Eustace Conway on TV

[rickb]

Saw a promo plugging his participation on a history Channel show-- Mountain Men, or something like that.

Anyone see it?

[bwburgin1015]

Watched it last week. Really neat show. Second week airs tonight at 10 but I'm sure the first one will be on at 9.

[rocketsocks]

Saw a promo plugging his participation on a history Channel show-- Mountain Men, or something like that.

Anyone see it?

Yep,I've seen it Rick,it's good if you like that stuff,I do.Lots of history about the early trappers like Jim Bridger who's name is also the name of a famous trap called,what else "The Bridger Trap",beaver trade,Hudson bay Co,Trapping west of the Missouri,the upper mid West,and the rockies.It's a great show about early American history that couldn't,and shouldn't be denied.Thanks for the heads up Rick,I'll watch it again.

[rocketsocks]

Yep,I've seen it Rick,it's good if you like that stuff,I do.Lots of history about the early trappers like Jim Bridger who's name is also the name of a famous trap called,what else "The Bridger Trap",beaver trade,Hudson bay Co,Trapping west of the Missouri,the upper mid West,and the rockies.It's a great show about early American history that couldn't,and shouldn't be denied.Thanks for the heads up Rick,I'll watch it again.

And I just checked it out on The History Channel,and No,it's not the same as I've described above,but if you catch that one It's a 2 hour Documentery,that is as good as described above.The show New Mountain Men on The History Channel I have never seen (sounds like a TV reality show)and will check it out also,thanks for the heads up.One of these days I can see a group of kids brought together from all different back grounds to hike the AT and all of them wearing trail cams,and turn it into a TV Reality show,just a matter of time.....

[rickb]

Found two episodes on itunes. I thought the were OK.

I was very interested in seen Eustace Conway after reading a bit about his 1981 sobo hike-- which has to be one of th emost remarkable ever. He certainly defines the idea if hiking your own hike-- on the trail and, more importantly, in life.

[Tipi Walter]

I first met Eustace on the campus of Appalachian State University in the 1980's when I was homeless and living out of a pack. I was resting by the school cafeteria when I see a guy with a big orange backpack walk up and we say our hellos. We used to dumpster dive for food and I would often meet him at a dumpster when he had a little dirt bike with a plastic milk crate on the back to haul out food to his tipi on Howard's Creek road.

I once hiked over Howard's Knob to his tipi with a couple of his friends looking for him and I set up my tent nearby and can tell you how the inside of his lodge was arranged. Some miscreant loggers came in and cut roads and logged all around his tipi so he eventually bought up a bunch of land near Deep Gap NC and set up his world there. I visit his thousand acre spread and hang out in one of his tipis as below. This would be around 1993.


Here I am in a tipi on Eustace's Turtle Island preserve.

I haven't seen the TV show but I hear he's complaining about more evil loggers eating up the mountains around his land.

[rickb]

I visit his thousand acre spread and hang out in one of his tipis as below. This would be around 1993.

Good shot Tipi Walter.

The shows are on line, and you can get a full screen verison of the first episode for free on itunes. What they showed was good, but the episodes "star" three different mountain men and the focus on Eustace Conway does not' show as much on the many thing he has going on at his Turtle Island Preserve as I would have liked to see.

Mr. Conway opens his mailbox to find an IRS lein and the solution is to go out an cut some wood to sell. Good TV, but simplistic story telling. I am thinking this here is an induvidual that could provide great drama if the producers woudll just turn on the cameras and get out of the way.

In the book "The Last American Man" Conway creditted a porqupine for the sucess of his thru hike. How many can say that? The reasons should be obvious-- if not, best to buy the book. As for the dumpster diving, I can't say I am sorry never to have had the experience. Exept to the extent that I might have met you and Mr. Conway in one. That would have been a story to cherish.

[rhjanes]

I've caught a few. Simplistic "made up" plots, just like all "reality" TV. He's got some kid who doesn't like to do anything. OK. After about the fourth time the kid walks off, well, he'd not WALK back if it was me. The guy out in Alaska seems pretty well self sufficient. Fixing his snow mobil at 20 below, is a bush pilot. The guy up in Montana is interesting. Has built up most of the comforts of home. He DID go beaver trapping at his neighbors request so they didn't "get beaver fever from the pond"......

[Tenderheart]

Eustice Conway is the real deal. He owns a 1000 acre tract near Boone called Turtle Island. He has thru hiked the AT by the way. My wife spent a week on his spread learning his ways and customs. Incidentally, he lived in that teepee for 17 years.

[Tennessee Viking]

The show is mostly fabricated on Eustace's storyline from what my relatives in Wilkes Co. say.

SPOILER ALERT: Supposedly the show had him riding into Wilksboro on a horse and wagon just to get a burger.

I first met Eustace on the campus of Appalachian State University in the 1980's when I was homeless and living out of a pack. I was resting by the school cafeteria when I see a guy with a big orange backpack walk up and we say our hellos. We used to dumpster dive for food and I would often meet him at a dumpster when he had a little dirt bike with a plastic milk crate on the back to haul out food to his tipi on Howard's Creek road.

I once hiked over Howard's Knob to his tipi with a couple of his friends looking for him and I set up my tent nearby and can tell you how the inside of his lodge was arranged. Some miscreant loggers came in and cut roads and logged all around his tipi so he eventually bought up a bunch of land near Deep Gap NC and set up his world there. I visit his thousand acre spread and hang out in one of his tipis as below. This would be around 1993.


Here I am in a tipi on Eustace's Turtle Island preserve.

I haven't seen the TV show but I hear he's complaining about more evil loggers eating up the mountains around his land.

Did you run into any Moretz's up on Howards Creek? My wife's grandparents.

[Majortrauma]

I thoroughly enjoyed Conways' book, Last American Man and recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in this type of thing.
Was that the dead porcupine and him finding water when he as just about that the end of his rope?

[coach lou]

I first met Eustace on the campus of Appalachian State University in the 1980's when I was homeless and living out of a pack. I was resting by the school cafeteria when I see a guy with a big orange backpack walk up and we say our hellos. We used to dumpster dive for food and I would often meet him at a dumpster when he had a little dirt bike with a plastic milk crate on the back to haul out food to his tipi on Howard's Creek road.

I once hiked over Howard's Knob to his tipi with a couple of his friends looking for him and I set up my tent nearby and can tell you how the inside of his lodge was arranged. Some miscreant loggers came in and cut roads and logged all around his tipi so he eventually bought up a bunch of land near Deep Gap NC and set up his world there. I visit his thousand acre spread and hang out in one of his tipis as below. This would be around 1993.


Here I am in a tipi on Eustace's Turtle Island preserve.

I haven't seen the TV show but I hear he's complaining about more evil loggers eating up the mountains around his land.

Tipi, how many points is that ultra lite Hudson Bay Blanket?!