Thatch, the Timberwolf Sasquatch

[stratvox]

3 minutes ago, jeffpeng said:

@stratvoxThat might actually be worth it's own story. Sounds very interesting.

Oh yeah, one other thing, both recovery types are set to low. This seems to result in getting only about 18% condition recovery from a 12 hour sleep. I've also set thirst and calorie consumption to medium... so you can sleep the full twelve hours without losing condition due to thirst. Finally, part of the pain is that the only buffs you can use are snow walker (recharge stamina bar 20% faster) and book smarts.

[Guest jeffpeng]

2 hours ago, stratvox said:

Oh yeah, one other thing, both recovery types are set to low. This seems to result in getting only about 18% condition recovery from a 12 hour sleep. I've also set thirst and calorie consumption to medium... so you can sleep the full twelve hours without losing condition due to thirst. Finally, part of the pain is that the only buffs you can use are snow walker (recharge stamina bar 20% faster) and book smarts.

I generally don't play with feats. While I find them nice as a sort of "Achievement Badge" they actually are bad game design in my opinion. If they were designed so you could earn them every game and affect only the current game - fine, then they are some sort of skill to be learned. I could roll with that. But using them in new games effectively just makes the game easier. If I want an easier game I play an easier setting - so I consider them to be kinda pointless anyways

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4  / Day 30 - Time Is Running Out

4 am and full health there isn't much to do. As the days grow colder they also grow "shorter" in that I can use less and less time of them to actually do things. The end, if I play it right, is far away, but it's announced a little bit more every day.

To underline this it is too cold in my bedroll to just spend time for much longer. 90 minutes later -3°C FL in my bedroll force me to make a fire at the outside campsite. Having waited just too long to get a fire going just that costs me 10% condition again. I will probably soon have to seek shelter in the cave for the coldest hours of the day.

Cooking and boiling away I get my Cooking IV. Actually way faster than Kermit did. The last few days were rich in frying deer, so I guess that helped. I use my fire and cook and boil until 2 am. I'm relatively tired pretty early due to getting up so early. When I finally get going to collect on my guts and deer hide up in the Deer Clearing cave, just making the single rope exhausts me completely. 

Coming up from the climb the wolf spots me almost immediately. Making a full tour around the big rock I cannot shake him loose or offer him a deer, and after losing serious time and condition my only recourse is to make a fire. Another charge of my beloved fire striker goes. I fetch my gut and hide and get going again.

Then suddenly the situation becomes unexpectedly dire. Harsh winds make sure I cannot defend myself with a fire again, and I am fighting the current, making slow progress, the wolf in the corner of my eye. You will be the death of me is all that I can think of. I pray the wolf doesn't spot me and crouch against the wind towards my goat home. If he spots me now ... I'm done. 65% condition and dropping, fully fatigued I stand no chance, hammer or no hammer. Something so simple turned so desperate so quick. In the end .... I live.

When I reach home I'm down to 55%. I sleep an hour immediately to stave off further losses due to fatigue. Then it's herbal tea, venison and water for dinner. The night promises to be a cold one yet again, and my trip tomorrow has to be put to question. But ... time is running out.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 31 - The Amazing Goat-Man

5 am, 94%. Cold. Too cold to sleep. I get up, light my torch, repair my shelter and collect my stuff. It's time to go, now as much as any time. To the cave.

I pick up the cured guts and hides, plus the one that is just 99% done. I will finish curing it at the other end of the cave warming up. Through the darkness I reach the other end of the cave, put down the hide, boil a can and warm up tea, and see: It's done. Pulling torches and stuffing my belly with some meat I get going. It's a brutal march in sub -28°C FL.

I get into the Hut without contest, but after making my first 30 minutes on the boots I realize I won't be able to finish them in one go. I need 10% fishing tackle per hour, and that means that I need 2 full fishing tackles - which I don't have. I have one full and one at 21%. Well. Now that we are here let's use out time, shall we.

I get a bit of work done, then collect some sticks around the house. At some point I let the fire die because it's warm enough and I won't need it all night anyways. In the end I leave with 12.5 hours of crafting left on boots and vow to return in two days when two more guts will be ready. I craft my line from the guts I still have, as well as a snare - yes, a snare! - and make my way back through the Northern Woods. Then again my goatey-senses are tingling. I probably could ... goat along the edge of the Gorge and elude the wolf - can't I ?

I can! While a bit dicey at points I make it into the Gorge unscathed and out if it unseen. At this point I think this route is actually better for the initial summit ascend than the long way over broken tree bridge, especially since it lets you cash in on firewood at the three way cave.

