Sam's immediate companion is Gus, his pet raccoon, which lives with him in the city. He gathers supplies at a local store, hops on a bus, and heads down the 401 with Gus to what he calls "the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec". In actuality he ends up in the picturesque town of Knowlton, Quebec, southeast of Montreal, in the Notre Dame Mountains Range of the northern Appalachian Mountains chain along the eastern coast of North America from northern Georgia. Here he finds the perfect mountain stream and pond location to build a home in an old dead tree. He begins his long-planned algae experiments and proves his ability as a solitary young Thoreau living off the land and communing fully with nature.