For Jill Fredston, wilderness rowing is more than a sport; it is a way of being.
Each summer since 1986, for two to three months, she and her husband, Doug Fesler, set out for a new adventure. In "Rowing to Latitude: Journeys Along the Arctic's Edge" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 289 pages, $24), Fredston takes us along on seven trips totaling more than 20,000 miles, all in Arctic or sub-Arctic waters, around Alaska, across Canada, through the Inside Passage from Seattle to Skagway, and around the coasts of Labrador, Norway and Sweden.
Along the way, they encounter grizzlies, polar bears, unstable weather, rapidly approaching dangerous storms, breaching whales, sharks and unbelievably beautiful, pristine wilderness.
She rows and he kayaks. Trusting and testing their relationship, Fredston tells how they prepare for each trip, and how they assess risks and decide what is worth doing.
They sleep on rocks, drag equipment over frozen terrain, and once spent nine days able to see only 100 feet ahead.
At times, the writing is as choppy as the waters Fredston encounters.
But as with most trips, "Rowing to Latitude" rewards you when you finally get to where you're going. Fredston makes you see wilderness as a more precious commodity than you thought, and inspires you to stretch your limits physically and mentally.
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