I get home long before nightfall, deploy my snare on the rabbit run and sleep 10 hours.

[fauxjargon]

6 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

I generally don't play with feats. While I find them nice as a sort of "Achievement Badge" they actually are bad game design in my opinion. If they were designed so you could earn them every game and affect only the current game - fine, then they are some sort of skill to be learned. I could roll with that. But using them in new games effectively just makes the game easier. If I want an easier game I play an easier setting - so I consider them to be kinda pointless anyways

This is a fair point.  I guess the idea is that you earn the feats on lower difficulties and then use them as crutches on higher ones.  

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 32 - Seventy-Two

Basically without mention I finished my 30 days living the life of a homeless goat on Timberwolf Mountain. Has it always been a breeze? Surely not. But now let's see what we can accomplish until we finally set sail into The Long Dark.

Getting up at 5 am all I can do is wait. I suffer through an hour of freezing, but then things get warmer again - until a blizzard hits. This time I just have to see it with my own eyes. 

That's basically -72°C combined windchill and air temperature. And we've got 20 more days of cooling to go. The blizzard goes at 2 pm. The day, again, basically is a bust. I pull torches and literally while turning around to go I sprain my wrist. How? It's a miracle. It's way too cold for me to make meaningful headway - two reshis cannot change that. My snare survived the blizzard, but didn't yield anything yet. There's just nothing I can do.

I recycle some torches and craft my fishing tackles. At 5 pm I go to bed - sleeping 8 hours. The day is so excruciatingly cold I'm almost expecting myself to run to the cave in the middle of the night.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 33 - Boot Camp

I wake up just past midnight. It's already -3°C in my shelter. It's probably going to get -9°C until 6 am, a full 6 degrees too cold to hold out in the bedroll. I head for the cave. If I will be freezing tonight, I might as well do it on the way to the Hut, right? The fact alone that I cannot make the way from my shelter to the cave without freezing .... says it all.

I make my way through the cave and see the aurora plunging the outside world in twilight. A fire helps me warm up myself and some tea. By now even things like tea run scarce. I won't find many more reishi and rose hips - if any, and all I have left right now for warmth purposes are 1 rose hip tea and 5 reishi. Add to that 6 herbal tea and 4 coffee plus my last pork'n'beans, and you can count the days until I'm basically grounded in my cold home.

-38°C FL make this journey even more brutal than the last one two days ago. 

Moments after this picture is taken my torch dies. I forfeit any hope of staying warm and keep my tea. It's gonna be a march in the cold of -43°C FL. Evading all wolves on the way I make my way safely to the Hut by 4 am, guided by the aurora, but freezing terribly and down to 62%. I eat my last pack of crackers to have at least some time without starvation damage and get working.

Just when I think of letting the fire die at 9 am a blizzard makes its entrance. I've got enough firewood and coal on hand to deal with it, but I would have preferred to save it. 

It doesn't last more than 3 hours, so I finally decide to let the fire go. Then, at 7 pm, I'm finally done.

I get going but night is falling rapidly. Heavy snow accompanied by winds not too strong but also not helping mix with a world that is plunging into darkness with every heartbeat. What was a nice trick two days ago will become utterly necessary now - I'm simply out of time to go any other route. One of my last rose hip teas goes when I sprain my ankle in the Northern Woods. But I cannot afford wobbling now.

I make the goat flawlessly, but it is much harder at low visibility. The wolf is nowhere to be seen - mostly because I don't see anything. The weather has turned to one notch below blizzard and I am losing condition rapidly. I make it into the cave just as the blizzard finally manifests.

Fully exhausted but the cave to cold to sleep I have no choice but to light a fire in front of my shelter and at least sleep 2 hours with the fire burning. After that I transfer the fire to the outside campsite and dump another 30 sticks into the fire just to equalize the blizzard barely - but then it just stops an hour later - with almost 5 hours on the fire. Lots of torches ....

When I finally go to sleep it's just past midnight. 8 hours is all I can afford.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 34 - Weeee!

I wake up at 8:30 ish. I'm pretty cold, but temperatures have turned around. I can sleep two more hours. When I get up thick green fog engulfs the cave and everything in it.

I decide to recycle torches and take stock of how dire my firewood situation really is. When I'm done I have 38 sticks with 20 more bound up in torches I'm not willing to trash yet. Plus 12 coal, which sounds better than it is. When I get hit by a blizzard waiting for coal means taking even more damage. I've got 14 liters of water, so that's quite a hallmark and enough for just short of a week. Food is so-so, two rabbits and a last chunk of venison, plus 40 cattails.

