Over the last 30 years, adventurer Frank Wolf has built an impressive collection of self-propelled journeys through Canada’s wilderness areas. Though his personal map of Canada features fewer and fewer gaps, he is still finding new lines that excite him. This summer, Wolf teamed with fellow Canadian Alex Kozma to paddle 1,200km through the Northwest Territories and the Yukon, starting at Elliott Lake in the Mackenzie Mountains and ending in the small First Nation community of Old Crow.
Wolf, 55, describes his journeys — always human-powered but varying between paddle expeditions, hikes, and cycle rides — as drawing lines on the map, “a life-project, something purposeful and deeply meaningful to me to pin and prioritize every year.” This year’s line featured a particularly interesting historical side-story.
A map of Frank Wolf’s journeys between 1995 and September 2025. Photo: Frank Wolf
The Mad Trapper of Rat River
Wolf’s line featured the Rat River, best known in Canada for a famous shoot-out and subsequent manhunt. Albert Johnson, later nicknamed the Mad Trapper of Rat River, arrived in Canada’s Northwest Territories in July 1931. A quiet man, it was unclear where he had arrived from, and his name was likely a pseudonym. By Christmas that same year, a local trapper had accused Johnson of tampering with his traplines, prompting the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to investigate.
The RCMP would find Johnson less than forthcoming. During their first visit to his cabin, he refused to speak to them. When they returned with a warrant, Johnson shot one of the constables through the door. The RCMP returned in force a week later, leading to a 15-hour siege, plenty of expended ammunition, an attempt to remove the cabin’s roof with dynamite, but no arrest. Johnson remained dug in, and the RCMP retreated to the local hamlet of Aklavik to resupply.
By the time they returned, Johnson had fled from Rat River. A huge manhunt followed. The first search party to encounter Johnson thought they had him cornered, only for Johnson to kill a constable and escape. The search was now front-page news across Canada.
In the Rat River canyon. Photo: Frank Wolf
Following the death of the constable, the RCMP requested an airplane to aid their search. Canadian Airways pilot Wop May eventually spotted tracks, helping to lead law enforcement to Johnson on Eagle River in the Yukon. Johnson had proven himself an excellent bushman, covering some 137km from his cabin in a month in the middle of winter. Not one to go quietly, Johnson was eventually shot and killed in a shootout on the ice.
Albert Johnson’s corpse. Photo: Wikipedia/RCMP
“When I was 11 years old, my parents took me to see ‘Death Hunt’ starring Charles Bronson, which is a fictionalized account of the Mad Trapper’s story. So I’ve been aware of the famous manhunt for Albert Johnson for a long time now. It adds an interesting layer to the story, but the route through the natural landscape itself, not the Mad Trapper, brought me there,” Wolf explained.
Beyond Rat River
Wolf and Kozma set off on June 29, planning to paddle the Hart, Peel, Rat, Little Bell, Bell and Porcupine rivers. The trip took three weeks, with the pair making excellent time.
“The only other somewhat detailed account I could find had the trip being done in 45 days,” Wolf told ExplorersWeb, “but I tend to clip along. We put in 10-hour days, every day, as I do on all my canoe trips…the key is to be consistent and put in the same number of hours no matter the conditions.”
Wolf and Kozma’s route this summer. Photo: Frank Wolf
The pair used a single Esquif Prospecteur 17 canoe. “It’s ultra tough, great in whitewater, can carry a tonne, and portages well,” Wolf said. They set out reasonably light, carrying only three packs: a barrel, a 115-litre pack, and a 70-litre pack.
Starting on Elliot Creek, they soon transitioned onto the Hart River. The Hart provided spectacular scenery, with immense limestone cliffs and good camping spots on gravel bars bordering the water.
Later, the Peel River was particularly challenging, with some difficult rapids and an unpleasant portage. The Aberdeen Canyon portage involved “5km of marsh and tight brush over a rough trail…and took us eight hours to negotiate the buggy line through ankle-breaking tussocks and shoe-sucking bogs,” Wolf wrote. This portage had factored into their decision to travel light, and a few days later, they topped up on food at Fort McPherson, the only town along their route.
The Aberdeen Canyon Portage. Photo: Frank Wolf
Next came a 130km section up the Rat River to Summit Lake and the Porcupine watershed. “It was a grind at times, but thankfully no major problems,” Wolf said. “We had great wildlife all the way along, seeing innumerable moose, lots of Dall Sheep, wolves, black bears, otters and beavers, to name a few. The mountain scenery, particularly on the Hart and Upper Rat River, was sublime. I had to skull an aggressive, huffing black bear with a stone to drive it away from our campsite, a perfect throw right between the eyes that sent it scurrying!”
More lines on the map
Wolf has been a prolific traveller in Canada, and has no plans to slow down.
“I’ve got my eye on a couple of new lines next year. One kayak line on the Alaska coast, as well as a canoe line in Nunavik. Nothing written in stone yet. I leave myself open to any trip that may rise from the ether until about February before I lock anything down. I try to stay nimble so that I can be ready to do any trip, anywhere, anytime with only a couple weeks’ notice.”
