River, The Rifles and Arctic Dreams. If you care about wilderness, buy this book.

Running Full Bore in Canada's Far North
Arctic Aurora is a delight. Holt careens around the hidden Canadian northwest in a joyous rage, remarking on the land, the fishing, and the people, good and bad. From ice roads, to mosquitoes, to arctic grayling, and the native Dene, this book gives the reader a true taste of the Canadian north. There have been a number of books written about the arctic these days, but damn few good ones...and Arctic Aurora truly is.