In 1970, after graduating from Middle Tennessee State University, Jim Ledbetter and his college sweetheart Jackie, packed their VW bus and headed west, ultimately landing in the high, remote wilderness of British Columbia. There, using only hand tools, they built a 15-by-20-foot log cabin where they lived off-the-grid for five years.
Welcome, stranger, to my cabin if this way you chance to pass
Jim would one day return to the United States, marry again, and come to be known as the “old trapper” – in a story that has continued to unfold, high in the Coastal Mountains, over the last fifty years.
The Old Trapper is a special presentation of Tennessee Valley StoryCorps, Get Out Chattanooga, and The PodLab at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. This story was written, produced, and edited by Will Davis and Sunny Montgomery.
A very special thank you to Jim Ledbetter and Katie Larue for sharing their story.