28 Canoeing Books for Your Reading List
12-minute read (plus countless enjoyable hours making your way through these books!)
Canoe tripping offers incredible adventure, stunning scenery and an opportunity to face our own strengths, weaknesses and perspectives in ways not possible in our everyday lives. Here’s a collection of wonderful books about real-life canoeing adventures by the folks who lived them.
Some of the titles we list here are classics by well-known authors. Others are less known (some very little known) but worth checking out.
Scan through our recommendations and start adding to your reading list! These are in order of first publication date:
Canoeing in the Wilderness • Henry David Thoreau
It was a little tough to dig up when this book was first published, but it looks like it was originally part of Thoreau’s book The Maine Woods. He apparently embarked on this wilderness canoe trip through Maine when he was forty years old, just four years before his death at 44 (in 1862).
Canoeing in the Wilderness appears to have been first published as a stand-alone book in 1906 and is now in the public domain. Various versions are available online or you can read it for free on Project Gutenberg. 4.5 stars on Amazon.
Written/published: Mid-1800s • 1906
Location: Maine, USA
A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe • J. MacGregor
J. MacGregor paddled a thousand miles in Europe in an oak canoe in 1865, then wrote about his journey and published it a year later. He covered 13 rivers (including the Thames, Rhine, Danube and Seine), six lakes, six canals and the open sea of the British Channel—what an adventure! A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe on Rivers and Lakes of Europe is available in several editions on Amazon. Or read it for free on Project Gutenberg, as it’s in the public domain. 3.9 stars on Amazon.
Published: 1866
Location: All over Europe
Canoeing With the Cree • Eric Sevareid
Canoeing with the Cree is the book that began Sevareid’s long journalism career in Minnesota. As an 18-year-old, he and his high school buddy Walter launched their canoe at Fort Snelling in Saint Paul, and paddled 2,250 miles to Hudson Bay in 1930. Like these other stories that take place before the advent of GPS, detailed maps and modern gear, it’s inspirational—and, indeed, inspired two of the other books on this list. 4.6 stars on Amazon.
Published: 1935; republished 2004 (75th Anniversary Edition)
Location: Minnesota, USA to Hudson Bay, Canada
The Singing Wilderness • Sigurd F. Olson
Sigurd Olson was a renowned guide and environmentalist in the Quetico-Superior wilderness for three decades and a popular author. His first book, The Singing Wilderness, has sold more than 70,000 copies since it was first published in 1956. Not so much a memoir as thoughts about the wilderness with illustrations by Francis Lee Jaques. 4.7 stars on Amazon.
Published: 1956
Location: Quetico-Superior region of northern Minnesota and Ontario
The Lonely Land • Sigurd F. Olson
Another by Olson, The Lonely Land details the canoe trip of the author and five friends who paddled 500 miles on the Churchill River in northern Saskatchewan. They followed the routes of the Voyageurs, Hudson Bay traders and others over the Canadian Shield in three canoes. Like The Singing Wilderness, this title has illustrations by Francis Lee Jaques. Several editions are available. 4.6 stars on Amazon.
Published: 1961
Location: Churchill River • Saskatchewan, Canada
Down the Wild River North • Constance Helmericks
An adventurer for several decades, in Down the Wild River North: A Memoir the author shares about the two summers she spent in a 20-foot canoe with her two teen daughters in far northern Canada and the Arctic. Several editions are available. Helmericks was a well-known adventurer in her day.
Published: 1968
Location: Northwest Territories, Canada
Paddle to the Amazon • Don Starkell
There are several editions of Paddle to the Amazon: The Ultimate 12,000-Mile Canoe Adventure available on Amazon. This is by far the longest canoe trip in our list of very adventurous canoe trips! Father and son Don and Dana Starkell started in Winnipeg, Manitoba and ended their ambitious trip two years and 12 thousand miles later in the Amazon basin. One reviewer says it well: “…undeniably one of the most audacious adventures ever undertaken.” 4.7 stars on Amazon.
Published: 1987
Location: Manitoba to the Amazon in Brazil
Freshwater Saga • Eric W. Morse
Freshwater Saga: Memoirs of a Lifetime of Wilderness Canoeing encapsulates decades of life by one of the best-known names in Canadian canoeing and exploring. “In his lifetime, Eric Morse saw more of Canada’s wilderness than most people have dreamt of.” Sigurd Olson, another author featured on this list, was one of his canoeing partners. 4.8 stars on Amazon.