I make a run to the rabbit run, and see it yield me my first rabbit. I make it back just before freezing and have to warm up again.

I didn't really have a lot of time to think about how great my new boots are. Wee!.... they are great. They really are. But they are buying me no nearly as much as I would need. I think I can say with relative safety that another set of pants is out of reach. I would need to get hunting basically today to have a chance to come through in about a week. In about a week .... I don't see myself living that much anymore, and even less making trips to the Mountaineer's Hut. They would by me another 1.5 °C, which is basically 4 days of cooling, plus a cloth to spend on my head gear or ski jacket. 

I do something I never did until now: I saw down the small fir limb in my cave. If the hacksaw goes ... it goes. It's just like that. 9% condition just for that, but it's probably better than running around looking for sticks that aren't there. It's 7 pm when I turn in for 8 hours. Not tired enough for more.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 35 - Grounded

3 am, 59%. It's relatively warm, still, so maybe I will get by this day without a fire again. I make a quick sprint to my snare, but find it empty. Time to wait.

At 6 am a blizzard rolls in. The winds allow me to make a sprint for the cave - so I do. But it costs me condition again. At least my clothes didn't take a lot of damage dodging most of the wind. I light a torch and explore the cave. No coal. Of course not. Finally I decide to make a fire next to the fire limb in the cave to preserve the flame and saw it down. My hacksaw survives even this attempt, and I end up spending the equivalent of one fir limb in firewood for getting three. Fair, kinda, isn't it?

On the other end of the cave I lose the flame. I throw the torch too into the exit far so I cannot chain it anymore. That's just sad. Outside none of the rabbits I hoped for show up, and the few sticks don't justify the two uses of my firestriker this trip will cost me. To make it around Hide'n'Seek hill it's just too damn cold.

Back out of the cave the next flame dies. Too windy. Just great. I sprint up to my cave losing condition yet again and sleep a few hours, five to be precise. Waking up harsh winds forbid any excursions. I sleep some more hours for calm weathers that just won't come. 

I can dodge making fire for quite some time. But I will need food. Soon. And frankly .... while I am at it there is little reason not to get those hides. Even though I might die trying for my second set of pants... they are my only and last chance to actually stave off eventually freezing. And I need to make a play sooner rather than later. But without the right opportunity I won't be getting anywhere. If I had just a knife ... things would be infinitely better.

I keep waiting and sleeping until midnight. To no avail.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 36 - The Adventures Of Derrick McDeer II

The night is cold. 2 am and I am already freezing in my shelter. All I can do is sit in the cave ... and wait. When it is finally warm enough to even stay in my bedroll ... it's almost 10.

I sleep 6 hours hoping the later part of the day will be more forgiving.

When I get up 4 pm I don't lose no time. It's basically the warmest part of the day right now, and if I want to score some deer it's now or never. Winds are present but seem permissive of a fire. Let's just hope the weather holds for me. 

The wolf doesn't spot me and I wrap around the rock chasing deer towards him. But when I finally come back I see him having a big bit out of Derrick McDeer. Damn. Out of options and out of time I shoot the wolf. I hit, but not fatally. He will die from it, but I will probably not be able to benefit from his demise.

Derrick McDeer only has 5.1 kilograms of meat left. But I take it. Not willing to spend my sticks I suffer through 30 minutes of cold. Having at Mr. McDeer myself finally yields me Carcass Harvesting IV.

When I get going, stinky as they come, it's past 10 pm. I get home and while I would love to drop off the deer hide in the cave or finish cooking .... I need to use every hour of sleep in my shelter I can get. I eat .... and then it's 9 hours of sleep, two of which I will probably rather cold.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 37 - About That Wolf

(For reasons that elude me I cannot upload pictures for this one)

The temperature turned around in time. I wake up at around 8 am, 100% warm, 65% alive. First: my snare! On the way I think of warmer places - which sprains my wrist. Sigh!

Another rabbit. That snare already paid for itself twice over .... if I ever get to harvest those rabbits, that is. I warm up until 1 pm in my shelter, then decide to sleep two hours to shake of the sprained wrist and get some more rest. I will try to recover the wolf today. 3 pm already I get going. The weather looks favorable.

