What is it about the desolate far North American wilderness that calls the intrepid traveler to uncover its sanctifying and deadly secrets? From Jack London (Call of the Wild) to Christopher McCandless (chronicled in Jon Krakauer’sInto the Wild) souls have found solace in the silent, frozen northern kingdom at the top of the world, the Ultima Thule.

The forested flatlands give way to the frozen Rocky Mountains over millions of acres nominally in the dominion of both the United States and Canada and accessible by its 1532 mile shared umbilical cord—The Alcan Highway. Legendary vagabond, Jim Christy, a Canadian now but born an American travels this road throughout his life. First as a young man in the early 1960s hungry forrugged adventure then revisiting the journey every few years both observing and reflecting on the growth of Northwest in theRough Road to the North.

Christy vividly describes the history of the indigenous people and the hearty (and often foolhardy) pioneers who built the Alcan highway and opened the northern road. Christy’s lyrical text weaves fulsome magic about the siren call of the last unconquered land of North America.

“What is the lure of this great land, this ultimate northwest Ultima Thule? Something other than the sun and its natural wonder and the drama of its history. There is no other place on earth like it, not even remotely, and if you have spent considerable time her as have I, it keeps tugging at you when you are gone. It offers, as few other places do, the promise of flat-out, old fashioned adventure. It is inhabited by a kind of people who just do not exist anywhere else. Furthermore, is heartbreakingly beautiful. It has had its bards but never the epic poet it deserves because before its grandeur and ferocity one can only be overwhelmed, humbled, silenced.” — Jim Christy

Always in search of original characters and experiences, Jim Christy is a literary vagabond with few peers. He was once described by George Woodcock as “one of the last unpurged North American anarchistic romantics.” His publisher has called him a hip Indiana Jones; one reviewer credited him with a “Gary Cooper-like presence.” His buddies have included hobos, jazz musicians, boxers, and non-academic writers such as Charles Bukowski, Peter Trower and Joe Ferone. “I never dismiss another’s story out of hand,” he writes, “no matter what it’s about or how outrageous it may seem.” Christy’s often wry reminiscences of his travels, trysts and trials are fuelled by a hard-won pride. A gardener, a sculptor and a spoken word performer with a jazz/blues ensemble, Christy has been seen in film and television productions, usually in non-speaking roles as a thug or a gangster.

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