I had me no coffee to cook. At first thing, I got up, gathered my gear, and I was on my way. I figured I was maybe halfway to the mountain, but I stopped early yesterday. Maybe I ain't gone as far as I figure. It was cool enough for a cup of coffee. It was definitely cooler the third day.

I let my fire burn down once the rabbit was cooked. Ate what I could of it, and put the rest in my food pouch, which I put under my bedroll, which I used for a pillow. Didn't need to build a shelter for one night. I slept on the ground with the Hawkin under my hand.

When I was with Paw, if anything stirred, he was up in a flash. I'm not as keen on the land as Paw. Most sounds are strange to me, especially night sounds. I was asleep before I knew it. I'm sure that's because of all the walking. Next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes on a new day.

It wasn't cold at all when I went to sleep. I kept my shirt on because I didn't want to get ate up by mosquitoes. Theys pretty thick out here. It wasn't quite light when I got up, but it was light enough to see where I was heading, and I kept heading west.

The sun came up behind me, right where I figured it should.

The nature of the forest I found myself in was changing. The trees began to close in on me during the morning. It was light enough to see that I needed to be more careful. I could get myself turned around, but I'm able to see the sun for now, but the trees seem to be getting taller and bigger around. I'm keeping my eyes open for a trail. I can't be the first person to come this way.

Walking between trees has become more difficult. I'm looking for some water. I've used the water in my skin and I'll need to fill it soon. Not quite as hot, but hot enough to sweat. Bugs are fierce. I won't stop until I find water. I'll have rabbit for today but will need to stop to hunt early. Maybe I'll be out of this forest by day's end. Not enough room to swing the rifle around to fire.

Never seen this many trees. Maybe it's why Paw stays down on the flat land when we hunt. You can't see ten feet ahead in all these trees. Lots of birds, crickets, frogs, and such. Besides me walking, it is the only noise.

It didn't take me long to be dipping into my food pouch for rabbit. I suppose the walking makes me more hungry than usual. Even then, I knew the rabbit wouldn't last me all day. I was hungry all the time. Tet rabbit hit the spot. There weren't as many bugs. I probably ate my share if they was dumb enough to climb onto my rabbit. If bugs was poison, I was out of luck, but that rabbit was tasty.

I could probably save enough for my supper, but I needed to have meat to eat. I had to build hunting into my day. If I walked all day, I'd stop with a couple of daylight hours left to set up camp and hunt.

That meant stopping at a spot that offered me the best chance of shooting game. I needed a source of water nearby. My water skin was empty and I was thirsty after eating. I needed to drink and fill my skin once I found water. I kept my eyes open for game, but they could hear me coming a mile of way.

With the weather being cooler, I can hunt for larger critters. The meat would keep longer, and I knew how to smoke it to keep it fresh. If I took the time to smoke a few days' worth of meat, I'd move faster. I never came this far from the cabin before. Thinking about what I needed to do came naturally, once my days were all alike.

I still don't know where the mountain was. I'm sure it's five or six days now. I spend a lot of time stopping and starting. I drink any time I find clean water. The water is colder the further west I go. Snow is on the mountain. It will be colder there. Not as many bugs today. Still hungry. I'll stop early to hunt.

I found a nice clearing in the late afternoon. I should walk a few more hours, but I'm tired and hungry. I picked a spot to put down my gear. I gathered the firewood lying among the trees. I'll need a fire to burn all night and I collected extra wood for it. It's already cooler than it was all day yesterday and the sun is still high in the sky. I'm heading in the right direction. I can hear water running, which makes the spot perfect. I'd look for a spot where I could hunt nearby.

I'd be opening my bedroll for sure tonight. I opened it once the fire was built to let it air out from all the sweating I done over the past couple days.

The trees were thicker but there were more clearings. I wasn't the first person to stop here. There was a fire pit and paths where people moved around. There was a perfect spot to hunt near the brook I heard running nearby. I drank my fill, filled my water skin, saw the high ground a dozen yards from the brook.

Mr brother the badger was cautious when he went to drink. He was fifteen pounds before I cleaned him. The pelt was nice. I'd been shooting critters for a long time. I didn't notice how soft the fur was. I needed to keep the pelts for future use, when I made camp on the mountain to wait for my griz.

I rolled the badger fur up with the rest of my hides in my bedroll the following morning. A noise in the wood woke me. A branch broke like someone stepped on it. My eyes opened wide. There was no more noise or sleep, and I felt the fire before spreading the ashes so nothing could burn once I was gone.