It doesn't take long to find the wolf. 4.9 kilograms are well worth my efforts. I take the meat and the guts, cook some of it and take home. Again I would love to finish cooking or dropping off my stuff at the cave, but every hour of sleep counts. And being only 8pm I already know the night will be too cold to sleep for more than 6 hours.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 38 - The Hunt (?)

I can actually squeeze in a 7th hour of sleep, but then it's time to get to the cave. I pack my animal parts and run - and still only barely avoid freezing.

With now 2 deer hides in the cave I already envision myself making the trip to the Hut again. A forth, no even fifth time. Who would have thought I would even get into a position where planning for day 40+ would be feasible and not just humbug? Maybe ..... yeah, just maybe I can make it that far. But to get there I will need to hide. A lot. In the dark.

It's 8 am before I can leave the cave again and return home to sleep some more. It's basically like this .... sleep, hide, sleep, do - and repeat. When I get back up it's 1 pm. It's cold, but the winds are basically non-existent. If I'm going to flare a deer ... today is the day.

(At this point I pause the day as I still cannot upload any pictures  )

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 38 - The Hunt (!)

Pictures! I'm rolling. Winds are borderline. Even if I get a deer - not sure I'll be able to harvest it in full. But I begin to stalk my prey.

The first flare hit the deer - but bounces off of it like it was a stone. Shortly after I get another shot on the same animal.

It's a score.

Can I call this a win? I think I can. Deer are among the hardest targets for a flare, only second to moose and maybe rabbits, but who in their right mind would flare a rabbit? I still have 3 shells left, and I will try to use them more... efficiently. But I need that hide, need that food now. The weather holds and even calms, and I get the entire animal, guts included. But the moment I am done the weather turns heavily on me, as if it was saying "you did what you came for, now leave".

I fight stiff winds on the way back, and attempting the goat in the dark in finally make a mistake and fall. The damage is negligible and the only piece of clothing that took a noticeable hit are my deer skin pants. But it forces me to spend another of my fire striker charges. When I return home, I'm at 23%. But I have almost 10 kg of high calorie venison, I have 2 more guts, and most importantly: my third and final deer hide for my second an final deer pants. And that's the important part of the story.

I'm not granted more than 3 hours of sleep.

 

 

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 39 - The Crushing Cold

It's just past midnight when I have to retreat to the cave. I drop my deer hide and guts and note: day 44, 1 am. Will I see it? I'm doubtful. But other than that it's just a lot of staring into the dark.

The cold of this day is crushing me. It's midday before I can return to me shelter - fully exhausted. I punch in 10 hours of sleep. I need those hours, I need to recover. After 11 hours of sleep in total it's just past midnight. I need to retreat ... again.

[Drifter Man]

Sasquatch never gives up, ever!

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 40 - Polar Tales

When I reach the cave all I can really do is wait. I keep myself fed to maintain my condition a bit - I'm at 60%. At 6 am the thermometer reads -40°C air temperature. Subtracting my 9°C clothing bone, the 8°C cave bonus and the 15°C shelter bonus I still land at -8°C - which is 5°C too cold to even live in my bedroll, which adds another 3°C. With the day getting warmer approximately 1°C per hour after 6 am .... 11 am is the time I can return home. Those... are my days now.

I get home at 11 am as I calculated and punch in 5 hours of sleep. I will need to use the day a bit. I want to check my snare. It really is a high value snare this one!

I find not even a single stick before I need to head home. After 3 more hours of sleep I have to leave the shelter - this time at 9 pm already. I decide to use the cold weather to restock on water and get the rather large amounts of uncooked meat I still have done. It takes me way past midnight.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 41 - Black Saturday

The good news is I have plenty of food and enough water. The bad news is the world has turned to a popsicle and I am running out of things to make heat with. Quick. Maybe making another trip to the Summit Plateau would be a good idea. Maybe even to the Summit? All those crates I left there.... But no... making all three climbs in one go would deplete me of all the coffee I have. And I need my coffee for my last big journey.

At 6 am the thermometer reads -44°C Air Temperature. Sleeping today.... probably impossible until 1-2 pm. Making it to the Summit Plateau this exhausted? Out of the question. I will have to travel at night, I guess. For now .... I let the fire die and head back to the cave.

Having kept the flame going at least I'm not staring into the darkness. Maybe I can even make a run around Hide'n'Seek hill? Yes I can. I make it through the cave and to the Hill, where my torch dies instantly. I pick up sticks in -51°C FL. In the end what I can show for is admirable: 35 sticks. All for a discount price of just 15% condition. Hell, is it still Black Friday?

