Many years ago, at the age of 13, I had the opportunity to hike up the Uintah mountains with my scout troop. It was four mile, full pack hike up the mountain where we camped near a lake and then hiked back down. At one point in the adventure, I became separated from my group and was lost for nearly two hours. My troop was in a panic and I was worried I would be lost forever. With the limited survival skills I had, I found a place to stop on the trail and waited for my rescue; fortunately this came quickly. There is a vividly memory of my scout master finding me and hugging me. He then took me to our camp and I enjoyed the rest of the trip. This was not the case for Joe Tippets in the book Hearts of Courage, by John M. Tippets. He instead took the teachings from his scout master (and many others) and lasted much longer in a climate much worse.
Joe Tippets, a local Ogden, Utah man, experienced the ultimate test of survival in the Alaskan mountains. His plane of six people cra...