Alone in the Great Unknown

The inspiring true story of how an urban woman came to own and operate a remote fishing lodge nestled deep in the Pacific Northwest wilderness—a tale of adventure, loss and self-discovery.

When Caroll Simpson fell in love with a cabin located on pristine Babine Lake in British Columbia, many miles away from her home in Washington State, she knew her life was about to change. After convincing her husband to abandon their dream of living aboard a sailboat, they began the complicated process of buying the lodge and moving north. For two years, their adventure was a blissful dream. Then, tragedy struck.

Following the sudden death of her husband, Simpson was forced to decide her next move alone, amidst deep grief—would she sell the lodge, or would she stay, continuing the process of pursuing Canadian citizenship and running this remote lodge by herself? No easy feat, given accessing the lodge in summer required a forty-mile round trip by boat and, in the winter, a passage on an ice breaker barge and a treacherous snowshoe trek.

This heartfelt memoir tells Simpson's story—of living in the remote wilderness and managing the lodge, becoming an accidental environmental activist, fending off wild animals, working as an angling guide and finally, at the height of her career, fighting off a proposed mining operation and participating in the development of a government land plan as a spokesperson for the wilderness tourism industry.