1 00:00:27,238 --> 00:00:32,138 It was good to be back in the wilderness again, where everything seems at peace. 2 00:00:33,841 --> 00:00:36,641 I was alone, just me and the animals. 3 00:00:38,156 --> 00:00:42,156 It was a great feeling, free once more to plan and do as I pleased. 4 00:00:43,881 --> 00:00:45,681 Beyond was all around me. 5 00:00:46,377 --> 00:00:49,497 My dream was a dream no longer. 6 00:00:50,112 --> 00:00:53,212 I suppose I was here because this was something I had to do. 7 00:00:53,231 --> 00:00:56,151 Not just dream about it, but do it. 8 00:00:56,215 --> 00:01:00,035 I suppose, too, I was here to test myself. 9 00:01:00,598 --> 00:01:02,298 Not that I had never done it before, 10 00:01:02,352 --> 00:01:06,152 but this time, it was to be a more thorough and lasting examination. 11 00:01:08,179 --> 00:01:10,979 What was I capable of that I didn't know yet? 12 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,340 Could I truly enjoy my own company for an entire year? 13 00:01:16,373 --> 00:01:19,873 And was I equal to everything this wild land could throw at me? 14 00:01:21,735 --> 00:01:24,935 I had seen its moods in late spring, summer and early fall 15 00:01:25,751 --> 00:01:31,051 but what about the winter? Would I love the isolation then, 16 00:01:31,052 --> 00:01:35,752 with its bone-stabbing cold, its ghostly silence? 17 00:01:37,325 --> 00:01:42,125 At age fifty-one, I intended to find out. 18 00:01:43,533 --> 00:01:46,933 Another hundred yards, and I broke out of the brush 19 00:01:46,976 --> 00:01:49,776 to my pile of cabin logs I had cut last July. 20 00:01:51,419 --> 00:01:53,519 I sat down and leaned against them 21 00:01:53,890 --> 00:01:56,690 and while I chewed on a chunk of smoked salmon 22 00:01:56,979 --> 00:01:59,779 my eyes wandered over the peeled logs. 23 00:02:02,898 --> 00:02:05,698 That had been a big job last summer! 24 00:02:05,765 --> 00:02:07,865 Hard work, but I enjoyed it. 25 00:02:08,978 --> 00:02:12,478 It was cool at the timber, and there were mornings I could see my breath. 26 00:02:14,264 --> 00:02:17,064 I had harvested the logs from a stand of spruce 27 00:02:17,065 --> 00:02:19,165 less than 300 yards from where they were now piled. 28 00:02:41,416 --> 00:02:44,816 The logs were a great deal lighter now than they were then, 29 00:02:44,827 --> 00:02:46,927 and could be handled easy enough. 30 00:02:52,689 --> 00:02:55,089 It was in the late spring of 1968, 31 00:02:55,090 --> 00:02:59,390 that Dick Proenneke decided to leave civilization behind 32 00:02:59,821 --> 00:03:02,621 to live in a pristine land yet unchanged by man 33 00:03:03,625 --> 00:03:07,125 and to roam a wilderness through which few other humans have passed. 34 00:03:08,498 --> 00:03:11,498 While carving out his new life in this remote valley 35 00:03:11,499 --> 00:03:15,099 known as Twin Lakes, Dick would not only keep daily journals, 36 00:03:16,424 --> 00:03:21,924 but would film his Alaskan autosy with the help of a tripod-mounted camera. 37 00:03:24,742 --> 00:03:26,842 It was time to be moving on. 38 00:03:27,350 --> 00:03:29,050 I was anxious to get to Spike's cabin 39 00:03:29,051 --> 00:03:32,451 to see if it was the way I had left it last September. 40 00:03:38,963 --> 00:03:43,063 About 500 yards more through the spruce and willowbrush, 41 00:03:43,064 --> 00:03:44,464 and there it was. 42 00:03:45,491 --> 00:03:47,091 Its weather-grayed moose antlers 43 00:03:47,092 --> 00:03:49,692 spreading just below the peak of the roof. 44 00:03:50,128 --> 00:03:52,228 A tin can on its stove pipe, 45 00:03:52,787 --> 00:03:54,887 and its windows were boarded up. 46 00:03:59,059 --> 00:04:01,559 The cabin had everything needed to set up housekeeping 47 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:04,060 until my own cabin was completed. 48 00:04:05,356 --> 00:04:09,256 A good stove, two bunks and a roof that didn't leak. 49 00:04:14,843 --> 00:04:16,243 It's May 22nd. 50 00:04:16,604 --> 00:04:19,204 Up with the sun at four o'clock to watch the sun rise 51 00:04:19,205 --> 00:04:21,305 and the sight of the awakening land. 52 00:04:22,701 --> 00:04:27,001 It seems a shame for eyes to be shut when such things are going on. 53 00:04:28,024 --> 00:04:32,724 Especially in this big country. I don't want to miss anything. 54 00:04:44,330 --> 00:04:47,030 Today I would hike the five miles down to the lower lake 55 00:04:47,031 --> 00:04:49,031 to pack my third and last load of gear. 56 00:04:49,118 --> 00:04:51,818 My tools, with which to build my cabin! 57 00:04:55,339 --> 00:04:58,439 This time, with the binoculars along, I would have an excuse 58 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:02,040 to stop now and then and watch the slopes for game. 59 00:05:08,526 --> 00:05:13,926 From this high vantage point, the hill seemed to come alive with animals. 60 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:17,200 I suddenly didn't feel so alone anymore. 61 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:34,560 Almost noon before I got back to the cabin. 62 00:05:35,123 --> 00:05:37,923 The rest of the day, I devoted to my tools. 63 00:05:40,420 --> 00:05:43,220 I carved a mallet-head out of a spruce chunk, 64 00:05:43,546 --> 00:05:47,266 augered a hole in it and fitted a handle to it. 65 00:05:47,319 --> 00:05:49,619 This would be a useful pounding tool. 66 00:05:49,693 --> 00:05:52,293 And I hadn't had to pack it in either. 67 00:05:56,914 --> 00:05:59,514 The same with the handles I made for the wood augers, 68 00:05:59,548 --> 00:06:01,948 the wide-bladed chizel and the files. 69 00:06:03,558 --> 00:06:07,058 Much easier to pack without the handles already fitted to them. 70 00:06:14,442 --> 00:06:17,942 Hope Creek had cut a big opening into the lake ice. 71 00:06:18,376 --> 00:06:20,476 Was it too early to catch a fish? 72 00:06:21,288 --> 00:06:24,088 I took the casting rod along to find out. 73 00:06:28,576 --> 00:06:30,276 It didn't take long, 74 00:06:30,277 --> 00:06:33,477 after several casts it happened with the suddenness of a broken shoelace. 