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Voyageur: Across the Rocky Mountains in a Birchbark Canoe
Traveling across the Rocky Mountains by canoe, discovering the desolate wonders of Canada's unspoilt wilderness.
Fifteen years before Lewis and Clarke Scotsman Alexander Mackenzie, looking to open up a trade route, set out from Lake Athabasca in central Northern Canada in search of the Pacific Ocean. Mackenzie travelled by bark canoe and had a cache of rum and a crew of Canadian voyageurs, hard-living backwoodsmen, for company. Two centuries later, in a spirit of organic authenticity, Robert Twigger follows in Mackenzie's wake. He too travels the traditional way, having painstakingly built a canoe from birch bark sewn together with pine roots, and assembled a crew made up of fellow travellers, ex-tree-planters and a former sailor from the US Navy. After the ice has melted, Twigger and his crew of wandering spirits finally nose out into the Athabasca River . . . Three Years . . . two thousand miles . . .over one thousand painfully towing the canoe against the current . . . several had tried before them but they were the first people to successfully complete Mackenzie's diabolical route over the Rockies in a birch bark canoe since 1793. Subsisting on a diet of porridge, elk and jackfish, supplemented with whisky and a bag of grass for the tree planters, and with an Indian medicine charm bestowed by the Cree People of Fox Lake, the voyageurs embark on an epic road trip by canoe . . . a journey to the remotest parts of the wilderness, through Native American reservations, over mountains, through rapids and across lakes, meeting descendants of Mackenzie and unhinged Canadian trappers, running out of food, getting lost and miraculously found again, disfigured for life (the ex-sailor loses his thumb), bears brown and black, docile and grizzly. Voyageur is a moving tale of contrasts from the bleak industrial backwaters of Canada to the desolate wonder of the Rocky Mountains.
Fifteen years before Lewis and Clarke Scotsman Alexander Mackenzie, looking to open up a trade route, set out from Lake Athabasca in central Northern Canada in search of the Pacific Ocean. Mackenzie travelled by bark canoe and had a cache of rum and a crew of Canadian voyageurs, hard-living backwoodsmen, for company. Two centuries later, in a spirit of organic authenticity, Robert Twigger follows in Mackenzie's wake. He too travels the traditional way, having painstakingly built a canoe from birch bark sewn together with pine roots, and assembled a crew made up of fellow travellers, ex-tree-planters and a former sailor from the US Navy. After the ice has melted, Twigger and his crew of wandering spirits finally nose out into the Athabasca River . . . Three Years . . . two thousand miles . . .over one thousand painfully towing the canoe against the current . . . several had tried before them but they were the first people to successfully complete Mackenzie's diabolical route over the Rockies in a birch bark canoe since 1793. Subsisting on a diet of porridge, elk and jackfish, supplemented with whisky and a bag of grass for the tree planters, and with an Indian medicine charm bestowed by the Cree People of Fox Lake, the voyageurs embark on an epic road trip by canoe . . . a journey to the remotest parts of the wilderness, through Native American reservations, over mountains, through rapids and across lakes, meeting descendants of Mackenzie and unhinged Canadian trappers, running out of food, getting lost and miraculously found again, disfigured for life (the ex-sailor loses his thumb), bears brown and black, docile and grizzly. Voyageur is a moving tale of contrasts from the bleak industrial backwaters of Canada to the desolate wonder of the Rocky Mountains.
390 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
5 people are currently reading
110 people want to read
About the author
Robert Twigger
27 books104 followersRobert Twigger is a British author who has been described as, 'a 19th Century adventurer trapped in the body of a 21st Century writer'. He attended Oxford University and later spent a year training at Martial Arts with the Tokyo Riot Police. He has won the Newdigate prize for poetry, the Somerset Maugham award for literature and the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award.
In 1997, whilst on an expedition in Northern Borneo, he discovered a line of menhirs crossing into Kalimantan. In 1998 He was part of the team that caught the world's longest snake- documented in the Channel 4/National Geographic film and book Big Snake; later he was the leader of the expedition that was the first to cross Western Canada in a birchbark canoe since 1793. Most recently, in 2009-2010, he led an expedition that was the first to cross the 700 km Great Sand Sea of the Egyptian Sahara solely on foot.
