Who Is Timber Cleghorn from Alone Season 11? What Happened

Spoiler note: this covers Timber Cleghorn's run on Alone season 11.

Timber Cleghorn was 35 years old and living in Salem, Indiana when he was cast on Alone season 11, subtitled "Arctic Circle." That season dropped its cast along the Mackenzie River Delta, roughly 125 miles north of the Arctic Circle near Inuvik in Canada's Northwest Territories, competing for a $500,000 prize. Cleghorn is a survivalist and humanitarian aid worker, and he ended up turning in one of the longest runs in the show's history.

How his run went

Cleghorn placed second, lasting 83 days before voluntarily withdrawing. He told production he had achieved his personal goals and made peace with not winning outright. Winner William Larkham Jr. lasted one additional day, 84, to take the season. Over those nearly three months, Cleghorn built a log-and-moss A-frame shelter, caught more than 50 fish, and took down a bull moose with a single arrow, at the time the largest animal killed on the show. That kind of outcome, second place by a single day after 83 days alone, is one of the closest finishes in the franchise. Full details on both runs are on his contestant page and the season 11 hub.

His gear

Season 11 has a fully sourced gear list for Cleghorn. Here is what he carried:

Category	Item
Cutting	Axe, Saw, Multitool
Fire	Ferro rod
Hunting/fishing	Bow and arrows, Snare wire, Fishing line and hooks
Camp	Sleeping bag, 2-quart pot, Paracord

That bow-and-arrow entry did the heaviest lifting of his run, given the moose. It's worth comparing his kit against other long-haul contestants on our best axe roundup, built from verified gear across the show's history.

Life after the show

Cleghorn published a memoir, "Memoir of a Wildman," in October 2024, a little over a year after filming wrapped. The book goes day by day through his 83 days on the Mackenzie River Delta and also traces his backstory, including years of humanitarian aid work overseas before he ever applied for the show. He has since done a run of podcast and long-form interview appearances discussing how the isolation reframed his sense of fatherhood and faith, and as of mid-2026 he continues to be active in the survival and bushcraft community, talking through both the show and his broader life story with audiences who found him through Alone.

That mix of pre-show résumé and post-show output is part of why his season stands out from a lot of near-miss finishes. Plenty of runner-ups fade from view once the season airs. Cleghorn instead used the platform to put out a full account of the experience in his own words rather than leaving the story to recap articles and forum threads, which is a fairly rare move even among contestants who make it deep into a season.

Unlike contestants who tap out from hunger, injury, or homesickness, Cleghorn's exit was framed entirely on his own terms; he had already hit the goals he set for himself before the season started. That distinction matters to how his story gets told afterward. He isn't remembered as someone who lost to the Arctic. He's remembered as someone who decided he'd proven what he came to prove.

If you want to see how his loadout and strategy compare to other runner-up finishes across the show, our winners page rounds up every season champion for context, and the FAQ covers how placement and prize money work when a contestant withdraws voluntarily rather than getting pulled for medical reasons.