When Hugh Mathews decides it's time to get out from under his tyrannical father's thumb and away from the life he's been living, he does it in a big way. Packing what he'll need to survive in the wilderness, and with only his dog, Orion, for companionship, he heads into the mountains. When they find a abandoned cabin, Hugh begins the arduous task of repairing it, as well as hunting for food and everything else they'll need to stay alive.<br><br>Soon after, Ansel Jeffries, a nature photographer, arrives at Hugh's cabin, seeking an abandoned mine he wants to photograph. After talking with him, Ansel sees the potential for a story in what Hugh is doing -- and why.<br><br>Ansel convinces Hugh to let him tell it, meaning he'll be living at the cabin with Hugh. When he moves in, will what becomes friendship between the two men grow into more?

Off the Beaten Path

There was also a chance they might find an old cabin which had once belonged to one of the trappers or miners who had frequented the area in years gone by. That would, as far as Hugh was concerned, be the best of all possible worlds. Somewhere to live, out of the elements, but not as rough as in a cave or mine.


Of course, if we do find a cabin, it’ll probably need a hell of a lot of work, but it would be worth it.


It took a while, and a great deal of going up and down the mountain slopes, but they finally found what appeared from the outside to be a decent cave. Unfortunately, when they checked it out, they found it was already occupied—by bats. Hugh had no desire to share quarters with them. Neither did he want to try to ‘persuade’ them to move.


“They have more rights to be here than we do,” he told Orion, who was looking up at them as if trying to decide if he could jump high enough to catch one.


Chapter 5