75 00:06:35,536 --> 00:06:38,336 I slid the 19-inch trout onto the stones. 76 00:06:39,111 --> 00:06:41,211 Fish with my beans tonight! 77 00:06:47,710 --> 00:06:52,410 It's May 25. Break-up is not the spectacular sight it was last year. 78 00:06:53,665 --> 00:06:57,165 A big wind would have cleared the thin ice out yesterday. 79 00:06:58,028 --> 00:07:01,528 As I loaded tools onto the packboard this morning, 80 00:07:01,575 --> 00:07:03,875 the rotted ice began to flow past its exit. 81 00:07:38,370 --> 00:07:40,670 When you have miles and miles of lake-front 82 00:07:40,671 --> 00:07:42,571 and pictured views to consider, 83 00:07:43,129 --> 00:07:45,929 it's difficult to select a building site. 84 00:07:46,326 --> 00:07:49,126 The more a man looks, the fuzzier he gets. 85 00:07:50,489 --> 00:07:53,289 I cleared the brush, and poured out beach gravel, 86 00:07:53,241 --> 00:07:58,161 and spread it to a depth of several inches over an area roughly 20x20 feet. 87 00:07:59,335 --> 00:08:02,135 I felt I had made the best possible choice. 88 00:08:03,849 --> 00:08:08,849 It would be 11x15 feet. Its front-door would face northwest. 89 00:08:09,782 --> 00:08:12,582 And the big window would look down to the lake. 90 00:08:14,558 --> 00:08:18,558 A pile of logs. Which ones to start with? 91 00:08:19,391 --> 00:08:22,191 To make a notch fit properly you can't rush it. 92 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:24,880 Make several saw cuts an inch or two apart 93 00:08:24,881 --> 00:08:26,881 almost down to the pencil line, 94 00:08:27,531 --> 00:08:32,331 and whack out the chunks with an axe, until the notch is roughly formed. 95 00:08:32,716 --> 00:08:37,016 Then comes the finish work. A careful custom fit. 96 00:08:37,017 --> 00:08:40,017 I have just the tool for the job. 97 00:09:45,449 --> 00:09:48,949 One log in particular required considerable hewing to straighten it. 98 00:09:49,435 --> 00:09:54,935 I must say white spruce works up nicely with an ax and a draw-knife. 99 00:10:01,007 --> 00:10:03,807 Enough for this evening. The job had begun. 100 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:07,980 Tomorrow should see more working and less figuring. 101 00:10:13,730 --> 00:10:17,230 It's May 29. Only a few chunks of ice floating in the lake this morning. 102 00:10:19,403 --> 00:10:22,203 By noon there was no ice to be seen. 103 00:10:22,796 --> 00:10:25,496 It was good to see the lake in motion again 104 00:10:25,497 --> 00:10:27,697 and it was even better to slip the canoe into the water... 105 00:10:28,456 --> 00:10:31,256 ...and paddle to work for a change! 106 00:10:41,020 --> 00:10:43,820 I glided silently along over a different pathway. 107 00:10:55,444 --> 00:11:00,944 The cabin is growing. 28 logs are in place. 44 should do it, 108 00:11:01,581 --> 00:11:04,381 except for the gable ends and roof logs. 109 00:11:05,286 --> 00:11:09,186 It really looks a mess to see the butts extending beyond the corners, 110 00:11:09,187 --> 00:11:12,187 but I will trim them off later. 111 00:11:12,899 --> 00:11:16,799 You can't rush it. I don't want these logs looking as if 112 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:20,800 a boy scout was turned loose on them with a dull hatchet. 113 00:11:36,685 --> 00:11:40,185 I was making good progress today when I heard a plane. 114 00:11:40,186 --> 00:11:42,486 It was Babe Alsworth. 115 00:11:42,943 --> 00:11:47,043 I watched the plane glide in for a perfect landing on the calm lake. 116 00:11:53,186 --> 00:11:56,686 Plenty of groceries this time, and among the supplies, rhubarb plants! 117 00:11:58,748 --> 00:12:01,548 They should be put in the ground right away. 118 00:12:02,999 --> 00:12:05,799 I found the frost about four or five inches down. 119 00:12:11,353 --> 00:12:14,853 I planted fifteen hills of potatoes, tucked in some onion sets, 120 00:12:16,221 --> 00:12:21,221 and put in a few rows of peas, carrots, beets and rutabagas. 121 00:12:21,657 --> 00:12:24,057 Not much of a garden by Iowa standards, 122 00:12:24,058 --> 00:12:27,858 but it would tell me what I wanted to find out. 123 00:12:30,034 --> 00:12:32,334 Finally back to the cabin building. 124 00:12:32,335 --> 00:12:36,035 I am a better builder than I am a farmer, anyway. 125 00:12:36,397 --> 00:12:39,897 38 logs are in place and I'm almost ready for the eave logs. 126 00:12:41,561 --> 00:12:43,461 I cut the opening for the big window, 127 00:12:43,462 --> 00:12:46,462 for the two smaller ones and the opening for the door. 128 00:12:54,709 --> 00:12:59,209 Five logs were very special. These were the 20-footers, 129 00:12:59,307 --> 00:13:02,807 which along with the gable ends would make the backbone of my roof. 130 00:13:03,709 --> 00:13:07,009 Two would be eave logs, two would be purlin logs 131 00:13:07,010 --> 00:13:10,610 and the last and straightest one would be the ridge log. 132 00:13:12,890 --> 00:13:17,790 As it stands now, the cabin looks like as logs are sticking out all over it. 133 00:13:18,091 --> 00:13:20,591 Like the quills of a porcupine. 134 00:13:32,057 --> 00:13:34,057 I have made good progress today. 135 00:13:34,058 --> 00:13:39,958 My cabin logs have changed form in the ten days since I cut the first notch. 136 00:13:44,170 --> 00:13:49,670 It's June 7, and I believe the growing season is at hand. 137 00:13:50,114 --> 00:13:53,014 The buckbrush and willows are leafing out fast now, 138 00:13:53,015 --> 00:13:55,015 the rhubarb is growing, 139 00:13:55,439 --> 00:13:58,939 and I noticed my onion sets are spiking up through the earth. 140 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:03,060 Those windowframes have been on my mind. 141 00:14:03,061 --> 00:14:05,361 Decided to do something about it. 142 00:14:05,981 --> 00:14:08,781 First I build a sawhorse workbench. 