Suffice to say, the Toronto Club hasn’t had such an entertaining or riveting guest speaker in many years. The book author and explorer Adam Shoalts, did not disappoint in re-telling stories of his adventures at the Club’s annual meeting held April 26, 2025 in Georgetown. He started his presentation by saying he was “the luckiest guy you’ll ever meet, because his canoe is his office.” For 14 years he has been leading expeditions in a partnership with the National Geographic Society and carrying their flag to distant, remote places. “I love the freedom of the outdoors, getting out all alone and seeing all the wildlife. How can you complain about the weather when you can see caribou and moose right outside your tent.” He keeps track of the animals and birds he sees in a daily diary.

Adam was interested in the outdoors at an early stage and while in high school he was building birch bark and cedar strip canoes in his backyard with his father and brother. Although he has a PhD, the author doesn’t spend all his time in libraries. (Although at an early age he was reading all the books he could get his hands on about the wilderness.) He says for at least four months of the year he is in a canoe.

One of the most challenging areas he has been in is the Hudson’s Bay Lowlands where it is mostly muskeg and very difficult to move through. The Hudson Bay Lowlands also have the highest concentration of blood-sucking insects in Canada, he adds.  Adam says he likes exploring remote areas and going where few other people have travelled. One of his trips took him on a river where explorers had been over 120 years ago. He was looking for an abandoned cabin and finally found it in the bush near some rapids.

Adam light-heartedly referred to some of the most challenging days while in the outdoors. One time a wolverine stole his 60-day food supply where he quipped “I saw that as a positive as my portages would be much lighter.”  On windy days, he often had to paddle at night and sleep during the days, as the water is more calm during the evenings. His longest portage lasted four days.

Of his newest book, Where the Falcon Flies, Adam talked about how he got the idea to follow the migration flight of the Peregrine Falcon. His trip took him by canoe from Lake Erie to the St. Lawrence to Quebec. Finally he turned north, hiking and canoeing his way to Ungava Bay in Labrador.

Trail Maintenance Director Laurent Thibault thanked Adam for coming to Georgetown to inspire our hikers. Afterwards, he signed and sold the five books he has written.