Well written article Lisa!  This fella was very lucky to get out alive.  I was reminded of the man who wanted to get away from it all and died in an abandoned bus.  Alaska is a very wild frontier.  Remote areas are untamed and can be very dangerous.  I staked 20 acres in the Indian River area back in 1980 but never built on it.  Had it surveyed and there it sits.  The state won't have to survey it.  Beautiful country about a mile off the Alaska Railroad.  You had best know what you are doing before you go out in the wilderness willy nilly wanting to do the man-alone thing.  I am very glad he survived, thanks to the bush pilots.  Good happens.