My food pouch was full and so was my skin for water. I moved westward.

I tried to calculate how long it had been. I counted the number of kills I'd made. Then, I worked on the number of camps I made. Then I tried to remember how many days I could see the sun, and how many since I couldn't see it. The more I thought, the more confused I became. I'd lost track of the days. Each day was exactly like the last.

Once I walked for most of the daylight hours, I'd make up my mind to stop at the next clearing I came to. I don't think I walked as long the next day as I walked the day before. I could see the sky through the trees at times, but I couldn't see it at other times. The forest went from thick, to thicker, to thickest, and it reversed itself. The forest wasn't at its thickest or thinnest when I stopped today, but there was a large portion of blue sky visible above the clearing.

I knew the forest could get thicker again, but I didn't think it would. After so many days among the trees, I became confident the frost was ending, and when I came out on the far side, I'd see the mountain.

Today the badger was gone. I needed a place to hunt and to drink. It wasn't as late as when I stopped the day before, but my legs were sore. I decided there was no rush. I wanted to hunt and have a nice place to camp. I ate my last piece of badger that afternoon, but I knew I was coming to the last of it.

I always cleaned the Hawkin after a kill. That way it was ready to hunt when I was ready. I laid out camp and put my fire closer to where I'd be sleeping. It was cold last night. The bedroll kept me warm but the fire did it better.

Once I got the fire going, it would be about right when I returned with supper. I wasn't going far and I was quiet as could be getting to the spot that overlooked a stream running a few dozen yards away.

I made myself comfortable as I waited to see what might pop up to take a drink. My mind must have been tired too, because I didn't think about home. I didn't think about much but being tired of walking.

I walked a long way to school, but it was easier to walk when you knew where you were going and how long it took to get there.

Anyway, I was tired and I needed to shoot enough meat to last me through tomorrow, so I wouldn't need to hunt. I didn't mind hunting every day, but it took time and that made it slow going. As I was working on how slow, a big old turkey went to the brook to drink. I loved turkey. Thanksgiving was my favorite thing.

Mr Turkey drank, lifted his head to take a look around, drank some more, and the next time he took a look around, I got him.

That was going to be some good eating. I wanted to use the feathers, but a pillow was a luxury I didn't need to carry. I left the feathers where they fell. In short order I was roasting me a turkey over an open fire. Man, did it smell good.

While I waited, I cleaned the Hawkin, turning the meat from time to time. I smoked some of the meat while eating. I'd leave it smoke for a few hours. The fire would burn all night, and by the time I spread out the coals in the morning, I'd be packed up and ready to go, once the fire was completely out. The nearby water helped if I needed to keep the fire burning to keep the cold off.

It was also effective in keeping any animals at a distance. I kept my Hawkin by my side to get to in a hurry if I needed it.

Walking warmed me right up. I still had a long walk ahead of me. Who knew it might take a week or more to get to those mountains from the cabin?

Back a ways, when I came to a place in the forest where I couldn't go forward. I needed to go north or south for a while. I didn't like it when I was no longer going west, but when I found the trail I was on, it saved me even more time than if I'd wandered around the forest for a couple of days looking for some way to get through trees growing too close together to get through.

I may have lost half a day but I saved time doing it. I also got confused about the days I'd been out, and how I figured on the mountain being no more than three or four days away. Did I move so far south that it took me off line for a meeting with the mountain?

I didn't think so. I needed to go west to get where I was going. I was more sure than ever that I'd get a griz. Getting it home might be a bigger problem than I calculated it would be. When I made my plan, I knew I would need to work on how to get the griz back home. I'd figure it out once I got my griz.

I never asked how Jubal Lee got his griz home. I didn't know I was going after one, when I heard about his. He obviously got it home, because everyone in town was talking about Jubal Lee's griz.

The trail I was on was big enough for a wagon or a cart. I could make a convenience to hold the griz, but wheels would be impossible. Maybe if someone left a cart or broken wagon, I'd get wheels off it. The trail was big enough but the cart idea would need refining. I hadn't gotten to the mountain yet. I had time to work on how to get the griz home.

It was easier going and I was making good time, once I had a trail to follow. I made sure the sun was where I needed it to be, and my pace was steady and far easier than it had been for the last day. There was another aspect to turning west, I could feel myself going up hill. It wasn't a big difference, but I was climbing higher the further I walked. It was hard to see anything with the density of the forest, but I thought I might be at the very bottom of the mountain.