He has also written for newspapers and magazines such as The Daily Telegraph, Maxim and Esquire, and has published several poetry collections, including one in 2003, with Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing.
Robert has published Real Men Eat Puffer Fish (2008), a humorous but comprehensive guide to frequently overlooked but not exclusively masculine pastimes, while his latest novel Dr. Ragab's Universal Language, was published to acclaim in July 2009. Robert now lives in Cairo, a move chronicled in his book Lost Oasis. He has lead several desert expeditions with 'The Explorer School'.
Robert has given lectures on the topic of 'Lifeshifting', an approach which emphasises the need to centre one's life around meaning-driven motivation. Drawing on experiences working with indigenous peoples from around the world, he has spoken on 'work tribes' and polymathy. He has also spoken on leadership. Some of these talks have been to companies such as Procter and Gamble, Maersk Shipping, SAB Miller and Oracle computing.
In 1997, whilst on an expedition in Northern Borneo, he discovered a line of menhirs crossing into Kalimantan. In 1998 He was part of the team that caught the world's longest snake- documented in the Channel 4/National Geographic film and book Big Snake; later he was the leader of the expedition that was the first to cross Western Canada in a birchbark canoe since 1793. Most recently, in 2009-2010, he led an expedition that was the first to cross the 700 km Great Sand Sea of the Egyptian Sahara solely on foot.
He has also written for newspapers and magazines such as The Daily Telegraph, Maxim and Esquire, and has published several poetry collections, including one in 2003, with Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing.
Robert has published Real Men Eat Puffer Fish (2008), a humorous but comprehensive guide to frequently overlooked but not exclusively masculine pastimes, while his latest novel Dr. Ragab's Universal Language, was published to acclaim in July 2009. Robert now lives in Cairo, a move chronicled in his book Lost Oasis. He has lead several desert expeditions with 'The Explorer School'.
Robert has given lectures on the topic of 'Lifeshifting', an approach which emphasises the need to centre one's life around meaning-driven motivation. Drawing on experiences working with indigenous peoples from around the world, he has spoken on 'work tribes' and polymathy. He has also spoken on leadership. Some of these talks have been to companies such as Procter and Gamble, Maersk Shipping, SAB Miller and Oracle computing.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 3, 2017
Read, read, read for inspiration! Rob with friends follow the footsteps of Mackenzie and his voyageurs 200 years after. The adventurous trip is made during three summers in a row in a birch bark-canoe from northern central Canada westward over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. The canoe must be sealed every evening but when the going gets real tough and they hit a big rock very hard, the canoe holds because of its flexibility.
I love these kinds of books about challenges, books that urge and encourage you to leave your comfort zone. The physical hardships Rob & co. encountered were not to play with, like bears for instance, but sometimes the psychological ones were as tough.
I learned about the fur trade, the Indians living there, not assimilated, and other people they met, that had turned their backs to urban life. And most of them were friendly and helpful.
There´s much to discover out there.
I love these kinds of books about challenges, books that urge and encourage you to leave your comfort zone. The physical hardships Rob & co. encountered were not to play with, like bears for instance, but sometimes the psychological ones were as tough.
I learned about the fur trade, the Indians living there, not assimilated, and other people they met, that had turned their backs to urban life. And most of them were friendly and helpful.
There´s much to discover out there.
May 11, 2024
An excellent read and whilst its almost 400 pages I finished this in under a week, in fact I couldn't put it down and was genuinely sad to finish it. Its a great piece of writing of a special journey. Things like this don't happen so much anymore (and I suspect writing about them happens even less).
For me this would be my book of the Year so far (It's May and the journey took place in 2003 and the book was published in 2007), Only Tim Park's Heroes Way (my book of the Year for 2023) could match this in terms of my more recent reads. Interesting both books are following in others footsteps or paddle strokes in the case of Voyageur).
Tim Parks has the edge over Robert Twigger in terms of writing style (I can find Twigger's slightly fast and loose and a little disjointed to begin with) You can however definitely feel the passion in Robert's work and the enthusiasm he has for his adventure and story writing.
