Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter Alone in the Wilderness Paperback – October 1, 2003

I can't help but admire the young Pete Fromm. A brilliant yet foolish 19-20 year old with not even summer mountain man wilderness experience accepts an experimental baby salmon minding position in the heart of the Idaho area of the Bitter Root for seven months over winter. Pete Fromm had endless intellectual curiosity and thank goodness, a true survivor's portion of common sense that saved him several times.Pete's adventure took place in the later 1970's when he was 19 or 20. Not around 1990 as written in the Publishers blurb above. This book wasn't published until 1993.After a very brief orientation Pete was left with his winter home-- a canvas tent fixed to a platform. There was an inadequate wood stove. He was given an old truck that would get him to the nearest phone ten miles away until the snow was too deep. He was told he needed about seven cords of wood to make it through the winter and he better get it together soon because it would be close to impossible when the snow arrived. For awhile the nearby hunting camps were still working and Pete had occasional visits with people in those camps. After the camps closed he was alone except for his puppy who also grew up over the next six+ months. He did have a few short less than monthly visits from wardens with his mail and packages, but that was it for months.There are some really cranky reviews here about the killing of animals. It was clear to me that Pete did not kill for fun. He killed the bobcat because it had been critically injured in a fall with a deer. He killed grouse and a moose because he needed meat. I don't know if he had a bird license, but I know he didn't have a license for moose. I think that under the circumstances he can be forgiven. He had planned to trap animals, but after seeing the suffering of one raccoon he caught, he put his traps away. He saw a mountain lion around the time the mountain lion hunters were around, but didn't tell them he had seen one. And when the bear hunters arrived he claimed not to have seen any bears. Pete was a very curious young man who did accept the offer to go along on a lion hunt and watched in awe as a lion was skinned. I didn't get the feeling that he enjoyed the hunt which to me seemed barbaric. However, I had to admire Pete's curiosity about everything.Throughout the book I wondered if Pete's competitive swimming background had anything to do with his being able to handle the long periods of being alone. Swimming is usually a lonely sport. Hours are spent swimming laps back and forth, back and forth. Swimmers swim on teams, but for the most part are cocooned by water. I don't know, but I do know there are people who can handle being alone for long periods and there are people who cannot handle it.This is a wonderful book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was hoping Pete had further adventures that he wrote about. I guess not, but he has written several novels that I hope to read. He is in his later 50's now so I doubt he will have any more adventures like this long ago one, but that's probably a good thing.

This is the story of a young man who dreamed of being a "mountain man" all his life. At age 20 he is offered a job as the winter babysitter of some salmon eggs in a remote stream in Idaho. He jumps at the chance to live his dream, without really understanding much about what is required of someone living so remotely.With naive young dreams in tow, he arrives at the tent where he will spend the next 7 months. He tells of how he learned to cut wood and use snowshoes, learned to feel comfortable alone in the wilderness, dealt with boredom and loneliness, was violently sick with food poisoning without anyone to help, had to learn to cook and preserve food, and how he learned to hunt. He tells how it feels to kill an animal, and the sadness he felt when a beautiful creature dies to feed him. I loved how he honored the animals he killed by treasuring their skins.Through the book you see him maturing and becoming more capable and respectful of nature. You also see him change from feeling inferior to the weekend yahoos in hunting camps, to seeing those same men as the shallow and careless fools they are. None of those hunters ever admired the worn teeth of a dead lynx, imagining the life it must have lived and feeling honored to end it's pain and suffering.I loved every bit of the book up until the last chapter. I won't spoil it for those who haven't read it yet, but the last chapter was rushed and abrupt, and had an unsatisfactory ending that left me feeling like he had a publishing deadline to meet. I also didn't like the way he handled his dog's future.But, the one-paragragh epilogue of the book explains that he has gone on to a career as a Fish and Game employee and that the period covered in this book shaped the rest of his life. Without that last little blurb (which I almost overlooked), the book would have been a letdown. Overall, it's an interesting, short book about growing up and learning to be comfortable in our skins, and definitely one to read if you are a fan of outdoor living or just dream of living off the land.

As a recent transplant to Idaho working with natural resource mgt, hunters, and fisheries, I often feel exactly like how Pete Fromm describes himself toward the beginning of this book - out of place, somewhat clueless, not really sure what I've gotten myself into, and pretty sure everyone more "seasoned" is silently judging me for my appearance and all the things I clearly don't know.It was great to see his transformation as he learns and grows over his winter in the wilderness, and to read echoes of my own experiences finding direction in life and appreciating the outdoors. Since winter is already over as I write this, I look forward to becoming another of the fair-weather summer tourists gawking at his old tent site and just not really getting it.This is a quick, entertaining read for people who yearn for ... something ... though they're not quite sure what, and find it in the woods.It is "My Side of the Mountain" grown up and gone off to college. It's "Into The Wild" in an alternate universe where the hapless young protagonist survives and the moose doesn't rot. It's reflective and personal and genuine.Excellent book. Cheers, sir <swigs mountain-manfully>!