Jordan Jonas, Champion of Alone — The Art of Survival, Lessons from Nomadic Tribes, Hardship as the Path to Peace, How to Handle Rogue Wolverines, and Why Not to Photograph Attacking Bears (#853)

Jordan Jonas (@hobojordo) grew up on a farm in Idaho, rode freight trains across the US, spent time in remote Russian villages, fur trapped and travelled for several years with nomads in Siberia, and won Alone Season 6, after being the first contestant to truly thrive in the wilderness and harvest big game.

He now leads people from all over the world and all walks of life on extraordinary outdoor adventures, facilitating once-in-a-lifetime wilderness expeditions, hunts, family adventures, and team-building events.

He has a wife and three children and focuses on living life to its fullest with them.

Please enjoy!

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Transcripts

• This episode
• All episodes

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

Connect with Jordan Jonas

Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

Products & Gear

• Jordan Jonas Siberian-Style Taiga Axe

• Lake Missoula Tea Company Breakfast Tea
• Ferro Rod Fire-Starting Tool
• Survival Cord Paracord with Integrated Survival Strands
• VPA Two-Blade Broadheads
• Tenkara Fly-Fishing Rod
• SKS Rifle

Experiences & Courses

• Jordan Jonas Wilderness Courses and Guided Trips

Movies & Television

• Alone (I recommend Season 6 [Jordan’s winning season] and Season 7.)
• Rocky IV

Books

• The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

Relevant Resources

• The Power of Pretending: How “Acting As If” Fuels Confidence and Growth | Wellness Counseling
• Mandalada, or the Revolt of Reindeer Herders against the Soviet Government | Gulag Online
• The History of the Gulag | Gulag Online
• Socialization: Tackling Homeschooling’s “S” Word | PBS Kids for Parents
• Insane Horse Wreck | Instagram
• Llamas on the Trail | Instagram
• “Native Christians Massacred”: The Ottoman Genocide of the Assyrians during World War I | Genocide Studies and Prevention
• Moose vs. Bear vs. Man | Instagram
• Alone: The Moose Kill (Season 6) | History
• Alone S6 E7: Night Raider Details: Wolverine! | Jordan Jonas
• Can We Agree That Jordan from Season 6 Is the Best Contestant to Ever Play the Game? | r/Alonetv
• Learning from the Serenity Prayer: Hardship and Peace | Living as Apprentices

Places

• North Idaho
• Siberia, Russia
• Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada
• Sheremetyevo International Airport
• Lake Urmia, Northwestern Iran
• Baghdad, Iraq
• France
• Montana
• Tennessee
• Trans-Siberian Railway

Indigenous Peoples & Cultures

• The Evenki
• Assyrians
• Kalahari Bushmen / San Trackers

Survival Skills & Concepts

• Single-Bevel Axe Grinding
• Feather Sticks / Axe Curls
• Dead Standing Trees
• Gillnetting
• Snaring
• Squirrel Pole
• Bow Drill Fire
• Funneling / Fencing
• Moose Calling
• Trip Wire Alarm System
• Tracking a Wounded Animal
• Fat as the Bottleneck of Survival
• Rabbit Starvation
• Spruce Sap as Wound Treatment
• Elevated Food-Storage Platform
• Offense vs. Defense Mindset

People

• Viktor Frankl
• Janahlee Jonas
• Jesus
• Jack Kornfield
• Jordan’s Grandparents
• Jordan’s Mother
• Dolph Lundgren
• Shawn Ryan
• Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
• Joseph Stalin
• Justus Walker

Animals

• Reindeer vs. Caribou
• Wolverine
• Moose
• Siberian Brown Bear
• Llama
• Sable

TIMESTAMPS

• [00:00:00] Who is Jordan Jonas?
• [00:02:20] The Siberian axe gospel: Single bevel, wide eye, and why your Lowe’s hatchet is basically a butter knife.
• [00:07:16] A Montana downpour baptism.
• [00:08:04] Feather sticks and ferro rods.
• [00:12:36] A gnarly axe-ident, a quest for an abandoned boot, and frontier convalescense in a tipi.
• [00:19:59] First Russian word learned, courtesy of a Moscow airport officer with zero chill.
• [00:21:18] Jordan’s youthful faith crisis and a Trans-Siberian prayer.
• [00:29:16] From building an orphanage to living with the Evenki.
• [00:31:29] Experiencing tug-of-war hospitality between ex-con Siberian families.
• [00:39:34] Reindeer vs caribou.
• [00:45:42] The Gulag Archipelago at 17.
• [00:49:36] The homeschooling advantage: Finishing academics by noon, then deep-diving history for fun.
• [00:53:50] Campfire psychology for gentlemen.
• [00:56:00] Why llamas are more practical than reindeer on Jordan’s expeditions in the northern United States.
• [01:01:37] How Jordan’s grandparents found purpose and built a joyful family after surviving Assyrian genocide.
• [01:11:18] Dad’s 12-year health collapse and facing death with radical joy.
• [01:18:49] Freight train philosophy and evolutionary dopamine alignment.
• [01:30:03] Grandma moose rodeo.
• [01:33:07] Alone Season 6: The “Super Bowl of survival” just south of the Arctic Circle.
• [01:40:38] How Jordan survived 77 days in the woods barely breaking a sweat.
• [01:48:21] Harvesting a moose at day 20 via Russian fence-funneling tactics.
• [01:56:21] Wolverine vs. man with axe, a tin can alarm, and a wife who likes rustic jewelry.
• [02:03:05] The crappy fate of less-than-lucky rabbit feet.
• [02:04:59] Fat as a survival bottleneck, and how to experience the wild with Jordan.
• [02:09:31] Jordan hopes his upcoming book will help readers build reservoirs of resilience before they’re needed.
• [02:12:27] The most overlooked part of the Serenity Prayer: “Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace.”
• [02:14:48] The wilderness as political neutral ground and other parting thoughts.

JORDAN JONAS QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW

“In the forest … the one tool you need is an axe to give yourself a chance at survival.”

— Jordan Jonas

“[What] I learned living in the woods for a while is: you’re home. You’re just already home, wherever you are.”

— Jordan Jonas

“When you’re in the woods by yourself, whining isn’t going to help. There’s nobody else you can blame anything on. You’d literally better solve your problem or you’re screwed.”

— Jordan Jonas

“We’ve all been noticing lately that the political division is ramping up more and more. I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea that so many people I know and love over the years have vastly divergent political opinions, but when you filter each other through politics, you’re really likely to see people as avatars of an ideology rather than as fellow humans. … I think if more people approach their morality on a personal level actively, but also take responsibility for it in their lives, the reality has a way of tempering the extremes and it cuts in every direction.”

— Jordan Jonas

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Want to hear another episode with someone who knows what it takes to survive in the wild? Listen to my most recent conversation with MeatEater host and author Steven Rinella, in which we discussed true wilderness skills and survival, essential gear for any adventure, the psychology of preparedness, how to source water and food in the backcountry, freeze-dried food secrets, and much more.