Published: 1987
Location: All over Canada
Voyage of a Summer Sun • Robin Cody
This is the author’s description from his website: “The story is the Columbia River, not the canoe and me. It’s not an adventure story, though I had more adventure than I’d hoped for. And I didn’t set out to find myself, if I could help it. Nor did I launch the book with a large point to prove. No, the trip turned out to be a voyage of discovery, and its telling is the uncovering of surprise on a river I thought I knew.” Illustrations by Cody’s daughter. Voyage of a Summer Sun: Canoeing the Columbia River has a rating of 4.7 stars on Amazon
Published: 1995
Location: Columbia River in America’s northwest
Where Rivers Run • Gary and Joanie McGuffin
Gary and Joanie McGuffin decided on a rather unusual honeymoon trip—they set out from the Gulf of St. Lawrence in eastern Canada and canoed to the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic. Where Rivers Run: A 6,000 Mile Exploration of Canada by Canoe tells the story of that challenging and inspirational 2-year-long trip, one of many for them. 4.5 stars on Amazon.
Published: 1999
Location: All over Canada
Canoeing a Continent • Max Finkelstein
Author Finkelstein canoed across Canada in 1999 on the Alexander Mackenzie Voyageur route (who traveled it first in 1793) and then wrote Canoeing a Continent: On the Trail of Alexander Mackenzie to share his story. He brings in some of Mackenzie’s journal entries as well to bring a unique historical perspective to his canoe adventure on “the most significant water trail in North America.” 4.1 stars on Amazon.
Published: 2005
Location: All over Canada
The Canoeist • John Manuel
Author and canoeist John Manuel penned The Canoeist: A Memoir to share the tensions and joys of his life over the backdrop of his half a century of canoeing America’s rivers. 4.3 stars on Amazon.
Published: 2007
Location: American rivers everywhere
Canoeing the Mountain • Phil Weir
A whitewater canoeing adventure memoir of the author and his seven paddle partners on the Mountain River in Canada’s Northwest Territories. The book chronicles their 18-day trip, including close calls, serious challenges (like one of their four canoes wrapped around a rock) and inner journeys. Canoeing the Mountain: Gifts from the Waters has a 4.7-star rating on Amazon.
Published: 2013
Location: Mountain River • Northwest Territories, Canada
Paddlenorth • Jennifer Kingsley
A National Outdoor Book Award winner, Paddlenorth: Adventure, Resilience, and Renewal in the Arctic Wild tells the story of the author’s 54-day, 500 km canoe trip on the Baillie and Back Rivers of northern Canada with five other young adults in 2005. If the reviewers’ comments are any indication, even non-canoeists enjoy Kingsley’s book. 4.1 stars on Amazon.
Published: 2015
Location: Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Canada
Alone Against the North • Adam Shoalts
We have two titles on our list by Canadian explorer and writer Adam Shoalts, known as “Canada’s Indiana Jones.” Alone Against the North: An Expedition into the Unknown is the story of his wild canoe adventures in the Hudson Bay Lowlands, still some of our planet’s most unexplored territory. “A classic adventure story of single-minded obsession, physical hardship and the restless sense of wonder that every explorer has in common.” 4.5 stars on Amazon.
Published: 2016
Location: Hudson Bay Lowlands wilderness, Canada
Canoeing with José, by Jon Lurie
One of two books on our list that features the same 2,000-mile canoe route taken by Eric Sevareid and his buddy in 1930, Canoeing with José recounts the story of the author—the son of a Holocaust survivor—and his young friend José—of Lakota and Puerto Rican descent. They were both in painful life transitions when they took on this “odyssey of self-discovery.” Lurie is a college professor in Minnesota. 4.4 stars on Amazon.
Published: 2017
Location: Minnesota, USA to Hudson Bay, Canada
A Year in the Wilderness • Amy and Dave Freeman
In order to bring more public awareness to the Boundary Waters wilderness with the threat of toxic mining proposals, authors Amy and Dave Freeman spent a full year there in 2015 and 2016. A Year in the Wilderness: Bearing Witness in the Boundary Waters is the result—a tribute to this important wilderness area. 4.6 stars on Amazon.
Published: 2018
Location: Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness • Minnesota, USA
The Twenty-Ninth Day • Alex Messenger
The author was on the toughest of his several Canadian canoe trips taken through Minnesota’s Camp Menogyn. He was 17 years old at the time. On Day 29, he faced the challenge of his young life—he unexpectedly encountered a grizzly bear and was attacked. The Twenty-Ninth Day: Surviving a Grizzly Attack in the Canadian Tundra is his story of that event. (See our interview with Alex) 4.4 stars on Amazon.
Published: 2019
Location: Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Canada
Paddling Through Depression-Era Europe • J. Stannard Baker
Paddling Through Depression-Era Europe: Eight Countries by Canoe & Kayak is the account of the author and his wife when they paddled through France, Switzerland, Germany and five other countries in 1931. You can imagine the adventures they had—not in untamed wilderness as some of the other titles on this list, but in 20th Century Europe. 4.7 stars on Amazon.
