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

For the next few days, Hugh carried on as he had been before Ansel’s arrival. He moved the firewood they’d amassed into the tent on Tuesday, after spending the rest of Monday collecting more edible vegetation from the field. First, he set the goldenrod stems out to dry in the sun. Then after covering one of the shelves in the root cellar with a sliced open trash bag, he put the dried stems on it in bundles. The flowers and seeds went into one of the canning jars, as did more pine nuts, once he collected them.


He found some coltsfoot, which the book said was also edible. The leaves could be boiled for tea, and if he dried and burnt them instead, the ash could be used as a salt substitute. “That’ll make Ansel happy,” he told Orion.


Chapter 17