I couldn't see any trees from the front porch of the cabin, but we mostly saw the mountain peaks. It was hard to tell what was below the peaks or how far it might extend. I was going in the right direction. I felt like I was getting close to where I wanted to go.

I am expecting to see the end of the forest soon. Paw and I go through a similar forest on the way east when we go to hunt deer. There's a good trail to follow and we are through that forest after a day, except this trail is becoming darker as I go. The thickness of the trees is blocking out my view of the sky.

I wasn't moving all that fast. The darkness made it harder to see, and I didn't want to risk taking a fall. Being careful seemed better than rushing a long and taking risks. It's difficult to see what is ahead of me, but the trail continues in the direction I want to go, although I can't see the sun today.

Wouldn't matter what direction the trail is going in. Getting off of it would be a bad idea. The trees are so thickly growing in this part of the forest, I might never find the trail again if I go away from it. I'd hate to get lost among the trees. I might never find my way out. I'm staying on the trail.

When I camp, I won't go far away. I've got turkey and I don't know if I want to build a fire. If it got out of control, this forest could burn for weeks on end. No, I'll risk being a little cold tonight. I ain't risking burning myself up.

The trail seemed to be going directly west for the first day and a half after I found it, but it's beginning to wander in one direction and then another. I can't tell if I'm heading west. I can't find the sun and for the life of me, I can't figure out if this day is day four or day five. It has to be day four, because I should be at the mountain by day five. Can't believe it's that far. I did lose time looking for the trail, and on the second or third day, I stopped because of being hot and tired.

I can't believe I lost a mountain. It was right straight ahead and I should have been there by now.

I wonder how long these trees have been growing. They reach all the way to the sky. It's like what I imagine a jungle would be like at the middle of it. I can't turn back, I've got to keep going. No point in going back. I'm bound to get out of the forest by tomorrow. It's two or more days back the way I came.

It sounds like the middle of the night. These are sounds I hear at the cabin at night. Sounds like crickets and frogs with some birds adding to the sounds. I will look for a place to camp. I won't hunt. I need to get off my feet.

I was turned around. I didn't know which way I was heading. This is as thick as the forest has been. If I was going back the way I came, there weren't this many trees. This is as thick as it had been. I had to keep going.

I was hot, hungry, and confused. As I followed the path in and out of the biggest trees, off to my right was an empty space. I hadn't seen water all day and I'd run out. Hearing the noise from some moving water, I followed the sound.

I took off my gear, laid down my bedroll, propping my rifle against it. I knelt beside the stream. I drank from my hands. I drank for a long time. I could hear the birds more plainly by the stream. Something was moving in the brush and I looked to see what it was. It was gone faster than I could look. I sat down and leaned my head on my bedroll. I banged my head on my rifle and sat back up to move it out of my way. I was tired. I'd just close my eyes for a minute.

I wish I knew where I was.

When I woke up it was black. I couldn't see my hand. I felt for my food pouch and I ate turkey and I found a piece of rabbit. Man was that rabbit good. The turkey was dry but the rabbit was juicy. I moved just far enough to drink from the stream. I remembered to fill my skin. I felt my way back to my gear. I'd been cold for two nights running, but it wasn't cold here. I could hear things I couldn't see. I heard noises I didn't recognize. I hoped not to be someone's dinner, but wasn't much I could do but wait for daylight. The best way to wait for daylight was by sleeping, and I curled up with my head on my bedroll and my hand on my Hawking, which was foolish, I couldn't see anything. How could I shoot something?

I felt like I'd been stumbling around this forest for weeks. I wanted to get out of here. I wondered if I could be stuck in a place like this forever. What would I do once I ran out of shot? How would I eat? This had to end soon.

One time when Paw and I went hunting, Paw cut a branch from a tree. He worked on it for two days. By the time I realized he had made a bow, his buck dropped by and he shot it. As he was cutting it into pieces once he cleaned it, he took a long strip of tendon out of the flesh of the deer. It must have been four feet long. It was longer than the bow, until he put loops at each end. Then, Paw tried to hook the loops over both ends of the bow I watched him make.

Paw could do most anything with one arm that most men do with two. What he could do was stretch that bow string so he could attach the second end.

He handed me the bow and told me to see If I could string it. He showed me what I needed to do. He said it took two hands to string it.

