1/8/16
Shlya diamond
A Man’s Journey
I was taking a trip to Kodiak Island when
we experienced engine trouble and our plane crashed. It was the pilot one of my
friends and I flying but I was the only survivor. I don’t know how long I was unconscious
on the plane but when I woke up I had no idea where I was and why it was so
cold. I crawled out of the plane and all I could see was white. I was still a
little dizzy and there was a huge cut on my leg from a piece of glass and a
whole bunch of little cuts a bruises but other than that I was fine. I was in
the middle of nowhere and had no idea what to do.
There was a small fire from the plane crash
that I was sitting by to keep warm. I don’t know how cold it was but it had to
be in the negatives. I had a big coat on and some snow pants because I knew that
where I was going it was going to be cold. I was looking at all the stuff that
was on the plane that could help me survive. There were some drinks, food, a
blanket, survival kit, and some clothes that I had packed. The first thing I
thought of was shelter and how I needed to build or find one quick or I would
freeze to death. I started with all the broken parts of the plane and, some
string that was on the plane and started to build a small lean-to. It wasn’t
much but I had enough room to build a small fire and keep warm for the night. I
thought my best chance of someone finding me is to stay by the plane because I
knew each plane has to have a GPS locater in it and maybe somebody could find
me.
I had to clean up my leg so I took the
medicine from the survival kit and ripped up a T-shirt and rapped it around my
leg to make it stop bleeding. I made a fire with some of the wood from the
crash and the lighter that was in the kit. I stayed up all night to make the
fire keep going. The next morning I crawled out of the lean-to and saw some
mountains and snow everywhere. I knew I was in Alaska somewhere but not sure
where. I put on some more coats that were left on the plane and started walking
to see if I could find anything. For hours I walked but found nothing so I went
back to the lean-to. I ate the crackers and some soup that were on the plane
for almost two days and I started to run out of food and water so I had to go
hunting.
I took a piece of wood and sharpened it
with the knife that was in the survival kit. I started walking but all I saw
was white everywhere and a few wolfs but that’s it. I’ve gone hunting before
with some friends but I wasn’t the best at it so I was nervous to kill anything
but I had to. I went back to the plane so hungry but I didn’t want to kill a
wolf. The next day I had to eat something so I did what I never thought I would
and killed a wolf. I got the fire going and started to cook the meat and man
was that good. The wolf would last me a couple days but now I needed water. So
I got a piece of metal from the plane and shaped it into a bowl. I put some
snow in it and boiled it until it was fine to drink.
Weeks went past and no one showed up to
help. I lived off of wolf meet and water made out of snow. As the days went by
I built a bigger lean-to on both side to close it in but I was running out of
supplies for the fire so I needed to do something and do it soon. I walked a
lot every day to see if I could find something or someone but I never did. One day I took a different path a found a
small forest filled with covered trees and that’s where I get my fire wood. I
broke off enough branches to last me awhile and took them back to the plane. The
forest was only a couple miles away from the lean-to.
It was almost a month that I was there. I
started to learn how to live on my own in the freezing cold. In the night I
would see lights in the sky under the clouds and it was the prettiest thing I
have ever seen. They were called the northern lights. The next morning came and
it was just another day, I had to go hunting again. I only had 4 hours to hunt
because in Alaska the days are only 4 hours long because it gets dark very soon
which is strange. I saw a pack of wolves and they were staring at me straight
in the eye and I didn’t move. After a while they walked away like nothing
happened. I lost my chance to get something that day so I didn’t eat. The next
day I got one and felt so much better after words. Days went by and still
nothing. I was counting the days and it was one month and 3 weeks that I have
been living here.
I made thousands of trips to the small
forest to get fire wood and got some wood to make a bigger lean-to every week.
One day I was laying in my lean-to when I heard something in the sky. I went
outside and saw a plane flying by so I ran to the plane and grabbed one of the
flares and shot one up to the sky. The plane kept going so I didn’t think it
saw me. I have only seen one air plane over the past two months and I didn’t
know when I would see another one. I needed new clothes and a new coat so I
thought I might make one out of the wolfs fur. I have never made any clothing
so I didn’t know how it was going to work. I made a tiny piece of wood that
would be used as a needle it wasn’t exact but it was close and the string from
the plane. I started to sew and it took
me a couple hours to just get the sleeves on but I finally got it. Then I made
the rest and it turned out ok. I have been using some of the fur for a blanket
at night and it keeps me warm.
I thought if I stayed outside more than
maybe I could catch a plane in the night. The planes don’t fly high in Alaska
because there’s not many high mountains they have to fly over. Every night I
would look but nothing ever came. There was a small notebook in my bag and I
started to write about my adventure and what I did every day. There wasn’t much
to do there anymore so most days I just sat in and wrote about everything that
has been happening. Also I started to right about my past life and it made me
think how easy my life was compared to the Eskimos. Some days I would have to
walk to get wood from the small forest others days I needed to hunt but that
was pretty much it. Hunting started to get easy because the wolves would always
be out and some trips they went after me. So I would always bring a flare gun
just in case.
It has been two months and three weeks
now. I was walking back to the plane when I saw a blinking light in the sky. So
I ran to the plane as fast as I could and got a flare guy and shot it. I’m
pretty sure the plane saw it because it did a circle around me and then went
off into the distance. I kept waiting and waiting for someone to come get me
but then came the next day and I gave up hope again. I thought I would never
get out of there so I just gave up. That day I just sat in the lean-to and
thought about how I was never going to never see my family and friends again
The next day came and I was in the lean-to
sleeping. Something woke me up that sounded like dogs so I just thought it was
a pack of wolves so I just sat there listening. It started to get louder and
louder and I thought to myself they have never came this close so I started to
get scared. But then I heard a voice and I jumped up and went outside and saw a
dog sled team. I have never been so happy to see anyone in my whole life. I ran
over to the man and shook his hand and he said to me “We are here to take you
home”. I broke down in tears and said thank you a thousand times.
They said get your stuff and let’s get
out of here. I couldn’t take everything so I took the things that meant the
most to me. I brought the knife, the coat I had made, the blanket, and the
notebook I had been writing in. I looked back one last time and said goodbye. I
got on the first plane back to anchorage Alaska so I could fly on home to
Seattle. I got back hoe and everybody thought I was dead so everybody was
surprised but very happy. Everybody wanted to hear my story so I told them
someone day I will publish my journal that had everything I did in it and
that’s how they would found out would happened to me and how I survived. This
is something I will never forget and how I would teach younger children things
they need to know to survive in the wild.
The End
