fault I'm here now! ... Man, I can't believe it. ... I really feel like a klutz! Now I know why nobody's shown up from that incident." Afterward, McCunn discovered a small cache of supplies, including rabbit snares and a few bits of candles, while digging a shallow trench to prepare for winter. He also had to travel for firewood, as he wanted to leave the land surrounding his camp the way he found it. A State Trooper who had spoken with McCunn before his trip and helped him mark his campsite on a map stated that he was aware of a hunting cabin located from his campsite. It is unclear why McCunn did not use it when the weather began getting colder. Eventually snow began falling and the lake froze. Game became increasingly scarce, and McCunn set snares for rabbits, but the traps were frequently raided by wolves and foxes. By November, McCunn had run out of food. He considered trying to walk to Fort Yukon, approximately away, but was unable to make the trek due to snow and his weakened condition. A prolonged period of cold weather sapped his energy and motivation, and after developing frostbite in his hands, he lost the dexterity required to set his snares. By Thanksgiving (November 26) he wrote of having dizzy spells and almost constant chills. Death Sometime soon afterward, McCunn decided to end his own life. He used all his remaining fuel supplies to create a warm fire. In his diary, he wrote, "Dear God in Heaven, please forgive me my weakness and my sins. Please look over my family." He wrote a letter to his father instructing him how to develop his film. He also requested that all his personal belongings be given to his father by whoever found him. McCunn even suggested that the person who found him take his rifle and shotgun for their trouble. He then pinned his Alaska driver's license to the note and shot himself with his rifle. Just before his suicide he wrote in his diary: "They say it doesn't hurt." By January 19, McCunn's friends became concerned enough to request the authorities begin a search for him; bad weather kept authorities from flying until January 26, when a state trooper flew over McCunn's campsite, seeing no signs of life with the ambient temperature at . On February 2, 1982, a ski-equipped plane carrying