I tried and tried. I was sweating and using all my strength, but I couldn't string the bow. I was ten and I was too small. I wasn't strong enough. I'd have given anything to string that bow. If I could have done it, Paw would changed his mind about me. I'd have been a son he wanted.

Paw was going to give the bow to me along with arrows he made from sticks and flint stones he collected while we traveled. He left them in the woods.

I could string that bow now. I wouldn't starve if I ran out of shot, but I'd be home eating Maw's cooking long before I ran out of shot.

Why would I remember that all these years later? It wasn't the only time I'd disappoint Paw.

It was still black when I woke up. I lay there for a while and I watched the light coming to the floor of the forest. I could see a tiny little blue piece of sky. That was a victory. The sky was still up there, and the end of this forest had to be out there somewhere. I couldn't wait to find it.

I needed to hunt today. I wanted to find some water I could take a soak in. It wasn't as cold where I got up this morning. I went straight to the trail and began going west. I knew the mountains were ahead of me and that meant the forest had to end. There were no tress on the mountain I could see.

I'd never seen taller trees than these and I had to spit the bugs out of my mouth when I breathed them in. I hadn't seen any game in the last day, and my food pouch was emptied some time yesterday. It's always dark and the crickets and frogs are the loudest sounds.

The trail has narrowed but it seems to be wandering. Turning back after five or six days isn't likely. I've done nothing I set out to do. Can't wander into the cabin and not have a whopper of a story to tell to explain where I been.

There's no game because there's no room for animals to move around so many trees. If there are critters in here with me, are they hungry as me. I try to keep thoughts like that out of my head. I'd be hard pressed to aim and fire my rifle without a tree being in the way.

I keep my eyes open for game. At this point, I'll eat anything.

Last water had bugs, bugs, and more bugs. I didn't drink there. My skin is empty. I'm really tired. I started out tired. I can't remember my last meal. I need to get off my feet. Feels like I've been walking forever.

Where did the mountain go?

At midday I came to a clearing. It looks like I imagine the Garden of Eden looked. There was places with thick grass growing, a brook that fed into a pool of water big enough for me to soak. I can't make up my mind whether to hunt first, soak first, or just get off my aching feet. I've already seen game up stream. I put everything down on a nice comfortable looking stretch of grass. It's off to one side and slightly elevated from where the stream runs nearby.

I opened everything up to let it air out and I got out of my clothes and hung those to air out. I loved the feel of the soft grass on my bottom. The bugs were at a minimum, but getting into the water was so nice. It came first because I wanted to rinse off the dirt and sweat from the trail. There's already a fire pit from someone else who used the spot for hunting and camping.

The water was very cold, which made me think I'm closer to the mountain than it looks like I am. I cut my soak short, pulled on my leggins, and I went to a small rise overlooking the stream. I didn't wait long to have a shot. I took a fair size groundhog. It might last me a day, but I would take the time to hunt for enough meat to get me to the mountain before I left the Garden of Eden.

With all my gear freshened up, my belly full, my body clean, and enough rabbit to last me for three days, I left the garden spot to continue heading west. The trees opened up so that I wasn't in the dark any longer. As I walked that day, I began passing rock formations and grassland. It wasn't flat but if I was climbing, the ground seemed to go up and then down and up again. I imagined it was a sign that, if I wasn't on the mountain, I was getting close.

It was cooler and after a couple of hours I was out of the trees all together. There were fewer bugs. Being able to see where I was going helped. It was easy going compared to the last few days. My meat was holding out. I made good progress. The mountain couldn't be much further.

I saw three deer and an elk later in the day. I was still reluctant to kill anything that would waste a lot of meat. I didn't like being hungry, but killing a deer for a few pounds of meat I could eat wasn't a good idea. At least there was game moving around some of the rock formations and off in the pastures.

I remembered the first time Paw showed me the buffalo. He'd been off exploring the surrounding area where we made camp on an autumn hunting trip. He waved for me to follow him and when we got to this hill and we crawled up the last four or five feet to the top. When I looked over the top of that hill, there were thousands of buffalo standing around a wide open pasture. They was huge.

"Why don't we shoot a buffalo, Paw? That meat would last us a year."

"Too big. Both of us couldn't carry half the meat from a buffalo."

I'd seen a buffalo or two since, but never another herd of buffalo.

I picked an outcropping of rocks to camp that evening. I could see the sun straight ahead of me. It wasn't as bright the way it hung low in the western sky. It wasn't cold but it wasn't warm even with the sun shining on me. I'd need to get in my bedroll tonight, once I ate. A fire would keep the cold off for a while.