143 00:14:08,844 --> 00:14:13,344 Then selected straight grain sections of logs cut from the windows. 144 00:14:13,732 --> 00:14:17,832 With a thin blade of wide chizel, I cut deep along the line on each side. 145 00:14:18,560 --> 00:14:24,060 Worked fine. I smoothed the split side with a draw knife. 146 00:14:24,726 --> 00:14:28,226 The result was a real nice board, so I continued to fashion others. 147 00:14:29,119 --> 00:14:31,219 Put 'em in place and nail 'em in. 148 00:14:43,658 --> 00:14:47,058 I finished today cleaning the litter of woodchips. 149 00:14:47,059 --> 00:14:50,859 I mounted them in front of the door, beaver-lodge style. 150 00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:56,980 Quite a pile for eleven day's work. Enough to impress that beaver. 151 00:15:08,825 --> 00:15:13,825 It's June 9. Today would be a day away from the job of building. 152 00:15:14,058 --> 00:15:17,558 I'd look for the pole timber for the roof up lake. 153 00:15:47,239 --> 00:15:50,739 After beaching the canoe, I walked through the timber, 154 00:15:51,164 --> 00:15:55,364 crossing and recrossing the creek that had its beginnings in the far off snows. 155 00:16:01,829 --> 00:16:04,829 Good pines were not as plentiful as I had figured, 156 00:16:05,238 --> 00:16:08,738 and I worked steadily to get 48 out and packed at the beach by noon. 157 00:16:10,172 --> 00:16:12,272 The mosquitoes were out in force. 158 00:16:13,045 --> 00:16:18,045 To peel the poles, I made a tripod of short sticks on which to rest one end, 159 00:16:18,046 --> 00:16:20,046 and put the draw-knife to work. 160 00:16:21,355 --> 00:16:25,355 I rafted them up, and moved them down the lake to my beach. 161 00:16:26,547 --> 00:16:29,347 A good pile, but I doubted there would be enough. 162 00:16:35,117 --> 00:16:38,617 Today I would secure the roof poles over the gables. 163 00:16:40,107 --> 00:16:41,927 A cabin roof takes time. 164 00:16:49,295 --> 00:16:53,495 Soon I would be ready to saw the ends and fill the slots between the pole butts 165 00:16:53,496 --> 00:16:55,496 onto the eaves. 166 00:17:01,170 --> 00:17:06,170 It's June 18. Everything looks as though it had a bath last night. 167 00:17:06,553 --> 00:17:10,053 Must have been a good shower, and I never even heard it. 168 00:17:11,292 --> 00:17:15,492 A check on the livestock this morning before going down to the roof job-- 169 00:17:15,859 --> 00:17:21,059 --a few caribou cows and their calves just up country from Low Pass Creek. 170 00:17:21,060 --> 00:17:23,760 Nothing else in sight. 171 00:17:24,126 --> 00:17:27,626 Should be a bear passing through one of these days! 172 00:17:46,402 --> 00:17:49,402 These fillers should be called squirrel frustrators. 173 00:17:49,403 --> 00:17:54,803 Give those characters an entrance and they can ruin a cabin. 174 00:17:54,868 --> 00:17:57,068 I finished filling the slots between the roof poles 175 00:17:57,069 --> 00:17:59,069 and cocked joints with oakum. 176 00:17:59,270 --> 00:18:03,070 I kinked around the blocks on the outside. 177 00:18:03,131 --> 00:18:06,631 Any place I could get a table knife blade in, got oakum. 178 00:18:12,418 --> 00:18:15,018 Next was a job I had been thinking about. 179 00:18:15,019 --> 00:18:18,419 A countertop, some window ledges and some shelves. 180 00:18:20,296 --> 00:18:23,796 I decided ripping them with the ripsaw was the answer. 181 00:18:24,335 --> 00:18:27,235 I could go down the middle of a log 5" in diameter 182 00:18:27,236 --> 00:18:33,236 and 42" long in fifteen minutes. Couldn't complain about that. 183 00:18:35,983 --> 00:18:39,083 I think I have sawed nearly everything I need. 184 00:18:39,084 --> 00:18:41,884 Now, to trim the edges and start building. 185 00:19:11,137 --> 00:19:13,537 I need a fish for supper. 186 00:19:13,538 --> 00:19:16,238 So I took the fly rod down to Hope Creek. 187 00:19:17,001 --> 00:19:19,001 The grayling were feeding greedily. 188 00:19:19,002 --> 00:19:22,202 Fins and tails swirling all over the surface. 189 00:19:23,417 --> 00:19:28,917 A fish snapped the fly on the very first cast. A handsome grayling. 190 00:19:29,773 --> 00:19:34,573 17� inches long. Enough for my needs. 191 00:19:35,571 --> 00:19:37,071 It's July 2. 192 00:19:37,072 --> 00:19:41,772 After a peaceful trip down lake I located ten spruce tops. 193 00:19:42,112 --> 00:19:44,912 I was anxious to try making hinges for the door. 194 00:20:00,812 --> 00:20:03,812 I worked the wood to shape with an axe and a draw knife. 195 00:20:04,243 --> 00:20:06,343 Now to saw the fork and butt end. 196 00:20:11,460 --> 00:20:14,960 45 minutes and I had my hinge made. Not bad. 197 00:20:34,505 --> 00:20:38,005 I put some finishing touch on the door planks I made Sunday. 198 00:20:38,953 --> 00:20:41,753 Now the door is ready to put together. 199 00:20:42,508 --> 00:20:48,708 Too many men work on parts of things. Doing a job to completion, satisfies me. 200 00:20:55,992 --> 00:20:59,092 My roof poles are still too wet for the tarpaper, 201 00:20:59,093 --> 00:21:02,193 so I will work on my double-deck bunk. 202 00:21:02,701 --> 00:21:05,501 Four posts with two rails on each side- 203 00:21:05,547 --> 00:21:08,347 -and two small and two large on each end. 204 00:21:09,131 --> 00:21:13,931 I augered 1�" holes and trim the rail poles to fit. 205 00:21:27,187 --> 00:21:28,687 Now when I get some glue, 206 00:21:28,688 --> 00:21:31,688 I'll knock it apart and glue it back together. 207 00:21:33,025 --> 00:21:37,525 With a few leftover poles, I built myself a chair and a bench. 208 00:21:40,616 --> 00:21:46,816 It's June 27. A good rain it was last night. Today would be a pole-hunting day. 209 00:21:47,667 --> 00:21:51,167 I need about thirty to make the slats for my bunks. 210 00:21:51,411 --> 00:21:55,011 After peeling the poles the wind came up strong. 