There were some hilarious moments in this book, some very deadpan humour at times but at the same time some very deep and moving parts, particularly connected to the history of the area, the indigenous communities, Alexander Mackenzie and the incidental characters met along the way (my favourite probably being Herb). It's also an interesting dynamic how the various crews interacted with one another and the places and people in which they all past, as well as Twigger's on role as 'leader' of the expedition. Essentially there is a lot going on in this book and I think Twigger has done a great piece of writing in documenting it all.
Perhaps I would have liked a few more pages on the hike at the end of the journey 350km is a long way, but then by that stage in the expedition it was maybe a walk in the park so to speak.
The concept of the journey of using a Birchbark Canoe is a very interesting one, there is one particular moment where the canoe's material was particularly advantageous. I liked the progress of how the canoe was built up at the beginning of the book by John. Furthermore I think its important that things like this (traditional methods of transport and craftmanship in building and maintaining a vehicle to move across a very difficult terrain) are documented and championed in a world that seems forever intent on becoming mundane and disposable (Yes look at me going all deep here at the end!)
In summary : this book made me want to jump in a canoe again, it made me want to visit Canada and it basically made me want to live and have my own silly adventures, as strange as that may sound I think Robert Twigger would probably be happy with that statement.
In a word : Inspiring
I will definitely be reading more of Robert Twiggers books, they make a difference.
For me this would be my book of the Year so far (It's May and the journey took place in 2003 and the book was published in 2007), Only Tim Park's Heroes Way (my book of the Year for 2023) could match this in terms of my more recent reads. Interesting both books are following in others footsteps or paddle strokes in the case of Voyageur).
Tim Parks has the edge over Robert Twigger in terms of writing style (I can find Twigger's slightly fast and loose and a little disjointed to begin with) You can however definitely feel the passion in Robert's work and the enthusiasm he has for his adventure and story writing.
There were some hilarious moments in this book, some very deadpan humour at times but at the same time some very deep and moving parts, particularly connected to the history of the area, the indigenous communities, Alexander Mackenzie and the incidental characters met along the way (my favourite probably being Herb). It's also an interesting dynamic how the various crews interacted with one another and the places and people in which they all past, as well as Twigger's on role as 'leader' of the expedition. Essentially there is a lot going on in this book and I think Twigger has done a great piece of writing in documenting it all.
Perhaps I would have liked a few more pages on the hike at the end of the journey 350km is a long way, but then by that stage in the expedition it was maybe a walk in the park so to speak.
The concept of the journey of using a Birchbark Canoe is a very interesting one, there is one particular moment where the canoe's material was particularly advantageous. I liked the progress of how the canoe was built up at the beginning of the book by John. Furthermore I think its important that things like this (traditional methods of transport and craftmanship in building and maintaining a vehicle to move across a very difficult terrain) are documented and championed in a world that seems forever intent on becoming mundane and disposable (Yes look at me going all deep here at the end!)
In summary : this book made me want to jump in a canoe again, it made me want to visit Canada and it basically made me want to live and have my own silly adventures, as strange as that may sound I think Robert Twigger would probably be happy with that statement.
In a word : Inspiring
I will definitely be reading more of Robert Twiggers books, they make a difference.
August 16, 2014
This is a great wallop of a river-road book in the tradition of the English wanderer who is dedicated to peeling off the seemingy intact veneer of the present to reach the denser heartwood of the past and illume the shoddiness of now.
The main eye-opener for many citizens of the USA will be to learn that it was NOT Lewis and Clark, backed by the full might of the US Army and eager support of President Thomas Jefferson, but the entrepreneurial Scotsman Alexander Mackenzie who first traversed the North American continent to reach the Pacific Ocean -- and he did it across Canada in a birchbark canoe, mostly upriver and against the current, with a roughneck crew of rum-rationed backwoodsmen 15 years earlier in 1793.
It is Mackenzie's route that Robert Twigger, after building his own birchbark canoe, and his pick-up crews labouriously pursue over three summers, pittng brawn, brain and bloody-mindedness against everything the Canadian wilderness (and various outposts of Canuck civilization) can throw at them.
