Beo
12-13-2007, 10:57 AM
Has anyone ever seen the series on Richard Proenneke called "Alone in the Wilderness" and "One Man's Wilderness", he built a cabin in the Alaskan wilderness and stayed to become part of the country. Dick Proenneke started his adventure to Alaska by driving his camper north. In a Nebraska town he bought a felt-tipped marker and on the back of his camper printed in big letters, "DESTINATION—BACK AND BEYOND." On May 21, 1968, Proenneke arrived at his new place of retirement at Twin Lakes. Before arriving at the lakes, he made arrangements to use a cabin on the upper lake of Twin Lakes owned by a retired Navy captain, Spike Carrithers, and his wife Hope from Kodiak, (in whose care he had left his camper). This cabin was well situated on the lake and close to the site which Proenneke chose for the construction of his own cabin.
Proenneke spent May, June, and July of 1968 building his cabin by hand and with nothing but hand tools. The cabin was complete with windows, one of which was designed and built of PET film by Proenneke himself to face the lake and not fog up. He also built furniture including chairs, tables, a desk, and a bunk; a log cache built up on poles to store food and goods that needed to be kept away from wildlife; a stone and mortar fireplace; and many decorations such as a plaster of paris wolf track and moose and caribou antler decorations. Proenneke's bush pilot friend, Babe Alsworth, returned occasionally to bring food and orders that Proenneke placed through him to Sears. While Proenneke lived largely off the land, he enjoyed things like red beans, bacon, and seasonings, all of which he proclaimed to be life's real luxuries. Several times during his life at Twin Lakes, Proenneke was attacked by brown bears. He also became quite adept at taming animals, befriending many squirrels (all of which he named "Freddy"), a weasel, many birds, and (almost) a wolverine. Proenneke remained at Twin Lakes for the next 16 months, when he left to go home for a spell to visit relatives and secure more supplies. He returned to the lakes in the following spring and remained there for most of the next 30 years, coming to the lower 48 only occasionally to be with his family, for whom he cared a great deal. As is common among Alaskans, Proenneke was always searching for gold; as evinced by the pan attached to his backpack and cabin in pictures of the same. He did indeed find some gold—see his second set of journals—however, he never found the mother lode he was searching for. His "gold" was his environmental reputation and attractive lifestyle.
This man is one of my hero's, and anyone thinking about living off the grid should watch this documentary, he shows how he built everything by hand and he recorded it all himself on old 35mm film which has now been cleaned up and sells on DVD or VHS, he's a true survivalist. I spent six hours watching this documentary and loved every minute of it. It has a ton of expert knowledge.Here's a link to his documentary and book.
http://www.dickproenneke.com/
Proenneke spent May, June, and July of 1968 building his cabin by hand and with nothing but hand tools. The cabin was complete with windows, one of which was designed and built of PET film by Proenneke himself to face the lake and not fog up. He also built furniture including chairs, tables, a desk, and a bunk; a log cache built up on poles to store food and goods that needed to be kept away from wildlife; a stone and mortar fireplace; and many decorations such as a plaster of paris wolf track and moose and caribou antler decorations. Proenneke's bush pilot friend, Babe Alsworth, returned occasionally to bring food and orders that Proenneke placed through him to Sears. While Proenneke lived largely off the land, he enjoyed things like red beans, bacon, and seasonings, all of which he proclaimed to be life's real luxuries. Several times during his life at Twin Lakes, Proenneke was attacked by brown bears. He also became quite adept at taming animals, befriending many squirrels (all of which he named "Freddy"), a weasel, many birds, and (almost) a wolverine. Proenneke remained at Twin Lakes for the next 16 months, when he left to go home for a spell to visit relatives and secure more supplies. He returned to the lakes in the following spring and remained there for most of the next 30 years, coming to the lower 48 only occasionally to be with his family, for whom he cared a great deal. As is common among Alaskans, Proenneke was always searching for gold; as evinced by the pan attached to his backpack and cabin in pictures of the same. He did indeed find some gold—see his second set of journals—however, he never found the mother lode he was searching for. His "gold" was his environmental reputation and attractive lifestyle.
This man is one of my hero's, and anyone thinking about living off the grid should watch this documentary, he shows how he built everything by hand and he recorded it all himself on old 35mm film which has now been cleaned up and sells on DVD or VHS, he's a true survivalist. I spent six hours watching this documentary and loved every minute of it. It has a ton of expert knowledge.Here's a link to his documentary and book.
http://www.dickproenneke.com/