My Life In The Wilderness: An Alaskan's Story

My Life In The Wilderness: An Alaskan's Story

Robert Hilliker was born in the southern Lower Peninsula of Michigan, in the late 1920's, just before the Great Depression of 1929 and the 1930's.<br /><br />As a young boy, the tales of Daniel Boone, Jim Bowie, and the stories of the Mountain Men who roamed the great Rocky Mountains in search of beaver struck a chord deep down inside that he could neither understand nor explain. They did, however, produce in him a strong desire to experience such a life for himself. In the following years, almost every decision he made was in accordance with an "inner compass" which pointed steadily to the Northwest.<br /><br />"To go into the wilderness, build a strong and warm log cabin with my own two hands, and hunt for my food. Trap fur-bearing animals to sell to the fur buyers for money to buy the things I couldn't produce myself, get my water from the creek, cut the firewood I would need to cook my food and to keep me warm through the long cold winters of the 'North Country,' could I do something like that?"<br /><br />This is his story