211 00:21:55,012 --> 00:21:58,212 It brought rain and furrowed the lake rough as a cob. 212 00:21:59,179 --> 00:22:03,179 This lake can really change its personality in a hurry. Like a woman! 213 00:22:04,373 --> 00:22:08,373 All smiles one minute, and dancing in temper-tantrum the next. 214 00:22:11,401 --> 00:22:14,201 Tomorrow is Sunday. I will go someplace. 215 00:22:18,129 --> 00:22:20,029 Next morning I loaded up my camera gear, 216 00:22:20,030 --> 00:22:22,330 and started walking up the trail to the hump. 217 00:22:23,522 --> 00:22:26,322 It was good to take a break away from the cabin. 218 00:22:29,669 --> 00:22:32,469 As I topped the ridge along a dry wash, 219 00:22:32,470 --> 00:22:35,870 a wolf came up from the other side, 30 or 40 paces away. 220 00:22:36,594 --> 00:22:38,694 Then in a wink, she was gone. 221 00:22:39,701 --> 00:22:41,801 The wolves had made a kill. 222 00:22:42,850 --> 00:22:46,350 All that was left of the young caribou was the backbone and rib cage. 223 00:22:47,975 --> 00:22:52,075 The skin was badly torn and pulled down over the front legs. 224 00:22:52,076 --> 00:22:54,476 As you would peel back a rubber glove. 225 00:22:59,300 --> 00:23:02,800 It looks like the wolves aren't the only problem the caribous have. 226 00:23:03,651 --> 00:23:07,851 What was a bull caribou doing down there, where not a breath of air was stirring? 227 00:23:08,988 --> 00:23:12,488 Insects were whirling around me like sawdust blown from a power saw. 228 00:23:14,256 --> 00:23:17,056 The bull also was having a battle with the tinies. 229 00:23:18,709 --> 00:23:23,509 Stomping, shaking, twisting, turning and shivering his hide. 230 00:23:40,389 --> 00:23:45,889 He would lie down and get back up again. No rest at all. 231 00:23:46,470 --> 00:23:49,270 Why doesn't he climb to a breeze or take a swim? 232 00:23:49,271 --> 00:23:55,071 Anything but stand and fight something he can't hope to kill or scare away. 233 00:23:58,514 --> 00:24:01,314 With a yell and a waving of arms, I spooked him. 234 00:24:02,406 --> 00:24:04,506 He threw his antlers back and off he clattered 235 00:24:04,507 --> 00:24:06,907 over the stones and up the creek. 236 00:24:07,452 --> 00:24:09,552 Good luck to you, old boy! 237 00:24:32,657 --> 00:24:37,157 It's July 3. A cool, damp morning with fog coming off the slopes 238 00:24:37,895 --> 00:24:40,695 like the smoke from many campfires. 239 00:24:41,341 --> 00:24:44,841 No wind now, so it's a perfect day for the tarpaper job. 240 00:24:46,416 --> 00:24:50,216 I left the felt paper four to five inches. 241 00:24:50,394 --> 00:24:53,194 I need just one more strip, twenty feet long. 242 00:24:53,775 --> 00:24:58,275 I must admit the cabin looks better already with the start of a roof. 243 00:25:02,093 --> 00:25:05,093 Next I unrolled the polyethylene and tucked the edges together 244 00:25:05,094 --> 00:25:06,994 to get at least four thicknesses to tack through. 245 00:25:08,296 --> 00:25:10,396 And I fastnened her down. 246 00:25:15,807 --> 00:25:18,607 Next I built a carrying rack for the moss. 247 00:25:18,902 --> 00:25:21,102 I filed a blade from my round-point shovel, 248 00:25:21,103 --> 00:25:23,803 then I was ready for the moss-cutting detail. 249 00:25:25,290 --> 00:25:32,090 I cut out rectangles about 18"x36" and 8" thick. 250 00:25:32,905 --> 00:25:36,405 Two chunks double-decked on the rack made a good load. 251 00:25:41,408 --> 00:25:45,908 I put it around the edges of the roof, and the cabin took on a new look. 252 00:25:48,605 --> 00:25:52,005 I feel guilty about the tarpaper and the polyethylene, 253 00:25:52,006 --> 00:25:54,506 because they are not true wilderness cabin materials! 254 00:25:55,638 --> 00:26:02,138 But I am convinced they will do a better job at keeping the weather out. 255 00:26:06,055 --> 00:26:11,255 It seems I have cleared two acres of moss, and the roof still isn't covered. 256 00:26:12,954 --> 00:26:19,154 A beautiful still evening. The cabin is starting to look as though it belongs. 257 00:26:20,939 --> 00:26:24,439 This morning I cut, hauled and peeled eleven logs by noon. 258 00:26:25,781 --> 00:26:29,281 I would spend today on the construction of the john. 259 00:26:29,751 --> 00:26:32,551 An important consideration in any new home! 260 00:26:34,500 --> 00:26:37,500 Materials to finish the front required lots of time, 261 00:26:37,501 --> 00:26:41,001 ripping boards from the last of my cabin logs. 262 00:26:46,098 --> 00:26:49,598 It was twelve o'clock when I finished the last cut. 263 00:26:49,987 --> 00:26:55,487 Four boards would make the door, and the fifth would hold it together. 264 00:27:01,334 --> 00:27:06,834 I made the hinges from a gas-can, and they looked almost store-bought. 265 00:27:07,624 --> 00:27:12,124 And then the final touch. Saw out a crescent. And the john was done. 266 00:27:14,806 --> 00:27:17,906 July 23. A day to hang the door. 267 00:27:19,236 --> 00:27:22,736 I put the door into the opening and fastened the top and bottom hinges. 268 00:27:24,023 --> 00:27:27,523 I checked and re-checked my hinges to see that they were in line. 269 00:27:28,654 --> 00:27:31,054 I pulled the hinge pins, set the door on an edge 270 00:27:31,055 --> 00:27:33,555 and sawed it nearly through for a dutch door, 271 00:27:34,267 --> 00:27:36,367 which I intended it to be. 272 00:27:37,232 --> 00:27:42,052 I put on some glue and nailed it fast. 273 00:27:45,100 --> 00:27:49,700 Door works quiet and easy, with all four hinges secured. 274 00:27:49,701 --> 00:27:52,601 Not perfect, but plenty close for rural work. 275 00:27:55,263 --> 00:28:00,763 I must devise a latch for it. Not just hooks like a barn door. 276 00:28:15,512 --> 00:28:21,712 All I needed was a lock. I'd like to see a bear try and figure this thing out. 277 00:28:22,120 --> 00:28:24,220 But I suppose he would just solve the problem 278 00:28:24,221 --> 00:28:27,021 by wiping the door clean from the wooden hinges. 