Like the eccentric Victorian travel writer George Borrow (and many others since -- Thesiger, for one, John McPhee for another), Twigger distrusts the "dark Satanic mills" of his day. Civilization, especially urbanization, leaches out something essential from the human endeavour, rendering it feeble, feckless and insipid.
This is a constant theme of the book, a yearning for a more muscular reality where the risks (grizzly bears, getting lost, nasty rapids) are real and the subtle rewards commensurate. More than once the Twigger lads spurn local creature comforts to tramp back to their tent and a more heart-felt truth, such as (at the end, when they are by a lake) "the ever-present loon calling across the water".
Beneath all that we hold valuable in the juggernaught of technological evolution, our blinding exponential rush towards Kurzweil's avowed Singularity, lurks something even more valuable that we scorn or romanticize in a Walt Disney way. Twigger sums it up on page 383:
"I saw what I valued most about the wilderness was the way it stripped away all the BS impedimenta of ordinary life, all the rubbish we've persuaded ourselves we need to live with,all the symbols that show we've got more money and status than our next-door neighbour. Those games sickened me and that is why I was glad when I walked back with Joe from the log cabin ... for our austere campsite."
This is a riproaring tale of adventure full of history, keen observation and assorted fascinating characters met along the way. The trip parallels Mackenzie's original (and even more strenuous effort for there were no maps then), with frequent quotations from the Scotsman's best-selling late 18th century journal. No one will read Twigger without finding that deepest of all refreshments: a sense of hope and continuity.
Special mention, too, must be made as to the excellence of the book's maps and photographs which gives this book that extra dimension of solid usability. You have a clear sense of where you are, what it looks like and with whom you're vicariously travelling. The publishers of most modern travel books stint on this vital visual bonding glue, thereby needlessly losing many armchair readers who find it hard to steer by sheer text alone.
Shake the hand and thank every Mackenzie you meet for giving us their illustrious namesake hero who made this vivid journey -- TWICE, the second time upriver with Twigger and his rugged gang!
The main eye-opener for many citizens of the USA will be to learn that it was NOT Lewis and Clark, backed by the full might of the US Army and eager support of President Thomas Jefferson, but the entrepreneurial Scotsman Alexander Mackenzie who first traversed the North American continent to reach the Pacific Ocean -- and he did it across Canada in a birchbark canoe, mostly upriver and against the current, with a roughneck crew of rum-rationed backwoodsmen 15 years earlier in 1793.
It is Mackenzie's route that Robert Twigger, after building his own birchbark canoe, and his pick-up crews labouriously pursue over three summers, pittng brawn, brain and bloody-mindedness against everything the Canadian wilderness (and various outposts of Canuck civilization) can throw at them.
Like the eccentric Victorian travel writer George Borrow (and many others since -- Thesiger, for one, John McPhee for another), Twigger distrusts the "dark Satanic mills" of his day. Civilization, especially urbanization, leaches out something essential from the human endeavour, rendering it feeble, feckless and insipid.
This is a constant theme of the book, a yearning for a more muscular reality where the risks (grizzly bears, getting lost, nasty rapids) are real and the subtle rewards commensurate. More than once the Twigger lads spurn local creature comforts to tramp back to their tent and a more heart-felt truth, such as (at the end, when they are by a lake) "the ever-present loon calling across the water".
Beneath all that we hold valuable in the juggernaught of technological evolution, our blinding exponential rush towards Kurzweil's avowed Singularity, lurks something even more valuable that we scorn or romanticize in a Walt Disney way. Twigger sums it up on page 383:
"I saw what I valued most about the wilderness was the way it stripped away all the BS impedimenta of ordinary life, all the rubbish we've persuaded ourselves we need to live with,all the symbols that show we've got more money and status than our next-door neighbour. Those games sickened me and that is why I was glad when I walked back with Joe from the log cabin ... for our austere campsite."
This is a riproaring tale of adventure full of history, keen observation and assorted fascinating characters met along the way. The trip parallels Mackenzie's original (and even more strenuous effort for there were no maps then), with frequent quotations from the Scotsman's best-selling late 18th century journal. No one will read Twigger without finding that deepest of all refreshments: a sense of hope and continuity.