There were patches of grass among the rocks and I had a nice view of the territory I'd need to cover tomorrow.

As we took the wagon to town a few months before, Paw did his best to keep Dobin moving in a forward motion. One time when he stopped to munch a while, Paw made that sound by clicking his tongue. Dobin pretended not to hear.

"One day that horse is going to bend down to munch grass and he'll drop dead of exhaustion. Leave us in a hell of a fix," Paw said, no humor in his voice.

Why this struck me as funny, I can't say, but I commenced to laughing and I couldn't stop. Paw looked at me like I was a tad touched, and I laughed even harder. I held my sides and I laughed until I rolled off the seat onto the ground.

Paw leaned to look down at me. I swear he was smiling. Paw didn't smile. He seemed to carry a heavy weight on his shoulders.

Haven't seen a live critter, except for birds, since I left the forest behind. The piles of big boulders dot the pasture land I'm on. I know I'm walking onto higher ground. I can feel I'm moving up hill. I reached the mountain at last.

Out of meat again. Second day out of the forest. I can tell I'm going uphill by the extra effort required by walking. Rock formations aren't just random places rocks fell. The further I walk, the more rocks there are. If this is the mountain, where are the peaks? Except for the feeling of walking up hill, it looks almost flat.

It has become cooler since I left the forest. I put the rabbit fur next to my chest to keep warm. As long as the front of me is warm, the back of me is fine.

I don't see no living things but birds. I can't believe I come all this way, and I ate fine most of the time, and now all there is is birds?

I recall Paw making me a sling one time. He showed me how to hit birds.

Do griz eat birds? I tried to imagine a griz with a sling. I had no trouble imagining me with one. I paid attention when Paw showed me something.

Paw was always disappointed by me. I could hunt. I looked after the farm critters, but nothing else I did suited Paw. Most of what Paw taught me, he taught me on the deer hunting trips each autumn. This was when he seemed relaxed. Was hunting as close as he could get to the life he once had, the son who died?

Did he see me as his Indian son when we hunted? My white skin said no. .

When Paw made me that sling, I was eight or nine, I watched him stand on the edge of the field and knock two good size birds out of the sky.

I couldn't hit nothing flying by. Let a bird land, I knocked that bird silly.

When Paw began finding dead birds all over the farm, he came running up. I'd just spotted an unsuspecting bird on the pig pen fence. I knew what to do, and as I was ready to fire, the sling was snatched out of my hand.

I couldn't be sure it weren't the hand of God interrupting my fun.

Weren't God. Just his right hand man. It was Paw.

"When you can be less wasteful, maybe I'll make you another one of these, but until then, don't let me find no more dead birds laying around here."

I seen Paw make that sling. I could make me one. I didn't dare do it back then, but if birds was all there was, I could get me some birds OK. I'd learned not to kill critters for fun. For Paw, wasting a thing was the worst thing you could do. I worked at disappointing Paw. I didn't intend to, but I did.

It was cooler still after another day passed. I was still walking. It felt like I'd been walking forever. I saw a big hairy goat up on some rocks. He disappeared as soon as I caught sight of him. I more saw his motion than I saw him. I knew it was a goat. We had goats.

After investigating and calculated the goat was smart enough to get gone, I realized how convenient the rocks were for critters who didn't want to be supper. Animals adapted to their surroundings. I could adapt. I'd find an out cropping of rocks that might be near some water, and wait to see what showed up to drink.

It was late afternoon. I found a really nice pile of rocks. Grass and moss grew in patches between huge boulders. It would be out of the wind while I cooked me supper. I climbed to the top of the rocks to get a great view of a stream that crossed the patch of ground I had been walking on. I got me a woodchuck in about an hour. I cleaned him and was ready to leave when a rabbit went to drink.

I always reloaded the Hawkin once I fired a shot. You never knew when a rabbit might come along. Putting down the cleaned woodchuck, I grabbed the rifle from next to the tree where I put it down. I shot the rabbit and had him cleaned in another few minutes.

I took the meat to the fire pit and in ten minutes I had both of them cooking. I preferred rabbit, but woodchuck was fine. When I was this hungry, anything was fine, and the second rabbit fur was almost as big as the first.

I built my fire up to smoke the meat I wouldn't eat tonight. I ate most of the rabbit and some of the woodchuck. Cold woodchuck would be almost as good as hot woodchuck. I had everything ready for the morning walk. The trees weren't as close together for the last few hours yesterday and there were two rock formations near where I hunted. I might be nearing the mountain. I want to walk all day today. I won't need to hunt until tomorrow.

