Even though I am an "indoorsy" person, I really enjoyed reading Braving It
by James Campbell. It is a memoir of three separate trips that James
took with his teenage daughter, Aidan, to the wilds of Alaska. James is
an experienced outdoors-man, but is middle-aged and not as fit or healthy
as he once was. Aidan is inexperienced in the wild, but has great
stamina, energy and enthusiasm. Together they make a good team,
although as you would expect with a father-teen relationship, things
don't always go perfectly. Emotions and attitudes sometimes collide,
but in the end they forge an unbreakable bond as they journey through
Alaska.
On their first trip, James and Aidan spend a summer
helping James' cousin build a cabin the a remote spot in Alaska's
Interior. Only a few months later, they return for an icy adventure as
the same cousin and his wife trap and hunt caribou and moose for their
winter food supply. On the final trip featured in the book, the duo
return to Alaska to backpack Brooks Range and then canoe down the
Hulahula River to the Arctic Ocean.
Braving It is very well written. Campbell does an excellent
job of ensuring that the reader can see, hear, smell and taste what the
Alaskan wilderness is like. He also captures the relationship between
father and daughter, portraying the highs and lows of the trip for them
both. I would recommend it to both indoor and outdoor enthusiasts. I
received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my
honest review.
