The Youngest Mountain Man

By: Joseph J. Blodgett

Narrated by: David Reid

When New York native Samuel Dubois moves to Montana, he learns the hard way that his favorite fantasy novel doesn’t help when he’s lost in the wilderness. Surrounded by animals that scream like creatures from his books, towering, creaky trees, and blood-sucking insects, Samuel spends the worst night of his life perched on top of a rock with only his book and the moon for comfort.

Afterward, finally home and safe, Samuel can’t sleep and won’t go out. He realizes the only way to fight his fear is to learn everything he can about survival. After reading lots of books, watching videos, and listening to the camping adventures of local boys, he returns to the forest that terrified him. He learns to build a fire without matches, catch fish and game birds, gather mountain man salads, build shelters, and purify water. He follows elk and big horn sheep, finds wild berries and greens, and sets up a cave as a clubhouse.

But there are many dangers in Blodgett Canyon…like the mountain lion that screams in the night and checks out what Samuel ate for dinner. There are broken bones, lost campers, poachers, flash floods. Only the strongest mountain man can survive, and Samuel wants to survive.

©2021 Joseph J. Blodgett (P)2021 Joseph J. Blodgett

Educational and Entertaining

This was a fun read/listen. It was not quite what I was expecting, but in a good way. I expected the story to be one of survival after the main character gets plunged into a wilderness where he barely knew how to survive. Instead, it ended up being multiple stories of survival as our young protagonist grew from someone who hated the very idea of even taking a hike in the wilderness into a thriving mountain man who is fascinated with the idea of surviving in the wilderness and experiencing all that nature has to offer.

The quality of the recording was a little distracting at times, being able to hear hisses and clicks that could have been mastered out, but it was overall clean enough to enjoy the experience.

Without spoiling anything, this young man in the story undergoes an amazing transformation, which in and of itself makes the story worth seeing through to the end. As the title of my review suggests, the story was entertaining in an educational sort of way, which I mean to say in the most complementary way; the author clearly did his research to bring a high level of authenticity to the tale. If you like wilderness survival stories, you will enjoy this one.

Survival and Growth

Such a great read! This is a great coming of age story with lots of character growth as well as a beautiful setting and detailed descriptions of how to survive in the wild. I would highly recommend this book for kids maybe 9 or so and up, right along with books like Julie of the Wolves and Hatchet. I'm also pretty picky about narrators and thought this was beautifully narrated!

An enjoyable story

I was interested in reading/ listening to this story because I grew up in the area. I have my own experiences hiking in Blodgett canyon. This was a fun story to listen to. I would recommend it for all ages interested in outdoors and adventure.

great story

the story was great, the narrator was great.
overall this is a really good listen of someone leaning to love the woods and nature. the ending was different but pretty awesome.

Fun read

Enjoyed this story of a young man who faced his fears and set out to overcome them. Great details about the beautiful Blodgett canyon and the elusive “Banshee!!”
I’ll be buying this book for my niece and nephew who live in the Bitterroots!