Special mention, too, must be made as to the excellence of the book's maps and photographs which gives this book that extra dimension of solid usability. You have a clear sense of where you are, what it looks like and with whom you're vicariously travelling. The publishers of most modern travel books stint on this vital visual bonding glue, thereby needlessly losing many armchair readers who find it hard to steer by sheer text alone.
Shake the hand and thank every Mackenzie you meet for giving us their illustrious namesake hero who made this vivid journey -- TWICE, the second time upriver with Twigger and his rugged gang!
September 27, 2011
Englishman has mid-life crisis, decides to go on a canoe trip across Canada.
When he does describe the Canadian landscape it is bleak and hostile. He comes across as irritating, and certainly irritates his various crews. And he seems to have only enjoyed a tiny part of it all - the rest is suffering, exhaustion and petty arguments.
If he took more pleasure in something and could tell us something interesting (the wildlife, the boat building, the scenery) or if there were any humour, it would have gone a long way to making this more than a masochist's diary.
When he does describe the Canadian landscape it is bleak and hostile. He comes across as irritating, and certainly irritates his various crews. And he seems to have only enjoyed a tiny part of it all - the rest is suffering, exhaustion and petty arguments.
If he took more pleasure in something and could tell us something interesting (the wildlife, the boat building, the scenery) or if there were any humour, it would have gone a long way to making this more than a masochist's diary.
Read
January 20, 2021I started reading this book years ago in a Rocky Mountains hostel. Later I got the kindle version and would read a chapter here or there. I took my sweet time but I did end up finishing the book - make of that what you will.
It is perhaps interesting that it also clearly took a long time to write (the journey was completed over multiple summers) and you can follow the progress of the project in the changing style of the text. In the first part, Twigger is full of enthusiasm over obtaining a genuine birch bark canoe and the idea of repeating MacKenzie's journey. It's a joy to read, not least for the charming descriptions of various characters they encounter along the river.
Later, the passion gives way for an obsessive desire to complete the mission at all cost. The voyageurs suffer and so does the reader as the prose turns dry and repetitive. Large swaths of time are disposed of with a few sentences and a quote or two from MacKenzie's journal, the latter being the most interesting.
It is my conviction that a good leader must always put his team first and his ego last, especially when the going gets rough. As others have noted, it turns out that Twigger is not a very good leader. Like MacKenzie before him, there is eventually discontent in his crew and one briefly wonders what the story would look like if told by one of the other members.
However, real adventures are more than fresh caught fish over the camp fire and mountain top vistas - they're long stretches of hard dull work, endless rain, misnavigations, lost boots, accidents, emotions and conflict. The account feels raw and genuine, and I appreciate that.
The physical and mental fortitude it takes to drag a canoe hundreds of miles against the current is inspiring, the descriptions of the great canadian wilderness are vivid and the historical tidbits are interesting. There can not be many people alive today who have crossed an entire continent through such remote back country, let alone with only historical means of transportation. The voyageurs face bears, brave currents, rediscover old portage trails and meet some genuinely good people. It is not a Red Bull type of slick and polished expedition. It is almost-normal people, with a really crazy idea and abnormal amounts of perseverance. At the end of the day it is a one of a kind story and if you are sucker for adventures odds are you'll enjoy it.
It is perhaps interesting that it also clearly took a long time to write (the journey was completed over multiple summers) and you can follow the progress of the project in the changing style of the text. In the first part, Twigger is full of enthusiasm over obtaining a genuine birch bark canoe and the idea of repeating MacKenzie's journey. It's a joy to read, not least for the charming descriptions of various characters they encounter along the river.
Later, the passion gives way for an obsessive desire to complete the mission at all cost. The voyageurs suffer and so does the reader as the prose turns dry and repetitive. Large swaths of time are disposed of with a few sentences and a quote or two from MacKenzie's journal, the latter being the most interesting.
It is my conviction that a good leader must always put his team first and his ego last, especially when the going gets rough. As others have noted, it turns out that Twigger is not a very good leader. Like MacKenzie before him, there is eventually discontent in his crew and one briefly wonders what the story would look like if told by one of the other members.