Back through the cave I find a lump of coal and manage to break another branch in the big dome. Then I think. I have 20 matches and about 20 fire striker uses left. That's enough for 40 days if I play it right. But 40 days? No way. I'm not that optimistic. I kill my torch, saw down the big limb of cedar, and ruin my hacksaw in the process. 3 cedars for a fire striker charge and the rest of my hacksaw. Another discount!

At the mouth of the cave I recycle a plethora of torches, and when I'm done I have 84 sticks to my name.

Getting home at 1 am I gaze at my riches. While limited, they will get me by a few more days. In my head day 50 stands as the ultimate challenge, but getting there will be a hell of ride. I eat my wolf steak and sleep 10 hours.

[BareSkin]

26 minutes ago, jeffpeng said:

I pick up sticks in -51°C FL.

Black Saturday is as mad as the Friday. People are loosing their heads for sticks!

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 42 - Nighttime Ventures

Midnight. 64%. -4°C in the shelter. Time to move. To the Secluded Shelf we go.

At this point in the game everything I do is tied to high costs and often times high risks. Venturing out in the middle of the night? Sure, why not. If the only time of day you can sleep is actually midday, early afternoon the latest, what choices do you have? Picking 10 sticks for 10 percent condition? Daily business by now. Do you remember how I claimed to know the hike blind by now? Well, now I gotta prove it. I make it, flawlessly, but then randomly sprain my ankle. Another rose hip tea goes. I have only one left. I make the climb in total darkness and reach the cave, fighting -42°C FL, at 48% condition. 

I make it through the cave and score 5 coal on first pass. I get out and collect my sticks. I almost get lost in the darkness, but then find my way - narrowly, before sliding down a ledge. I find some 30 sticks, but the cost is high: When I back into the cave, I'm down to 30%. And I'm not even home yet - and almost completely exhausted. A second pass through the cave doesn't yield additional coal, sadly. 

I take a peek outside. -37°C AT is 10°C too little to actually sleep in the shelter. But with not even 6 am yet I'm looking at 13, maybe 14 hours until I can sleep. Fully exhausted and starving I won't see that moment. I go back in, make a fire and warm up my last beans.

I've held on to them for so long, and that we must part now saddens me. But ... I won't find a can opener, period. I might not even see the day after tomorrow. Or tomorrow for that matter. I have that one journey left in me, maybe. Exploring caves or corpses on a whim .... I don't.

I eat my beans with joy and warm up a herbal tea. Pulling torches I go to attempt the goat down to the Three Way Cave again - but when I step out a blizzard has taken hold of the world. I down one of my last three coffees ... and wait. What are my other options? None. My flame dies when I pass too much time. Skipping in and out of the cave it takes until 8 am for the blizzard to finally subside. But it's of course much too cold to sleep in the shelter. The only way .... would be to do so by a fire.

Now the question is .... spend 5-10% more condition waiting? Or waste 5 hours of firewood and another match? I vote waiting. As much as ~20% condition don't inspire confidence in me, throwing away basically my entire firewood loot just to stay alive doesn't pan out either. When I finally go ... it's almost 1 pm, and I'm down to 22%. 

I make haste, and while taking a few risks I don't get punished for it. When I finally reach my shelter, I'm down to 18%.

10 hours of desperate sleep entail.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 43 - Running Circles

I sleep in for a total of 12 hours, but the last two hours are spend drawing from my warmth. 49% condition, and without further delay make it to the cave .... and wait.... and wait... until 10 am. Almost 8 hours. What can be done with the day? I need to recover. As much as I can. So realistically ... nothing but literally wait sipping tea. I sneak into bed and sleep 6 hours.

What I do now is one thing @BareSkinmentioned and criticized. I basically "blow away" rest running circles in the cave ... to sleep. It's something I rarely ever do, and it's a good point for his argument against rest based recovery. I drink my herbal tea and sleep some more 5-6 hours. Yeah, that's it already.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 44 - Misfire

I miscalculate heavily ... and wake up freezing down to 36% at 1 am. I lost over an hour worth of condition worth to freezing damage. Freezing snow, fluffdammit.

Can I even do my trip under these conditions? Reason says no. Urgency says yes. Reason wins and I postpone the trip. But hungering through the day .... not an option. I wait and wait then run home, wait some more, run my victory lap, drink my last herbal tea and sleep 10 hours. This time .... I should be fine.

