You have work at it to avoid water in western Oregon, it is a rain forest after all, and in this article this manlet even talks about snow on the ground for Pete's sake. The stupid ass was literally walking on water. He also made the mistake of staying on a ridge with greater exposure to the elements and where there is likely to be little water and less food than in the valley bottoms.
He went into the woods with fishing gear yet he didn't fish for for food, He had a brain-fart of an idea and made a beanie cap out of his fishing bag: “I took the cover off my fishing creel, used a fillet knife to cut the creel pack and made a headcover” He cut up a good bag holding his vital fishing gear to make a beanie because every douche in Oregon needs a beanie.
We also know from that sentence that this goober also had a knife. How can you starve in western Oregon with a knife and fishing gear? This mental midget could have used the knife to dig in rotten logs for grubs to eat, dug in the dirt for roots and tubers, or, heaven forbid, there are rocks in thos mountains that when hit with the steel of a KNIFE throw sparks to start a fire.
As for getting lost the man has zero orientation skills. Rivers always flow downhill towards civilization. The Sun rises in the east and sets in the west. So does the Moon. These things are obvious if you just sit still and think about them.
I am not even going to elaborate on the fact that he carried a magnifying glass around in his wallet for 40 years and it took him over a week to remember that he had it on him.
“He went into the woods with fishing gear yet he didn’t fish for for food,”
He couldn’t fish, he ate the bait. ( grubs etc) sarc.
No kidding, Oregonians don’t tan, they rust.