Terri E. (stocktonmalonefan) - reviewed on 6/1/2015 + 58 more book reviews

I absolutely loved this book! It involves a young college student who takes a job as a sort of junior forest ranger in charge of monitoring a stash of salmon eggs that the government is trying to reintroduce in a nearby river.

This is in the middle of nowhere. He will live in a tent that's large enough to contain all of his food and hunting supplies, a bed, his reference books, his dog and a wood stove that he will have to chop down trees to use as firewood. He will have to keep it going all winter so he doesn't freeze to death in the coming months of subzero temperatures.

He is left alone with his dog and a manual truck after being given a short driving lesson before the real rangers leave. Did I mention he's left with a chainsaw he's never operated before to chop up trees for said firewood, with borrowed guns (even though he's never hunted anything larger than a squirrel), and when the rangers tell him he needs several cords of wood to make it through the harsh winter, he asks them what a cord is.

So ensues the tale of a 19 year old boy becoming a man in the middle of the Idaho wilderness with absolutely no survival skills but a keen sense of humor. A true story that had me hooked after only a few paragraphs. A delightful read.

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