Tracker’s Canyon

Author/Guide: Pam Withers

Why a Booktrail?

2000s: When Tristan’s dad disappears, he must put his tracking skills to the test to find him

ISBN: B01MG24ROJ
Genre: Young Adult

Comment

What you need to know before your trail

Thanks to his dad’s coaching, sixteen-year-old Tristan is one of the best climbers and trackers in his community. He can read footprints and bushes like they’re security-camera footage, and fearlessly descend rock faces and waterfalls. So when his father disappears, leaving his mother too grief-stricken to function, the young canyoneer’s life goes into freefall.

Left in the hands of a well-meaning but incompetent uncle and a space-cadet housekeeper, Tristan finds life a struggle no matter how hard he works. Finding himself near the end of his rope at home, the teen decides to set off into Swallow Canyon in search of his father — only to realize that someone seems to be out to get him. Now the question is who’s stalking whom, and are Tristan’s skills up to the dangerous game playing out in the deep, shadowy ravine?

Locations

Reset

Travel Guide

British Columbia

Tracker’s Canyon is set between Squamish and Lillooet (real towns) in a fictional canyon. Research is done with maps, going there, and interviews with experts who have participated in adventure sports there. Wild spaces spark the outdoor-lover’s imagination. I would love to go to Swallow Canyon (even though it’s fictional) as there you can experience stunning waterfalls, sheer rock faces, forest trails rich with wildlife, flowering meadows, eagles soaring overhead, deer, cougars, and bears!

The book evokes the great outdoors, especially in Western Canada, because the landscapes there are all about wilderness survival and adventure. I usually visit the places to get a more intimate feel and good description of detail, as well as ideas for adventure in the plot.

The wilderness landscape is great for the story as it opens up possibilities for getting lost, challenging one’s courage and physical endurance, and encountering wild animals, weather, and natural disasters. The towns in the booktrail evoke the setting and feel of the adventure story.