279 00:28:30,382 --> 00:28:34,882 After finishing the latch, I went blueberring up on the Cowgill Bench. 280 00:28:35,309 --> 00:28:37,129 I found a good patch. 281 00:28:38,068 --> 00:28:43,568 I fear the blueberries really took a nipping from the heavy frost not so long ago. 282 00:28:44,186 --> 00:28:49,686 I found some berries big and healthy. But many are small and shriveled. 283 00:28:51,518 --> 00:28:55,018 When my can was nearly full I noticed a movement across the creek. 284 00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:58,260 Something yellow and brown. 285 00:28:58,630 --> 00:29:02,030 A big bear, not fifty yards away! 286 00:29:02,031 --> 00:29:04,831 I think I have picked the wrong blueberry patch. 287 00:29:11,350 --> 00:29:15,150 Lucky for me, and him, he didn't like my smell. 288 00:29:24,331 --> 00:29:28,431 July 31. A tin-bending day. 289 00:29:28,759 --> 00:29:31,559 Made a water bucket. A wash pan. A dish pan. 290 00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:34,260 A flower pan, and storage cans. 291 00:29:34,686 --> 00:29:36,786 My cabin kitchen is shaping up. 292 00:29:42,561 --> 00:29:46,061 I needed a big wooden spoon to dip hotcake batter onto the griddle. 293 00:29:47,315 --> 00:29:49,415 One spoonful = one hotcake. 294 00:29:51,965 --> 00:29:55,465 In the woodpile I found scraps of stump wood that looked suitable. 295 00:29:56,599 --> 00:30:00,099 It took me no more than an hour to turn out a good looking spoon. 296 00:30:01,810 --> 00:30:04,610 I must make a wooden bowl too later on. 297 00:30:19,559 --> 00:30:21,159 Today is the big day. 298 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:24,060 I will load all of my remaining gear into the canoe, 299 00:30:24,061 --> 00:30:27,461 and paddle down to my new home. 300 00:30:31,521 --> 00:30:37,321 The lake is dead calm. A perfect day for moving. 301 00:30:47,347 --> 00:30:49,447 Everything found its place, 302 00:30:49,448 --> 00:30:51,548 and there was lots of room for everything. 303 00:30:51,549 --> 00:30:54,249 Not a cluttered look at all. 304 00:30:56,943 --> 00:30:59,743 Five inches of foam rubber on my new bunk 305 00:30:59,744 --> 00:31:01,444 will make it just about right. 306 00:31:02,034 --> 00:31:05,134 I can hear Hope Creek real plain. 307 00:31:05,135 --> 00:31:08,135 That will be a pleasant sound to go to sleep by. 308 00:31:09,429 --> 00:31:12,929 And the view from my window isn't too bad, either. 309 00:31:15,718 --> 00:31:17,518 Best sleep in a long time. 310 00:31:17,519 --> 00:31:19,919 The sound of the waves lapping the gravel beach-- 311 00:31:20,281 --> 00:31:25,781 --and the never ending rustle of Hope Creek. No better sleeping pill! 312 00:31:26,844 --> 00:31:28,944 The woodpile needs attention. 313 00:31:29,261 --> 00:31:33,081 I must drop a few spruce nags and buck them into the sections. 314 00:31:33,819 --> 00:31:36,619 Dry standing timber makes the best firewood. 315 00:31:46,929 --> 00:31:49,029 There is a rhythm to the saw 316 00:31:49,030 --> 00:31:51,930 as its teeth eat back and forth into the deepening cut. 317 00:31:52,535 --> 00:31:55,335 But I must admit, I enjoy the splitting more. 318 00:32:00,672 --> 00:32:04,672 I heard a plane. It was Babe at last with supplies. 319 00:32:05,410 --> 00:32:08,910 He had brought in some fresh groceries that needed refrigeration. 320 00:32:10,363 --> 00:32:14,063 I had dug down a foot into the moss just yesterday, 321 00:32:14,064 --> 00:32:17,864 and found frost, and lined the hole with a gas-can box. 322 00:32:18,556 --> 00:32:23,056 The thermometer in the cooler box under the moss reads 40�, 323 00:32:23,057 --> 00:32:26,457 and here it is close to 80� today. 324 00:32:30,340 --> 00:32:32,040 While cultivating the garden, 325 00:32:32,041 --> 00:32:34,541 I rolled out a few potatoes that looked like walnuts. 326 00:32:36,143 --> 00:32:39,643 Not record breakers for size, but they had real smooth skins! 327 00:32:40,878 --> 00:32:45,098 The crops to grow at Twin Lakes are potatoes, rhubarb, lettuce, 328 00:32:45,099 --> 00:32:49,999 onions and radishes. My green onions looked pretty respectable. 329 00:32:51,375 --> 00:32:53,475 I am getting hungry for a fish. 330 00:32:54,539 --> 00:32:59,359 After many casts at the mouth of Hope Creek, I was onto one. 331 00:32:59,833 --> 00:33:02,033 I worked him in easy, 332 00:33:02,034 --> 00:33:06,034 for I was fish hungry and didn't want to lose this lake trout. 333 00:33:14,700 --> 00:33:18,000 I could see him browning in the pan as I dressed him out, 334 00:33:18,001 --> 00:33:20,601 and I left his entrails for the birds. 335 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:27,500 Fried potatoes, onions and fish. You can't beat that! 336 00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:35,260 Time to take a break away from the cabin. I would go up high today. 337 00:33:38,106 --> 00:33:41,606 There were many sheep and ram scattered here and there. 338 00:33:42,894 --> 00:33:46,694 I spotted six big rams on Black Mountain. 339 00:33:46,887 --> 00:33:48,987 Two had better than a full curl. 340 00:33:53,218 --> 00:33:56,118 A man could lose himself up here. 341 00:33:56,119 --> 00:34:01,119 One bad step and I would keep on going right down the mountain. 342 00:34:01,247 --> 00:34:04,047 But risk now and then is good for a man. 343 00:34:04,210 --> 00:34:08,510 One mis-step here, and a man would have to settle with the Lord, 344 00:34:08,511 --> 00:34:12,111 right here on the mountain. 345 00:34:51,351 --> 00:34:55,351 Close at hand, the mosses and grasses were full of tiny flowers. 346 00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:58,100 It is another world of beauty. 347 00:34:59,219 --> 00:35:02,519 The more I see as I sit here among the rocks, 348 00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:06,120 the more I wonder about what I am not seeing. 