I am having difficulty understanding how I can feel like I am climbing and yet it looked like I was still on seemingly flat ground. I must be going uphill. I kept walking once the trees became fewer and further in between. I tired more easily. I often stop walking to catch my breath. There are more and more rocks and fewer trees.

At midafternoon I needed to stop and rest. I'm tired. It's too early to make camp. I'll sit a few minutes and walk for more today. Luckily there's plenty of water here. I stop and drink when I find water. I didn't drink from the skin with my water in it all day. My skin is still full and I don't get as thirsty. It is cooler.

Where is the mountain? Why do I wear out so quickly. I must keep going if I ever hope to get where I'm going. Maybe if I took a day off, rested my legs.

When I stopped to take a break later on, I looked back. I couldn't see the forest I been in for so many days. There were trees growing among the rocks but almost no trees in the pasture I was in. I couldn't see the snow that I could see from the cabin.

Why can't I see something that looks like a mountain? How far is it?

Would I be able to find my way home? I couldn't see either the mountain or the cabin, which was confusing me. I didn't think so much about home, while I was at home. The cabin in the valley where the river ran was on my mind a lot. I can't say why. When I go to sleep hungry at night, I dream Maw's cooking supper. I can smell whatever it is. It's not like I could go sit down at the table because I'm so hungry. Why would I dream that?

I'm alive and I ain't starved yet. I been gone a while. I didn't figure on it taking this long. I was fine and I was going to keep going until I was in the snow on top of that mountain. I want to know if that snow is really up there.

Climbing for the second day. Going has become a challenge. It's raining. The rain is freezing. I need to be careful on the rocks. Don't know what I'd do if I take a fall. I'm being careful and will look for a spot where I can camp and wait out the freezing rain.

No meat. No chance to get any meat. Freezing here. I can't see past the next rock. I've made camp and will stay put until the weather changes. I'll be dreaming about the cabin tonight, if I can go to sleep. If I'm not on the mountain, this will do. I no longer care about seeing more snow. It's snowing again. Third day of snow. I'm snug, fairly warm with my skins helping me stay warm.

Woke this morning to brilliant sunlight. Snow has made climbing difficult. Two of my smaller skins work well over my moccasins. My feet don't freeze with the hides on my feet. It makes me more sure footed. It's slow going.

I think I found a trail. Seems to weave in and around the rocks. The snow settled into the places people have walked. I couldn't see it before it snowed. Still mostly on slippery rocks. I won't push it. I'll make camp early. I need to hunt.

There's plenty of water. The sun is melting it and it runs off from higher up on the mountain. I've never tasted better water. It's cold and refreshing. I'll make camp near a water source. Maybe something will come to drink. Third day without eating. I hope I don't freeze up here.

I heard a sound I recognized last night. Wolves sounded a distance away. I put my fire in the opening of my shelter. I can move it inside if weather gets too bad. For now, I stay warm. I don't think a wolf would come into my shelter, but I keep the rifle loaded and next to me. No sign of wolf paw prints.

In these rocks, I could be standing on top of something and never see it. I saw a fox last night. I didn't have my rifle close enough to bag it. I am only setting the Hawkin down when I need to use both hands for something. There are enough branches with leaves lying around to make a roof between the rocks where I put my gear. I'm not as cold as I was. The sun is shining and I have my fire I put in the doorway of my shelter. I'm sleeping nice and snug at night. The rocks block any wind blowing up here.

Snowed last night. I can see animal tracks in the snow. I am climbing up far enough to have a good view below me. I will need to eat today. I'm weaker than I've been. I may be getting sick. Maybe not eating has caught up with me.

Shot a deer. Couldn't help myself. As soon as it walked into the clearing. I can freeze some of the meat and maybe store it in a place where the meat freezes. If I can freeze meat, I'll have enough meat for weeks.

I'm starving and cleaned the deer within sight of the shelter I made yesterday. Can't wait to cut up the meat. I'm building a fire and cooking a venison roast. I'll clean up later. The skin is a big one. I will put it to good use.

I know I must cook my meat so I don't get sick, but too hungry to wait. I'll eat a little and then cook it through. I need food now.

I have the strangest feeling someone is watching me. Had the same feeling yesterday. I look around camp. No footprints. No critters no people. Being alone for so long is making me uneasy. I was never alone before.