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Back in the seventies, one of these guys wrote a book or allowed a writer to live with him, I do not recall. I do recall it being a fantastic book, it was passed around the barracks. I really enjoyed it. In 79 during the big Midwest snow storm, I was stuck in the St Louis Greyhound Station and there he was. This guy was an engineer I believe, made his own guns, he also spoke at a few universities. He was a man of few words, tried to talk to him, he did not say much. Cannot remember the title of the book, wish I could I liked to get a copy.

here’s one

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Mountain-Men-Harold-Peterson/dp/0960356665/ref=pd_sim_b_3#noop

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=peterson&sts=t&tn=the+last+of+the+mountain+men&x=103&y=22

I have a friend in California - a real Mountain man that homesteads way back in a wilderness area WITH his wife and kids.

A sculptor, using mainly California serpentine, he found a mountainside of it way off the beaten track and just went in and built a really great house - heated with a iron stove made from an ocean buoy - that burns huge logs.

To visit him requires going as far as you can with a 4-wheel drive then hiking 4 hours over mountain trails and streams to a meadow where he picks you up in an 8-wheel drive Italian truck and off you go to again.

They grow their own food, of course. He makes his own carving tools.

With his shoulder length blond hair, his muscled frame resulting from his rugged lifestyle - particularly carving out and hauling great chunks of stone back to his place - he looks like the Hollywood idea of a Mountain Man.

He kept losing his dogs to mountain lions - until he got a Rhodesian Ridgeback. No more problems.

He did, however, become a very successful sculptor - so was no longer financially imperiled. It was rather strange to go to an opening of one of his shows, like in Los Angeles, and see him in that setting - knowing where and how he lived.