349 00:35:14,458 --> 00:35:17,058 A flickering movement to my left. 350 00:35:17,059 --> 00:35:21,659 The stone seemed to move, and turned into a mother ptarmigan and a brood. 351 00:35:22,159 --> 00:35:25,959 The young was just as camouflaged as the mother. 352 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:28,620 They were feeding. 353 00:35:28,621 --> 00:35:31,821 Huddled like chickens as they walked along the slope. 354 00:35:38,237 --> 00:35:41,737 Not too far away I spotted a mother brown bear with two cubs. 355 00:35:43,255 --> 00:35:47,455 It was probably the same family I had seen at different times during the spring. 356 00:35:48,591 --> 00:35:53,691 She was rounded out like a cask. Must be lots of vitamins along those slopes. 357 00:36:03,233 --> 00:36:07,733 It was getting late and a little chilly, and it was time to leave. 358 00:36:08,152 --> 00:36:11,652 I had taken a long look into the heart of the high places. 359 00:36:16,548 --> 00:36:22,048 It's September 6. This would be the morning to start the fireplace. 360 00:36:22,272 --> 00:36:27,272 I had been packing flat stones from the bed of Hope Creek for the past few days. 361 00:36:27,852 --> 00:36:30,052 The sound of geese heading north 362 00:36:30,053 --> 00:36:34,553 made me even more anxious to get the project underway. 363 00:36:35,265 --> 00:36:41,465 The lake was moon-still. A good morning to haul some sand. Four loads of sand. 364 00:36:46,617 --> 00:36:50,017 I won't cut the hole on the back of the cabin too high 365 00:36:50,018 --> 00:36:53,518 until I find out how this rock laying is gonna go. 366 00:36:58,663 --> 00:37:04,863 Today is spent on the outside. The chimney is a good 12" high and 9" thick. 367 00:37:07,293 --> 00:37:13,493 I hated cutting into those logs I had fit with such care, but it had to be done. 368 00:37:21,889 --> 00:37:26,089 It's September 8. I roughed out my arch today with my axe, 369 00:37:26,090 --> 00:37:28,390 and then finished it off with the jack-plane. 370 00:37:30,217 --> 00:37:33,017 I set it in place and spiked it to the post. 371 00:37:35,468 --> 00:37:38,068 All my stones in front of the the fireplace 372 00:37:38,069 --> 00:37:40,969 have been collected in my travels up and down both lakes, 373 00:37:41,862 --> 00:37:44,162 the high country and the low. 374 00:37:44,163 --> 00:37:48,063 So they are representative of the entire area. 375 00:37:52,809 --> 00:37:58,009 Today, while it was still frosty, I cut a notch in the rear overhang of the roof 376 00:37:58,010 --> 00:37:59,710 to let the chimney through. 377 00:38:01,220 --> 00:38:04,020 My collapsable form couldn't have worked better. 378 00:38:04,021 --> 00:38:06,421 I'm glad I took the time to make it. 379 00:38:07,127 --> 00:38:10,027 By tomorrow evening I had better be done, 380 00:38:10,028 --> 00:38:12,328 since the last cement sack will be empty. 381 00:38:14,156 --> 00:38:18,056 After two weeks, with fingertips worn thin and tender, 382 00:38:18,057 --> 00:38:20,357 I am ready for the cold weather. 383 00:38:28,507 --> 00:38:32,307 This new day is clear, calm and 28 degrees. 384 00:38:33,093 --> 00:38:37,593 There is white frost on the brush, and on the gravel of the beach. 385 00:38:37,824 --> 00:38:40,024 The lake is like a huge puddle, 386 00:38:40,025 --> 00:38:45,325 grinning with the reflections of the fall colors well along on the mountains. 387 00:38:45,877 --> 00:38:48,077 Today was meant for canoe travel. 388 00:38:48,078 --> 00:38:51,078 I would go to the lower end of the lower lake 389 00:38:51,491 --> 00:38:54,691 where the Chilikadrotna River begins its long swift journey 390 00:38:54,692 --> 00:38:57,492 to merge with the Molchotna and Chuchigak. 391 00:38:59,115 --> 00:39:03,215 It would be a paddle of 8.5 miles, one way. 392 00:39:14,705 --> 00:39:17,505 It was a joy to travel the flat lake. 393 00:39:17,956 --> 00:39:21,556 I dug the paddle deep and the canoe slid along easily, 394 00:39:21,557 --> 00:39:23,457 throwing ripples to either side. 395 00:39:25,030 --> 00:39:28,530 Near the lower end of the lake, I spotted a fine caribou bull. 396 00:39:29,420 --> 00:39:33,520 He was acting strangely. When I saw him wade into the lake, 397 00:39:33,521 --> 00:39:37,321 it dawned on me. He wanted to cross to the other side! 398 00:39:38,133 --> 00:39:42,633 The race was on. He would show me how fast a bull caribou could swim! 399 00:39:43,747 --> 00:39:47,047 I didn't wanna get too close in case he'd turn on me. 400 00:39:47,048 --> 00:39:50,648 He could overturn my canoe with no trouble. 401 00:39:51,370 --> 00:39:54,470 Maybe he figured he couldn't get rid of me on land, 402 00:39:54,471 --> 00:39:57,571 so he did what he would have done with a wolf in pursuit. 403 00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:01,720 Take to the lake, swim, and lose the enemy! 404 00:40:12,776 --> 00:40:15,576 The caribou is an animal of the open country. 405 00:40:16,048 --> 00:40:18,448 It seems like he likes to get up on the high ridges, 406 00:40:18,449 --> 00:40:21,949 where the breeze blows to keep the insects away. 407 00:40:34,903 --> 00:40:39,103 The bull moose, which I haven't seen much of all summer long, 408 00:40:39,104 --> 00:40:42,604 doesn't seem to fear me, or much of anything, now. 409 00:40:43,562 --> 00:40:48,062 After several hours of thrashing and destroying a patch of willow bushes, 410 00:40:49,347 --> 00:40:52,847 the bull was free from the blood covered, velvet-like material. 411 00:40:56,227 --> 00:40:58,527 It seems this time of year, 412 00:40:58,528 --> 00:41:04,128 the bulls lose all good sense and come right out in the open. 413 00:41:04,510 --> 00:41:08,010 Afraid of nobody, and that's when hunting season opens. 414 00:41:08,620 --> 00:41:10,720 And that's the end of the hill. 415 00:41:15,886 --> 00:41:20,086 I woke up this morning surprised to see four inches of snow on the ground. 