Alone in the Wilderness

This book is the story of Mike Tomkies, who built a small plywood shack on a Canadian wilderness shoreline and lived there for more than a year. He arrived with some camping skills and some general carpenter skills, but really no idea how to build a house to withstand the winter weather. An elderly neighbor, who happened to be a skilled carpenter, helped him build his small house. This friend also advised him on his water supply and how to deal with bear attacks. Otherwise Mike was pretty much on his own. His mood goes from the early summer euphoria of finally getting there and working on his house, to the melancholy of fall and the animals and his friend leaving, to the depths of dispair and loneliness in winter. He writes manuscripts for publication and has them rejected. He receives a Dear John letter from a woman he had hoped would join him in his cabin. He wrecks his boat, which is his main way to go for supplies, and also rolls his old truck down a gully. Life looks pretty grim at one point, and I expected him to pack up and leave. Then he is adopted by a stray dog he names Booto. He and Booto bond, and live together happily. They spend the following summer hiking, camping and backpacking through the beautiful Canadian wilderness, encountering bears and other wildlife and scenery beautiful beyond description. He also learns that several of his manuscripts were accepted for publication, and the money they bring eases his worries about buying food. At the end of this book I was expecting to read that it was written recently. Instead, I find out that then-40-year-old Tomkies wrote this book in the 1960s. He was a Scot who went on to live in the Scottish wilderness for 20 more years, and wrote many articles on the wildlife found there. It's hard to believe he is now over 70 years old. His book has a timeless feel to it, and deals with the emotions, fears and growth any of us would experience if we were able to take off alone to live in a small hut in the woods.