 

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 45 - Running Down My Last Legs

Again I wake up freezing. But the damage I took freezing is negligible - at least for my standard. 66% is all I'm going to get. But in the moment I want to get going a blizzard grounds me. I duck back into the shelter, but just getting the shelter above freezing costs me 10%. With the time I spend gathering my things ... I'm down to 50%. Just for that. Out there the temperatures must be approaching -80°C.

After 3 hours of sleep the blizzard has subsided. I'm back to 55%, but I see my options dwindling. I feel like I will die trying for those pants. Just sit it out? Hibernate to day 50 somehow? I'm torn. But not, that's not how Sasquatch will go into The Long Dark. Packed with water, firewood and food I get going. -44°C FL with a torch in hand? Summer Times!

I make it through the cave and stir a fire at the other end, looking for what I have even left to warm up. Spoiler alert: ain't much. 2 cups of coffee, 4 reishi, and a rose hip tea. Plus a few medicinal sips of reishi, but those combined amount to just another cup. I figure that drinking a cup of coffee now would probably have the beneficial effect that I don't overlap the "reduced fatigue" buffs later. I wait till I'm warm, drink my cup, and then I go.

I goat down at the short rope and visit the cave below Andre's Peak. It's empty, of course. The creek wolf is busy eating a rabbit, so my way to the lake is free. The lake wolf, however, spots me, but a bit of venison is enough to strike a truce. I get to the Hut unharmed and at 45%. I throw my torch and some accelerant into the fireplace - and behold: it burns.

I get going crafting lines, hooks and then 2 fishing tackles. I keep the fire burning as long as I have to, and boil some water while doing so, but let it die eventually. I work deep into the cold, dark night.

 

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 46 - The Last Great Journey

It's time to light up again at 2 am. So I do. My pants.... are still 5.5 hours away. The by now "ruined" sodas I brought for the trip go as I continue to work. All the way from the Summit I kept them - until now. Then, just after 8 am .... it is done.

I craft a second snare, take my warm coffee and get going again. As much as I would love to pick up firewood in the vicinity .... I need to get home. Soon. While staying well fed all day kept me from losing condition - I actually recovered back to 53% - I need to sleep. ASAP. I take towards the long, steep Engine Gorge Climb in perfect (and perfectly cold) weather. I sprain my wrist and ankle, and at a critical point I stop and see the wolf in a very bad spot.

I wait and wait and wait, until he turns around. With a sprained wrist .... the flare gun wouldn't be an option if I needed it, and with a sprained ankle I'm too slow to even just walk him off. I drink my last rose hip tea. I cannot risk this now. The wrist heals - so it's flare gun exit strategy. But ... the wolf never sees me. I make it to the cave to warm up.

To spend some time I tear up my now redundant jeans. My 4% hoodie goes as well. But I will decide later what to do with the cloth. It's now warm enough outside so I can sleep in my shelter. And sleep I must. I hobble to the cave, eat, drink and sleep for 10 hours with just 23% condition left.

When I wake up at 11 pm I've already been losing heat again for two hours. Back to the cave ...

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 47 - The First Of The Last

In the cave there is little to be done other than wait. My final days on Timberwolf Mountain are painfully uneventful at times. When it is "bright" enough in the cave I repair my 48% toque and my wool sweater. It's not much, but maybe it will allow me to sleep for 10 hours for a few days longer. I also patch up my mitts, they were down to 71%. After that, ironically, I've got the best clothing I had since my arrival.

At 12, however, making it to the shelter is a no-no. A blizzard is laying waste to the Mountainside. So, yes, more waiting. It's already 6 pm when I can finally make my way back to the cave. When I arrive .... the safe duration for me is just .... 5 hours. And that's already playing it close to the edge. I take it.

At 11 pm .... my only way is back to the cave, as fast as my tired feet can carry me.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 48 - Light At The End Of The Tunnel

More often than not this is what I stare at half the day. Rarely it's so shiny green lit.

There is this argument that "seeing a light at the end of the tunnel" isn't really a metaphor for hope, or for getting through something, but more for relief and rest after the long hardship of life. Maybe its origin is more from near-death experiences than from it is from people finding the saving exit of a dark interior. For me, in any case, it is the end that beckons. The question at this point is only .... when. Not if. Fifty days. Just .... 4 more days. Somehow. Anyhow.

It's noon when I make it back. Sleep deprivation kicks in hard. The short trip from the cave to the shelter is all I have left in me. 

Just when the temperature inside my bedroll tips towards +0°C instead of -0°C I go to sleep. Ten hours. I must. The temperatures must hold. They do. I can even afford two more hours.