416 00:41:21,005 --> 00:41:23,805 Looks like I finished my fireplace just in time. 417 00:41:25,942 --> 00:41:31,442 It's a frosty morning at 23�. 35� in my cooler box. 418 00:41:31,771 --> 00:41:33,871 And the lake water at 42�. 419 00:41:34,432 --> 00:41:37,232 But the pressure is off. The fireplace is built, 420 00:41:38,305 --> 00:41:42,805 and what little there is yet to do can be done regardless of the weather. 421 00:42:13,528 --> 00:42:15,528 It's the end of September now, 422 00:42:15,529 --> 00:42:19,429 and if I was gonna stay the winter I would need more meat. 423 00:42:20,982 --> 00:42:23,782 Today was the last day of sheep season. 424 00:42:23,919 --> 00:42:27,419 And the sight of four good rams in a bunch convinced me. 425 00:42:30,415 --> 00:42:33,015 Although this handsome bull makes it tempting, 426 00:42:33,016 --> 00:42:36,316 lucky for him I like sheep meat better than caribou. 427 00:42:45,894 --> 00:42:51,094 I open and close the hunting season with one shot. The search for meat is over. 428 00:42:51,979 --> 00:42:55,079 I hated to see the big ram end like this, 429 00:42:55,080 --> 00:42:58,880 but I suppose he could have died a lot harder than he did. 430 00:43:01,109 --> 00:43:03,509 The pelt must have weighed a hundred pounds 431 00:43:03,510 --> 00:43:05,310 when I dragged it from the water. 432 00:43:05,720 --> 00:43:09,220 Nearly all blood was soaked out of the beautiful white hide. 433 00:43:10,345 --> 00:43:14,845 I put my smoker into operation, and I kept it going all day. 434 00:43:22,696 --> 00:43:28,196 Sheep liver and onions for supper. A satisfying day. 435 00:43:31,313 --> 00:43:35,813 September 23. Clear, calm and a frosty 20 degrees. 436 00:43:36,627 --> 00:43:39,127 Hope Creek is beginning to ice up. 437 00:43:39,128 --> 00:43:43,528 I put the thermometer into the creek mouth. 31 degrees. 438 00:43:43,881 --> 00:43:47,381 If the creek stopped moving it would freeze up in no time. 439 00:43:56,970 --> 00:44:00,470 Today I would cut up wood to build up my supplies. 440 00:44:00,757 --> 00:44:04,457 This business of taking wood out of the savings bank 441 00:44:04,458 --> 00:44:07,658 and putting none back has been bothering me to no end. 442 00:44:10,677 --> 00:44:13,577 Plenty of meat hanging from the meat tree. 443 00:44:13,578 --> 00:44:16,878 Plenty of wood. My cabin tight and warm. 444 00:44:17,256 --> 00:44:19,356 I looked forward to freeze-up. 445 00:44:53,034 --> 00:44:54,734 It is November now, 446 00:44:54,735 --> 00:44:58,235 and in preparing for freeze-up, I made a sled out of spruce poles. 447 00:44:58,921 --> 00:45:01,721 Using the spruce runners, I had put in traction. 448 00:45:02,575 --> 00:45:07,675 The frame was held together with pegs, and short pole bracings. 449 00:45:08,128 --> 00:45:13,228 I plained the runner smooth and painted them with a film of woodglue. 450 00:45:27,539 --> 00:45:30,339 With its deck poles, handles and crossbars, 451 00:45:31,280 --> 00:45:34,780 it would be a vehicle in which I could push a good-sized load. 452 00:45:35,868 --> 00:45:38,668 Too bad I didn't have a caribou to pull it. 453 00:46:32,767 --> 00:46:39,267 Dead calm and zero degrees. The wind and snow died during the night. 454 00:46:42,556 --> 00:46:46,056 It's important that I keep my pathway to the lake open. 455 00:46:51,595 --> 00:46:55,095 I chipped through three inches of ice to fill my water bucket. 456 00:46:55,878 --> 00:47:00,378 In a short time I will have a safe highway for miles in each direction. 457 00:47:00,747 --> 00:47:02,567 Freeze-up has arrived. 458 00:47:04,681 --> 00:47:09,181 It's warm inside my cabin. A toasty forty degrees. 459 00:47:10,188 --> 00:47:15,088 Peppery ram stew for supper. Just the way I like it. 460 00:47:15,089 --> 00:47:18,089 It's got everything in it but the kitchen sponge. 461 00:48:02,043 --> 00:48:05,043 Dead calm and zero degrees. 462 00:48:05,044 --> 00:48:08,244 The lake ice has increased one inch in 24 hours. 463 00:48:09,573 --> 00:48:13,073 It took one hour to the gravel bank of the connecting stream. 464 00:48:13,563 --> 00:48:15,663 Not quite as fast as paddling. 465 00:48:17,157 --> 00:48:22,657 I saw big wolf tracks in the drifted snow. Then I saw many more wolf tracks. 466 00:48:23,169 --> 00:48:24,569 A bad sign. 467 00:48:32,902 --> 00:48:37,402 About a hundred yards further on, a dead calf, on the bank. 468 00:48:37,940 --> 00:48:40,740 They had not fed on the carcass at all. 469 00:48:42,641 --> 00:48:48,141 I butchered it up into sections. There was frozen blood on his hind legs. 470 00:48:48,142 --> 00:48:50,542 Evidently one of the wolves killed him 471 00:48:50,543 --> 00:48:53,343 while the rest of the pack held his attention. 472 00:48:54,306 --> 00:48:57,006 Had they done it just for sport? 473 00:48:57,007 --> 00:49:00,507 Suddenly the wolves lost a few points with me. 474 00:49:01,158 --> 00:49:03,958 I loaded up the sled and headed for home. 475 00:49:07,831 --> 00:49:10,531 I chopped off a chunk of moose hindquarter. 476 00:49:10,532 --> 00:49:12,332 The meat shattered like ice. 477 00:49:13,213 --> 00:49:18,713 The magpie soon took command. But there would be plenty for all. 478 00:49:28,371 --> 00:49:30,571 December 31. 479 00:49:30,572 --> 00:49:33,872 32 degrees below zero during the heat of the day. 480 00:49:34,858 --> 00:49:39,058 Today I hiked a couple miles down the lake. 481 00:49:39,059 --> 00:49:42,759 I do believe winter at Twin Lakes is better than summer. 482 00:49:43,739 --> 00:49:47,239 I crossed a wolverine track that was headed for Low Pass Creek. 483 00:49:48,650 --> 00:49:51,450 I must be on the lookout for that character. 484 00:50:00,005 --> 00:50:02,805 On such a trip, snowshoes are a must. 485 00:50:03,923 --> 00:50:09,423 With no wind I could travel all day in -45�F, and be comfortable. 486 00:50:11,925 --> 00:50:15,425 It is warmer on top of the pass than it is along the lake. 487 00:50:16,086 --> 00:50:18,186 Moisture must make the difference. 