Arts and Entertainment

Hiking book writer to bring stories from north of the Arctic Circle

January 29, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

Hiking book author Nicola Ross assures one and all that she is still doing a lot of hiking and selling her hiking books. It was over COVID that her initial success took off with her Loops and Lattes books. She wrote in the best of detail, showing how to enjoy the best hiking, first in Caledon and then in a series of books, each thoroughly discovered and left ready for even the most reticent hiker to explore and bloom.

The Citizen recently interviewed Ross about her trip as a host with Canoe North and
Adventure Canada.

Although the cruise around Greenland and Labrador is set for the summer of 2027, people can sign up now. Adventure Canada is offering a 25 per cent discount until Jan. 28.

Ross has travelled to the north for two canoe trips with Canoe North, to Mountain River and Greenland, but this coming trip will take her above the Arctic Circle for the first time.

During the Mountain River and Greenland trips, she was designated “writer in canoe” by the humorous Al Pace, co-founder of Canoe North and a well-known potter at the family gallery and store, Farmhouse Pottery in Mono.

Those two canoe trips brought the idea of Ross acting as host on the Adventure Canada cruises. There were a couple of delays, settling at last for 2027.

“They offered me to be a host,” Ross said, “looking for people with a bit of a following, to be a good host, I’ll have that host position on the cruise. For people, that comes as part of Canoe North trip.”

“My job is to be there, ” she said.

“It doesn’t require that much,” Ross commented, “There a lot of excursions – I’m really looking forward to getting to Labrador and hiking in the mountains there.”

Generally, the passengers are an older crowd, as the trip is not inexpensive.

The group that goes tends to be quite active, and the ship offers good service.

Ross elaborated. “This is a smaller ship, more intimate. One of the key things, others have interests in birds or wildlife; it can be a very active trip.”

The background and success of her hiking books carried a story with it, too.

“There was no magic to it – it was a lot of hard work. I had self-published a couple of books, then it made sense, I took boxes of my books to shops for them to sell on consignment and I sell my books at functions,” Ross said.

She has sold over 55,000 books about hiking, a publisher of only “one book-hiking,” while Freisen Publishing prints her books, Ross has her own book designer and editor.

“People have bought those hiking guides in droves,” she told the Citizen.

At the beginning, there’s a love story. Ross tells it, “I was working with my partner on canoe trips. He had a lodge in French River. On my birthday one year, he told me he would pay my basic expenses for two years to do what I needed to start what I wanted.”

She could stop working full-time and make it all happen.

Ross has 14 books, and the Arctic trip could be the next, with the permission of the other people on board.

Hiking or, she is clear, “walking, is a great thing to do”

Recently, she has taken up drawing to illustrate, lessons at the Alton Arts Centre with CJ Shelton, who told her, “Art is in the right side of the brain.”

From her Camino hike, Ross wanted to draw… “seeing the trail in front of you.”

Looking forward to the Arctic trip, she said, “From the East coast in Newfoundland – this is the only way I will be above the Arctic Circle. The overall thing is a new way of exploring.”

A brief conversation with Beth at Canoe North offered more details about the cruise ship and the trip on board with Adventure Canada.

“Our canoeing customers still want to go north even if they don’t want to camp any more.”

So, partnering with Adventure Canada since 2017 was a good plan. As Beth added, every year, 24 to 30 people also join the organization’s trips, as they did last year.

With the ship, they can take people of any age, and some disabled people as well. On these trips, Adventure Canada always gives something to one of the communities they go to, hockey gear after a game, for example.

Hiking Guides look after the group, and Adventure Canada has its own experts; Nicola helps people with minor issues.

Beth said, “When you do an AC (Adventure Canada) trip you become a big family. It inspires people to get out to learn about the world.”

There is history, ornithology, an artist, and a musician – turn your trip into your own experience.

Readers Comments (0)