Published: 2019
Location: Europe, broadly
A Wilderness Adventure • William Monger
Monger was an experienced angler but a canoe and camping novice when he and three friends embarked on their 8-day canoe trip in the Quetico. They faced both the tranquil and the turbulent in their wilderness experience in this self-published adventure story. A Wilderness Adventure: Canoeing, Camping and Fishing in Quetico Provincial Park has 4.4 stars on Amazon.
Published: 2019
Location: Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada
Perseverance, by John R. Richardson
Perseverance: One Month Canoeing the Mackenzie River is the story of the author and three friends (“four old men”) who canoed the 900-mile Mackenzie River in Canada’s Northwest Territories in 2006. The book details their adventures and experiences and also provides a detailed guide for readers who may want to tackle the route themselves one day. 4.5 stars on Amazon.
Published: 2020
Location: MacKenzie River • Northwest Territories, Canada
Hudson Bay Bound • Natalie Warren
Hudson Bay Bound: Two Women, One Dog, Two Thousand Miles to the Arctic is the second book on our list inspired by Canoeing with the Cree. The book details the physical and emotional journeys of the first two women to complete the 2,000-mile route, the author and her long-time friend and canoe partner, Ann. (See our interview with Warren here.) They launched their canoe for the trip two days after their college graduation in 2011. 4.5 stars on Amazon.
Published: 2021
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota to Hudson Bay, Canada
Paddle for Water • Nancy DeWitte Condon
The full title of this one is: Paddle for Water: Canoeing 5000 Miles across America with a Message to Share and a Man I Never Intended to Marry. The subtitle alone makes one curious! The author, Nancy DeWitte Condon, is an environmental educator, so her message is the value of our natural waterways. She and her paddling partner Tom canoed across the country from the Pacific to the Atlantic oceans. 4.9 stars on Amazon.
Published: 2022
Location: All over America from west to east
Where the Falcon Flies • Adam Shoalts
The second title by Adam Shoalts on our list, Where the Falcon Flies: A 3,400 Kilometre Odyssey From My Doorstep to the Arctic is the chronicle of his canoe trip following the migration path of the peregrine falcon. From Lake Erie to the Arctic Ocean, Shoalts describes his adventures through urban and wilderness landscapes. 4.6 stars on Amazon.
Published: 2023
Location: Central Canada from south to north
Borne by the River • Rick Van Noy
“After a near-fatal stroke and a separation, amidst a global pandemic, Rick Van Noy decided to go for a paddle.” He chose the Delaware River, a 200-mile route from the headwaters to his boyhood home in New Jersey. Solo, except for his dog companion, Van Noy combines memoir with local and natural history in Borne by the River: Canoeing the Delaware from Headwaters to Home. 5 stars on Amazon (although just one reviewer).
Published: 2024
Location: Delaware River, Eastern US
Gunflint Falling • Cary J. Griffith
Griffith weaves together the stories of canoe trippers, rangers and rescue workers just prior to, during and after the windstorm that flattened a million acres of trees in the Boundary Waters in 1999 on one of the busiest weekends of the canoe season. Like several other titles in this list, Gunflint Falling: Blowdown in the Boundary Waters reminds us that we need to continually respect the natural world even while we enjoy it. (See our review of this book here.) 4.3 stars on Amazon.
Published: 2024
Location: Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness • Minnesota, USA
Last Entry Point • Joe Friedrichs
Last Entry Point: Stories of Danger and Death in the Boundary Waters helps canoeists and would-be canoeists prepare for contingencies they could face on wilderness canoe trips. An experienced paddler himself, Friedrichs interviews people who overcame life-threatening challenges, friends of those who didn’t, and search and rescue workers who offer insight into backcountry safety. 4.3 stars on Amazon.
Published: 2024
Location: Boundary Waters/Quetico • Minnesota, US and Ontario, Canada
Walk Ride Paddle • Tim Kaine
As we just saw from the previous title, not every canoeing book has to be set in untouched wilderness. Walk Ride Paddle: A Life Outside by Senator Tim Kaine takes the reader across Kaine’s home state of Virginia, where a third of his “life outside” is in a canoe on the James River, 348 miles from headwaters to Chesapeake Bay. He decided to embark on his excursion the year he turned 60—inspiring! 4.6 stars on Amazon.
Published 2024
Location: Virginia, USA
We’re sure there are more, but these books—some classics, some newer—are a great start to put on your reading bucket list or on your gift list for family and friends.
Happy reading!
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