Winds of Skilak: A Tale of True Grit, True Love and Survival in the Alaskan Wilderness

I started reading this book and read several chapters in a short time. The chapters are short. I thought Alaska was like Northern Exposure. Everybody eats in a bar. Bonnie's descriptions were so different, I lost all desire to ever live in Alaska. I do not have what it takes. I already knew that plane crashes and drowning were two ways a lot of people in Alaska die. But I now realize just what an incredibly dangerous place Alaska is. It's the type of place where you can be absolutely fine one minute and dead the next. I think it's remarkable that they survived considering how many don't. You get the impression she didn't know anything before she left. She read some books and the rest of it she learned out of necessity. I could see a seasoned mountain man making it but Bonnie in particular. Another thing I realized is that when you live 150 miles from the store you probably wind up eating a lot of moose. I can't imagine skinning animals. I hid in the bathroom when my class dissected a frog in high school. I realized everybody in Alaska is probably like Bonnie, hunts, cans etc. I'm sure they're doing great in WV. One thing that kind of put me off about this book is Bonnie's subservience to her husband. As she describes herself, she is his helpmate. It's all about her husband Sam. He makes the decisions and she does what she's told. But she obviously is happy so . . .more power to them. I'm glad I read this book because I didn't know. Now I realize that Alaskans think different than I do and I would not be happy up there. It's still nice to read other people's adventures though.

In this day and age of omnipresent cell phones and electronics, is it not the quintessential dream to quit one’s day job to seek the peace and quiet of the last frontier and live off the land?It wasn’t necessarily Bonnie Rose Ward’s dream, but her husband Sam's to move to Alaska for a pure existence. However, her deep love and admiration for her mate led her to check out library books on how to live in the wilderness and finally make the difficult decision to leave their home in Ohio for a tiny island on Skilak Lake on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska.In her beautifully written memoir, “Winds of Skilak: A Tale of True Grit, True Love and Survival in the Alaskan Wilderness,” Bonnie invites us into a routine that began in 1980 when she was 25 and Sam, 36. It's an engaging and inspiring story ripe for anyone who has merely dreamed of a new life or for those similarly courageous enough to take the leap to remote living.Through Bonnie's intimate excerpts, we learn how the couple, and their friend Bob who tags along, lived on Caribou Island in self-built cabins without running water, electricity or a phone. They deal with isolation and sub-freezing temperatures along with making new wildlife friends like a milk goat named Esther. Bonnie steps out of her comfort zone and learns how to shoot a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum.If you are wondering what a grocery list would look like for such an adventure, you’re not alone. The following passage is labeled a ‘Popular Highlight’ in the Kindle edition:“We bought what we figured to be a year’s supply of dry goods,” Bonnie writes. “These staples included two hundred pounds of flour, a hundred-pound burlap bag of pinto beans, fifty pounds of sugar, thirty pounds of cornmeal, fifty pounds of rice, twenty pounds of noodles, several gallons of cooking oil, honey, powdered milk, salt, pepper, spices, baking powder, yeast, tea, several cases of three-pound cans of coffee, and powdered creamer. Anything else we needed must come from the land—must be what we could hunt, fish or grow.”In one episode amid their remote homestead, we learn what most likely influenced the book’s title of “true grit” and “true love,” both of which were prerequisites for the trio to survive the ensuing frost. A devastating logging accident puts Sam in the hospital and sidelines him as he accepts a painful recuperation. Meantime, the misfortune tests Bonnie's faith in God (and in Sam), as she tells us with heartbreaking honesty:“A brisk cold wind greeted us as we stepped out of the doctor’s office that day— a stark reminder that summers are short in Alaska,” she writes. “We had forty dollars left. It was all the money we had in the world, with nothing else coming. It couldn’t get worse. We were broke and living in a pup tent with winter on the way.”Fortunately, with the determination that got them out there in the first place, the couple sees the sun shine again. Through astute observations and crisp writing, Bonnie takes us on their 15-year wilderness journey treating us along the way to the Alaskan landscapes:“After that first day, the clouds vanished from the mountains, and all remnants of foul weather fled from a sun-drenched sky. Skilak Lake calmed and grew at peace with itself. I stood at the water’s edge struck by the pristine beauty all around me. The color of the lake changed like a giant mood ring from a milky green to a brilliant peacock blue.”According to Bonnie’s website, which she maintains to promote the book, the couple has since moved to West Virginia to live a self-sufficient lifestyle on a farm where they enjoy raising goats and chickens and gardening and canning vegetables. Despite their exodus to the lower 48 to live closer to family and friends, Skilak Lake will always be in their hearts as it “has left its imprint deep within us and no matter where we go or what we do, neither time nor distance will ever change that.”

I'm on the fence with this one. The author's narrative of the landscape, wildlife, and the people they encounter allowed me, the reader, to experience a part of their Alaska adventure--as if I were standing on the shores of Skilak lake myself at times. However, I tired quickly of the repetitive mention of their coffee breaks and dinners of canned meat, but far worse than too many cups of coffee was the way the author portrayed her husband, Sam. If this guy is actually like the person she describes in the book than he is nothing short of a chauvinistic, hot-headed, self-serving man and she is one of those women we see on The Dr. Phil Show who blindly stands by their husbands no matter what. For example, did Sam really quit his job and sell their house to move to Alaska without first discussing this with her? According to Bonnie Ward's "happy" portrayal, this man makes every decision with no regard to her opinion, which was infuriating, at best, and why I have a hard time saying this book was worth my time to read.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, right from page one. It is so well written giving you the sensation of being there with Bonnie and Sam as they carve their new life in the wilderness. Their guts, tenacity and determination, plus their faith and love for each other shine through whilst creating a new home from scratch and overcoming many formidable challenges and enduring all weathers in a harsh environment which is also clearly very beautiful. I was sorry when I came to the end of the book and can't recommend it enough if you want a brilliant read.

i like this book because it tell the story of people living on a island on a lake in Alaska, it is a way of life to someone

An excellent tale. Thoroughly enjoyed the book as it was very well written.

They were very resourceful and young so made it into a cabin and then a house in due course

It's a fascinating story of love and determination; I just wished the author had researched what skills and resources he'd need before he arrived, but he's honest about his shortcomings!