True North: Exploring the Great Wilderness by Bush Plane

Leaving behind the comforts of civilized life and armed with only a few essentials, award winning author and bush pilot George Erickson captures the exhilarating thrill of roughing it in the wild, as well as evoking the sheer romance of adventuring in the far reaches of North America. The result is a best-selling book that readers-flyers and armchair travelers alike - will not be able to put down. Flying solo in his Piper Cub Special seaplane, Erickson revisits some of the arctic flights he once took with his father. He takes readers on an unforgettable journey through the pristine landscapes of Alaska, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. Landing on unexplored lakes and rivers to set up camp, the author fishes for trout using his unique handmade lures, struggles with bad weather, dodges forest fires, and mingles with polar bears, killer whales, musk oxen and caribou.Erickson channels the spirits of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Charles Lindbergh, and other great aviators. He nearly loses his life - twice - during the trip, but continues to extol the thrill of flying and the science that enables it. Erickson searches the tundra for clues to the disappearance of a long-missing priest, and measures the earth like Eratosthenes at the edge of an arctic sea. He tells tales of unscrupulous missionaries and explorers who starved to death; he communes at fireside with the skull of "Unok" under flaring northern lights and reexamines the Klondike Gold Rush at Alaska's Chilkoot Pass. 6 x 9, 320 pages, color photos)George Erickson, who was named Minnesota Aviation Author of the Year for True North has served as Vice-President of the American Humanist Association and as a board member of the hemlock Society of Minneapolis and of the New Brighton, Minnesota Environmental Quality Commision. A retired dentist, he has logged more than a thousand hours flying over the North Country. He is married with two adult sons. This is his first book.