However, real adventures are more than fresh caught fish over the camp fire and mountain top vistas - they're long stretches of hard dull work, endless rain, misnavigations, lost boots, accidents, emotions and conflict. The account feels raw and genuine, and I appreciate that.
The physical and mental fortitude it takes to drag a canoe hundreds of miles against the current is inspiring, the descriptions of the great canadian wilderness are vivid and the historical tidbits are interesting. There can not be many people alive today who have crossed an entire continent through such remote back country, let alone with only historical means of transportation. The voyageurs face bears, brave currents, rediscover old portage trails and meet some genuinely good people. It is not a Red Bull type of slick and polished expedition. It is almost-normal people, with a really crazy idea and abnormal amounts of perseverance. At the end of the day it is a one of a kind story and if you are sucker for adventures odds are you'll enjoy it.
January 17, 2022
3.5 stars. The narrative is as unrelenting as the journey it describes. An amazing feat, to travel in a birchbark canoe through Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The thing is, the relentlessness grinds the voyagers down as much as the reader, and none of the many people Twigger travels with, nor Twigger, come out of this particularly well. It just emphasises how team, thrown together to achieve a given objective, are often less than the sum of their constituent parts, and only sometimes more than that sum. As the epilogue I'd have liked to find out what all the ex-members if the expeditions did once they got home. The lack of that makes me think maybe they don't talk anymore.
Read
August 21, 2024Superb writing from this British writer/adventurer as he recreates Alexander Mackenzie’s voyager canoe across western Canada. This included making the canoe at the outset… valuable as repairs throughout were required. The engaging and expansive narrative is replete with Mackenzie’s log writings amid frank discussions on leadership of an expedition.
Would recommend.
Would recommend.
May 20, 2024
Robert twigger is an excellent writer and adventurer. It documents the journey of robert, a few men and their experience while traveling in a canoe across Canada
June 10, 2012
Twigger's audacious trek from Lake Athabasca to the Pacific Ocean took three summers, 2 1/2 of which involved paddling and tugging against the current on the east side of the Rocky Mountains. He proves devoted to the vision of first building an authentic birchbark canoe and then following in the footsteps of trapper Alexander Mackenzie, who made the trek with real voyageurs in the 1770s.
This is a "warts and all" description of Canada, its native peoples, and Twigger himself, who doesn't shy from describing the tough conditions, the frayed relationships, and the unrelenting power of nature. I appreciated the book's connection to history, and I learned a few tricks for surviving in the Canadian bush (bring lots of bug spray and four or five extra pairs of shoes/boots).
This is worth a read if you're a canoe fanatic, an adventurer, or if you're crazy enough to tackle Northern Alberta and points west.
This is a "warts and all" description of Canada, its native peoples, and Twigger himself, who doesn't shy from describing the tough conditions, the frayed relationships, and the unrelenting power of nature. I appreciated the book's connection to history, and I learned a few tricks for surviving in the Canadian bush (bring lots of bug spray and four or five extra pairs of shoes/boots).
This is worth a read if you're a canoe fanatic, an adventurer, or if you're crazy enough to tackle Northern Alberta and points west.
June 26, 2010
Voyageur is the story of Robert Twigger's somewhat obsessive attempt to replicate the cross continent journey of Alexander Mackenzie some 211 years previously.
As far as travelogues and adventure stories go, this pretty much has it all, an honest reflection of the relationships involved, vivid descriptions of the problems and issues and triumphs encountered, and clever contrasts with the original voyage. Coupled with excellent descriptions of the environment, the characters met, Twigger's inner fears and thought processes, this does make an engaging and compulsive read.
As far as travelogues and adventure stories go, this pretty much has it all, an honest reflection of the relationships involved, vivid descriptions of the problems and issues and triumphs encountered, and clever contrasts with the original voyage. Coupled with excellent descriptions of the environment, the characters met, Twigger's inner fears and thought processes, this does make an engaging and compulsive read.
August 15, 2012
Another great adventure from Twigger, makes me want to get in a canoe.
Read it and all his other books, all great adventures that the author has actually lived!
Read it and all his other books, all great adventures that the author has actually lived!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews