American Hunting: Starting with Solitary Life in the Wilderness

Chapter 15: The Shelter Stone House is Completed!

Inside the temporary camp.

Lin Yu'an carefully cleaned the grouse, marinated it simply with a mixture of spices and a little salt that he had secretly brought, then steamed half of it and grilled the other half. Soon, the fragrant aroma of the meat made his mouth water.

By the time he finished cooking the grouse, it was already dark, and he could almost hear wolves howling in the distance. But he didn't care about any of that now; he just wanted to enjoy the grouse as soon as possible!

He tore off a tender chicken leg and eagerly put it in his mouth. Then he took a sip of the chicken soup, which was very well marinated and had no fishy smell at all! This gave his taste buds an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.

"This is definitely more delicious than any grouse cooked in any Michelin-starred restaurant in the world!"

He faced the camera, showering the camera with compliments. He quickly devoured most of the grouse, leaving the rest to be stored away for recording breakfast footage the next morning.

After finishing his large meal, it was completely dark. In the wilderness, without a cell phone, internet, or any entertainment, there was no other option but to go to bed early and wake up early. Soon, Lin Yu'an drifted off to sleep, a sense of accomplishment filling his mind and body, making him sleep exceptionally well that night.

Another day passed, and soon it was morning. Lin Yu'an turned on the camera and began recording for the day.

"Good morning! I feel full of energy right now after enjoying that delicious roasted grouse last night!"

"Today is a beautiful sunny day, perfect for continuing our project! Our goal is to grow our stone wall a little taller so we can start building the roof frame!"

After two days of hard work, the lower half of the back wall and the two side walls of the shelter have taken shape. Lin Yu-an's main task today is to continue building upwards and start considering the reserved locations for doors and windows.

“Building a stone wall is not as simple as just piling up stones.”

"The most important thing is to ensure the stability and density of the wall. We need to make sure that each stone can fit well with the surrounding stones. Then we use my special adhesive, which is wet mud mixed with wood ash, to fill the gaps between the stones."

Lin Yu-an kept talking to the camera for two reasons: firstly, to gather footage, and secondly, to combat his loneliness and constantly adjust his mindset.

Lin Yu'an spent almost the entire day on the final construction of the stone wall, and consciously used longer and more regular stones and flat pieces of wood as lintels at the planned door and window locations to leave space for them.

As the evening glow once again painted the sky red, the four stone walls of the shelter were almost completely closed, leaving only the outline of the door and small windows, resembling the foundation of a sturdy stone fortress.

Lin Yu'an straightened his aching back and looked at the shelter that was beginning to take shape before him, a genuine sense of pride on his face: "Fantastic! The main structure of my shelter is complete! Starting tomorrow, we'll begin building the wooden frame for the roof!"

Over the next few days, Lin Yu'an's life entered a regular and fulfilling rhythm.

During the day, he would spend a lot of time building the permanent shelter. The wooden frame of the roof was beginning to take shape. He would carefully select each piece of wood to be used as a beam and rafter, and meticulously process it with a logging axe and a multi-tool.

Every day he would go fishing by the stream or check the traps. Although the catch from the traps was not consistent, his fishing skills were constantly improving. Occasionally, he could even bring back a few small fish from the fish traps, which would barely supplement his protein intake.

In the blink of an eye, fifteen days have passed since Lin Yu'an arrived at the desolate wilderness of Lake Chirko.

For the past two weeks, every day has felt like a battle against nature, loneliness, and his own limits, and he has been steadily working towards realizing his initial plan.

Fortunately, his traps occasionally yielded results, and the nearby berry resources were relatively abundant, preventing him from cheating and consuming the food in the space due to hunger.

During this period, Lin Yu'an spent most of his day every day cutting, transporting and processing timber.

Because he had no saw, he could only rely on his logging axe to split the thick logs into suitable lengths and shapes, creating simple mortise and tenon joints or sufficiently flat joint surfaces to better secure them to the stone walls and to each other.

Occasionally, when moving particularly heavy logs or precisely setting up wooden beams on high stone walls, Lin Yu-an would take advantage of the camera's fixed shot of a distant view to briefly leave the camera's field of vision, and then use the help of the Golden Finger Space to complete some physically demanding tasks.

The semi-subterranean stone shelter was already taking shape, with thick stone walls standing firmly against the stone walls on both sides, and the edges of the reserved door and window openings had been reinforced with wood.

The most time-consuming and labor-intensive part, the wooden roof frame, is made up of several small fir logs as main beams, supplemented by dense branch rafters, and it has been basically completed.

The hardships he endured during this period are beyond the comprehension of outsiders. It was another early morning. Lin Yu'an rubbed his sleepy eyes and habitually greeted the camera.

"Today is a crucial day for us to build our permanent shelter! If everything goes smoothly, we will be able to completely seal the roof today and truly have a home that can shelter us from the wind and rain!"

"There's more good news: the Jerusalem artichokes in that area will be ready to be harvested in a few days. Then I'll have at least a week without having to worry about food!"

"Alright, let's get started on today's work! Let's try to finish my shelter today!"

Today's main task is to lay a waterproof and insulating layer on this wooden roof.

Lin Yu'an had carried back several large bundles of thick, pliable birch bark, along with a large amount of dried moss and pine needles, from the stream well in advance.

As he carefully laid the birch bark on the roof rafters, he explained to the camera:
"Birch bark is a natural, high-quality waterproof material. Its high oil content effectively prevents rainwater from penetrating. I first lay a layer of waterproof tarpaulin, then the birch bark, and finally cover it with a thick layer of moss and pine needles as an insulation layer."

"Finally, a layer of soil is laid on top, followed by moss transplanted from nearby. This creates a 'living roof' that not only provides good insulation and waterproofing but also blends seamlessly with the surrounding environment, increasing the shelter's privacy."

This was a meticulous and tedious task. His hands were covered in mud as he carefully pieced together each piece of birch bark, ensuring there were no large gaps. Then he laid down layers of insulation material, and finally covered it evenly with a mixture of soil and small stones.

Lin Yu-an talked to the camera while working:

“You probably can’t imagine how tired I was during that time! It was so difficult to process all that wood without modern tools! Because I didn’t bring a saw, I didn’t regret it at first, thinking that a saw would only be useful in the early stages.”

"But you'll only realize how wrong you are when you actually get here! The saw also plays a big role later on; it's much easier than a logging axe when collecting and processing wood fuel."

"If it comes down to a contest of enduring hunger, those who have saws can conserve more energy and are more likely to last longer than those who don't."

"So I will try my best to make up for this mistake and prepare wood for winter while food is still plentiful, so as to avoid having to withdraw from the competition later because I don't have the strength to collect wood. That would be an unforgivable mistake!"

As the last piece of turf was carefully pressed onto the roof, Lin Yu'an straightened up and looked at the sturdy and simple stone house that blended almost seamlessly with its surroundings. An indescribable sense of pride and satisfaction welled up in his heart.

"It's finished! The roof of my new shelter is finally complete!"

He excitedly faced the camera, opened his arms, and shouted in celebration, as if he wanted to embrace the world!

He couldn't wait to go inside the stone house. Although the space was small, only about ten square meters, it was unusually quiet inside because of the thick walls and tight roof.

Sunlight streamed in through the small window opening, which he could easily block with stones at any time.

After more than ten days of intense physical exertion, the shelter was finally completed, and now I can focus all my energy on finding food!
Lin Yu'an knew clearly that he still had a lot of heavy physical work to do, so he needed to obtain a more stable and abundant source of protein to supplement his diet; relying solely on traps to catch small prey was not enough.

His gaze returned to Lake Chirko, where the stream eventually flowed.

He said to the camera, "Although I thought fishing by this lake would be quite difficult before, after observing for the past few days, I have discovered a few good fishing spots."

“At some bends or where there are large rocks blocking the way, the water flow will be relatively gentle, and these places are often rich in aquatic plants, so fish are likely to gather.”

"Let's go try it tomorrow morning and see if we can catch a few big ones!"

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(The shelter, a stone house, looks something like this, but it's situated on higher ground.)
Wishing all high school graduates the best of luck in getting accepted into their first-choice university!

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(End of this chapter)