Exploration

Adam Shoalts

Episode 4

The solo adventurer and best-selling author shares highlights from his expeditions and the “lost” explorer who’s captured his imagination

  • Published May 02, 2019
  • Updated Apr 13, 2022
Expand Image
Advertisement

Adam Shoalts is a young man in his 30s, but in many ways he’s a throwback to a much earlier era of exploration.

His one-man adventures across the Canadian Arctic and the Hudson Bay lowlands call to mind the great early Canadian explorers Alexander Mackenzie and David Thompson. His love of challenging himself against the harsh conditions of the Canadian wilderness has earned him the nickname “Canada’s Indiana Jones.”

Adam is a Royal Canadian Geographical Society Explorer-in-Residence. He’s written extensively about his own adventures, including the bestseller Alone Against the North and his upcoming book, Beyond the Trees, about his recent 4,000-kilometre journey across the Canadian Arctic.

Shoalts says when he tells people about his expedition plans, the response he gets most frequently is, “Are you insane?” His 2017 Arctic traverse required him to canoe a dozen different rivers, often travelling upstream against strong currents, a challenge Shoalts overcame by poling rather than paddling. He carried no firearms, relying only on bear bangers and spray to ward off overly curious wildlife. And he frequently went weeks without seeing another human. 

“I don’t mind solo travel. I don’t think anything I do is that dangerous. I honestly think Canadians with long commutes on icy winter roads are in more danger than I am on any of my canoe journeys.”

Shoalts grew up in rural Fenwick, Ont. There wasn’t much for a child to do there besides play in the woods, he says. 

“Me and my brother and my dog, we were always in the woods — we built shelters, we’d try to make fires without matches. That was our playground, and that’s where I fell in love with the forest.”

Shoalts’ next Arctic journey has a somewhat different purpose: he’s writing a book about an almost-forgotten explorer, Hubert Darrell, who disappeared on the Anderson River east of Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T. in 1910. Not only did he traverse several thousand kilometres of the Arctic between Alaska and Hudson Bay, he did it entirely on foot, winter and summer, without a canoe or a dog team. He worked as a guide for the North-West Mounted Police, and the great Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen allegedly once tried to recruit him for an expedition, but “he was always on the margins,” Shoalts says. “Hubert Darrell was a legend on a different level.”

Advertisement

Help us tell Canada’s story

You can support Canadian Geographic in 3 ways:

Related Content

Adam Shoalts, Arctic, explorer, expedition, North, wildlife, canoe, RCGS

People & Culture

Exclusive: Adam Shoalts on his epic Trans-Canadian Arctic Expedition

Explorer Adam Shoalts, who completed his monumental 4,000-kilometre journey on September 6, speaks to Canadian Geographic about an expedition that calls to mind the likes of Vilhjalmur Stefansson and Joseph Tyrrell

  • 2702 words
  • 11 minutes
Adam Shoalts, exploration

People & Culture

Canadian explorer Adam Shoalts kicks off solo 4,000-kilometre Arctic expedition

Five-month trek will take him across the Arctic Circle from Old Crow, Yukon to Baker Lake, Nunavut

  • 415 words
  • 2 minutes
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talks with RCGS Explorer-in-Residence Adam Shoalts

People & Culture

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with new RCGS Explorer-in-Residence Adam Shoalts

Trudeau congratulated Shoalts on his recent appointment

  • 344 words
  • 2 minutes

People & Culture

Adam Shoalts on his latest expedition following the birds to Canada’s North

Professional explorer and best-selling author, Adam Shoalts, discusses his three-month solo canoe journey travelling bird migration routes from southern Canada to the Arctic

  • 1002 words
  • 5 minutes