u/ppsstt

I've been trying to remember this books for a while. It's similar to Hatchet by Gary Paulsen imo. I remember three main things and one side thing about it.

The boy has to wait till the river thaws in spring to go back to civilization, there is a part where it talks about how clear cutting trees ruined the mountainside, and he meets a big man in a cabin who then dies and he has to bury him.

There was also a big barrel of "plugs" of jerky.