DeKalb, Cherokee Counties featured on Man vs. Wild
2009 August 17
Fellow Alabamians, set your TiVos for the Discovery channel on Wednesday night to see an episode of Man vs. Wild filmed in DeKalb and Cherokee Counties. No, Bear isn’t braving the wildlife at the local Wal-Mart and Sonic drive in. While “Alabama the Beautiful” may not be well known as a particularly dangerous locale for outdoor thrill seekers this episode is filmed in one of my favorite getaways: Little River Canyon.
As I highlighted a couple of years ago, the show is staged to some extent. But it is still entertaining and will be fun to see Bear negotiating the Alabama backwoods.
I wonder how many Alabamians were startled to tune in to this after much local media hyping only to see a naked man dancing around and doing push-ups by the river! Call the FCC!
I will never take Bear’s advice again! His adventure to the Alabama Wilds has left me with considerable doubts as to the wisdom of relying on his survival skill tips. First, he left a perfectly good road out of the area to plunge into the bottom of the canyon via a tree. Second, he informs us that he is heading down stream only to emerge from the wild and grab a ride on a truck miles upstream from where he started. I don’t think he knows at all where he’s going. Along the way, he warns us to watch out for poisonous snakes in freezing February, alligators in North Alabama, eats a cricket the morning after consuming an entire hog the evening before and then finishes with a dessert of deer droppings.
Intertwined into his dietary antics is a trip into a cave in search of water while standing beside the purest river in the world and a pointless river crossing only to have to extricate himself from a forest fire.
It would have been a lot easier if he would have just walked down the road to Little River Canyon Mouth Park.
Did Bear jump the shark?
Some viewers were upset when it was revealed that Bear ’staged’ his survival shows, and this show was clearly staged as well. The show shows off Bear’s climbing skills (trees and rocks), which don’t help most people. I didn’t really appreciate the skinny dipping and nude push ups – TMA (too much ass). The wigwam was cool, so was the snare, and so was the raft. I’m not eating crickets or deer poo.
Killing the tied up feral pig was kind of gross, but you can shoot feral pigs on sight in Alabama (because of the damage they inflict on the environment and agriculture) – it’s open season all the time (IIRC).
Exploring the cave didn’t seem like a good survival tip, but the tips on surviving the cave were good. Same thing with the controlled burn / wildfire – good tips if you’re faced with a fire, however chances of facing a wildfire in Alabama are slim. Jumping on the logging truck was just dangerous.
The alligator references seemed out of place, just because I wasn’t aware of gators at Little River Canyon – we do have them at Wheeler – because some bio-engineer with a God complex thought they would eat the beavers and die – they didn’t. That illustrates an unintended consequence of tinkering with the environment – the solution may be worse than the problem (see also – global warming).
I do appreciate that Bear featured a beautiful part of our beautiful State.