488 00:50:18,927 --> 00:50:22,027 My face and fingers felt the bite and the cold 489 00:50:22,028 --> 00:50:24,128 as soon as I reached lake level. 490 00:50:27,415 --> 00:50:30,215 It was good to be back at the cabin. 491 00:50:45,250 --> 00:50:51,050 January 2. 45 below zero. A land without motion. 492 00:50:51,841 --> 00:50:54,841 In the dead of winter, nothing seems to move. 493 00:50:54,842 --> 00:50:57,042 Not even a twig on the willows. 494 00:50:58,151 --> 00:51:01,651 The thickness of the ice is now a strong 28 inches. 495 00:51:06,061 --> 00:51:11,461 In this cold weather, the hole gradually closes in from the sides, 496 00:51:11,462 --> 00:51:13,962 until it is a hole no longer. 497 00:51:29,179 --> 00:51:34,679 January 9. What do you know? Here comes Babe in the T-craft on skis! 498 00:51:35,221 --> 00:51:38,121 He brought a burlap sack half full of beans, 499 00:51:38,122 --> 00:51:41,722 50 pounds of sugar, and a big box of dried apples. 500 00:51:42,607 --> 00:51:44,427 Also, some mail. 501 00:51:46,554 --> 00:51:49,154 He also brought me two pairs of heavy socks 502 00:51:49,155 --> 00:51:51,755 that his wife Mary had knitted for me. 503 00:51:52,146 --> 00:51:54,246 It was just like Christmas. 504 00:52:00,197 --> 00:52:06,697 February 21. Plus 26 degrees. Snowing and blowing. 505 00:52:07,054 --> 00:52:09,154 27 inches of snow on the ground. 506 00:52:11,488 --> 00:52:14,088 My snowshovel works well. 507 00:52:14,089 --> 00:52:18,389 My paths are beginning to look like small canyons with steep white walls. 508 00:52:20,403 --> 00:52:25,203 I wish brother Jake could be up here to see this. 509 00:52:27,079 --> 00:52:32,079 February is almost gone, and that didn't take long. 510 00:52:32,080 --> 00:52:36,580 Snow depth still stays at 27 inches at my checking station. 511 00:52:37,273 --> 00:52:39,373 It settles between snows. 512 00:52:44,484 --> 00:52:47,984 On the way back to the cabin, I cut across the wolverine track. 513 00:52:48,873 --> 00:52:51,673 The one that's been eluding me for so long. 514 00:52:53,371 --> 00:52:58,871 And then, there he was. The one with the ferocious reputation. 515 00:53:02,782 --> 00:53:05,882 He didn't look so ferocious to me. 516 00:53:16,191 --> 00:53:20,091 It was very warm in the sun, but cool in the shadow of the mountain 517 00:53:20,092 --> 00:53:22,392 as I snowshoed back to the cabin. 518 00:53:26,285 --> 00:53:29,785 The end of march. The sun was warm and the eave dripped. 519 00:53:31,012 --> 00:53:34,512 I do believe the days of snow and ice are numbered. 520 00:53:37,724 --> 00:53:42,524 On one of my trips I had noticed a huge burrow on a dead spruce tree. 521 00:53:42,881 --> 00:53:44,981 Today I would go back and salvage it. 522 00:53:45,293 --> 00:53:48,293 I slapped it with a four-inch cut next to the tree. 523 00:53:48,662 --> 00:53:54,462 The cap would be about 7 inches deep, and perhaps from that I'd carve a bowl. 524 00:53:55,579 --> 00:54:00,079 Two slabs on the packboard, and in for lunch. 525 00:54:00,780 --> 00:54:03,380 The slabs will make interesting table tops. 526 00:54:03,743 --> 00:54:08,563 After lunch I dumped the two-pound coffee can of cranberries I had picked, 527 00:54:08,564 --> 00:54:11,564 into a pan to cook them in their own juice. 528 00:54:11,809 --> 00:54:16,609 A fistful of sugar was next, followed with a shot of corn syrup. 529 00:54:17,878 --> 00:54:21,378 When the mixture cooled, I poured it off into empty bottles. 530 00:54:22,096 --> 00:54:24,396 Now those sourdough pancakes 531 00:54:24,397 --> 00:54:27,097 would have an elegant topping in the morning. 532 00:54:34,903 --> 00:54:39,403 April 22. It is good to see bears on the mountain again- 533 00:54:40,528 --> 00:54:46,528 -a mother and two fine looking cubs. Good company for a man out here. 534 00:54:46,973 --> 00:54:49,973 Most people would think of bear den to be a smelly place. 535 00:54:50,436 --> 00:54:55,036 On the contrary, I have found them to be clean and fresh. 536 00:54:55,037 --> 00:55:01,937 As if the bear walked in, laid down, got up, and walked out. 537 00:55:05,898 --> 00:55:11,098 With the receding snow, the caribou are starting to show themselves again. 538 00:55:11,589 --> 00:55:14,389 And I'm sure the wolves are not too far behind. 539 00:55:15,954 --> 00:55:18,754 There are many ptarmigan in the willowflats. 540 00:55:19,054 --> 00:55:21,054 The roosters are full of cackle, 541 00:55:21,055 --> 00:55:23,855 and they are fast coming out of their winter plumage. 542 00:55:35,504 --> 00:55:38,504 I have made it through my first winter at Twin Lakes. 543 00:55:39,176 --> 00:55:41,076 With the arrival of spring, 544 00:55:41,077 --> 00:55:44,977 it feels good to get back to work on the projects that have been on hold. 545 00:55:46,358 --> 00:55:50,858 And the new cache will keep bears and other critters out of my food supplies. 546 00:55:53,699 --> 00:55:58,199 Dick Proenneke would spend the next 35 years alone in the wilderness- 547 00:55:59,016 --> 00:56:04,116 -carefully documenting life at Twin Lakes until 1998. 548 00:56:05,169 --> 00:56:10,069 At the age of 82, Dick decided that the minus fifty below winters 549 00:56:10,070 --> 00:56:13,070 were becoming too much of a chore-- 550 00:56:13,162 --> 00:56:16,062 --and it was time to leave this One Man's Wilderness. 551 00:56:16,672 --> 00:56:20,072 Dick has since formally entrusted his homestead 552 00:56:20,073 --> 00:56:23,073 to the Park Service of Lake Clark National Park. 553 00:56:23,612 --> 00:56:27,112 His cabin will be maintained as a historic site. 554 00:56:27,786 --> 00:56:31,886 And he may return to stay in it at any time he wishes. 555 00:56:32,165 --> 00:56:34,765 And while he may not make the trip physically again-- 556 00:56:35,213 --> 00:56:42,713 --his spirit will always linger in the perfect notches of his logs. 557 00:57:24,014 --> 00:57:27,514 Published 09/03/2013 @ www.podnapisi.net