Hidden Trail
Jim Kjelgaard
Theme One: Overcoming Adversity
A wildlife photographer and his trusted furry companion head out into the wilderness to document an elk migration, but more importantly to find out why 3,000 elk go missing from the winter migration until the late spring months. Jase, a wildlife photographer and avid outdoorsman, gets called to do this mission from the DNR. Knowing his skills in the woods and also behind the camera makes him the perfect fit for the job. What he doesn't realize is that he will come face to face with blizzards, wolves, poachers, savage indians, and a few other near death expirences. Using his vast knowledge of nature, he can overcome these obstacles, and get away with at most suffering minor injuries.
Jase's first obstacle is a pack of wolves that are following the herd of elk, and also are following him. With a few close calls he soon realized that they were more scared of him, than he thought. He next runs into a group of indians who are illegally hunting elk inside a national park. He puts his life at risk to film the actions of these poachers.
Theme Two: Perseverance
Jase had many times where it would have been the easiest choice to just quit and go back. He chose to press onward, and in the end, capturing the migration on film and also finding the lost elk. When captured by the poachers, he was knocked out and that caused him to be slow on his feet. He still managed to escape and fool the poachers into making them think that he broke through the ice of the river. While trying to make it back to the safety of the city of Taborville, he severally sprained his ankle. He pushed on as much as he could, which proved vital to his survival, as he was found by a man he had previously met up with. Without this perseverance, he would have not made it out alive.
How the themes relate:
Without his will to survive, he would have not made it out alive in many of the situations that he found himself in. It was his desire to live and to get the truth out about the elk that helped him along through his troubles.