Distant Fires by Scott Anderson

I just finished reading a book my friend Ellie borrowed me called Distant Fires. It was written by Scott Anderson and illustrated by Les C. Kouba. I enjoyed it because it took me back into the woods.

Distant Fires is the classic canoe-trip story...with a twist of wry. Scott Anderson chronicles a canoe adventure that began on a mother's front porch in Duluth, Minnesota, and ended three months and 1,700 miles later at historic York Factory on the shores of Hudson Bay. It is a story of toil and triumph, of paddling and portaging, of youthful dreams dreamt and fulfilled. You're invited to turn the pages and ride along from your seat, breathing in the fresh northwoods air with the wonderful knowledge that if the mosquitoes get too bad, the pack gets too heavy, or the waves get too big, all you have to do is turn another page. Since the summer adventure described in Distant Fires, author Scott Anderson graduated from Stanford University, coached football in Austria, helped design a nuclear waste vitrification plant, built a two-person submarine, wrote two other books, Unknown Rider and The Mosquito Book, and worked as a test pilot.

Scott died testing the Cirrus SR20, an airplane that represented new concepts in personal aircraft safety, design and production. His leadership, commitment and creative abilities were instrumental in the successful certification of the airplane and its revolutionary safety systems. His life epitomized the pursuit of goals that had great value to his community and country.
Scott was a gifted and talented young man who had accomplished more at age 33 than most do in an entire lifetime. He was an F-16 fighter pilot in the Air National Guard as well as a test pilot for Cirrus Design Corporation. He was an acclaimed canoe adventurer (Duluth to Hudson Bay), an award winning author of three books, and a musician. Scott's inventive ability and people skills surfaced wherever he was. As an undergraduate engineering student intern, Scott's persistence and determination as a member of Minnesota Power's Research and Development team earned him recognition as co-inventor on a U.S. patent. While a student at Stanford University, he led an undergraduate team that built a two-person submarine. He was a graduate of Duluth East High School and Stanford University, where he studied engineering and history.

Quote from last chapter of Scott's book, Distant Fires, about the canoe trip to Hudson Bay:
Life is the Pursuit, Not the Capture