Alone in the Wilderness - The Story of Dick Proenneke

[diggler]

http://dickproenneke.com/images/proenekke/DickProennekeCabin.jpg

Anybody get a chance to see this documentary?


In the spring of 1968, Richard Proenneke, 51 set off into the Alaskan wilderness to enjoy his retirement living in a backcountry cabin he crafted by hand. Over the next 35 years he lived here in solitude.

Alone in the Wilderness - The Story of Dick Proenneke (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsfB6oJ55wM)

[Rick]

Do a search, diggler. Some of the members actually knew him and lived in the same area.

[diggler]

Do a search, diggler. Some of the members actually knew him and lived in the same area.

I did and came up EMPTY :confused:

[Rick]

Just do a search on his name. A LOT of threads will come up.

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1199&highlight=Dick+Proenneke

[Aurelius95]

My wife bought me the DVD for Christmas, along with the book. I finally got around to reading it this week, and finished it in 2 days. Man, I admire that guy!

[diggler]

Yeah, its truly INSPIRING !;)

[Mountaintrekker]

I haven't seen the film, but I noticed how familiar the cabin looked... I have the book One Man's Wilderness by Sam Keith written from the journals and photos of Richard Proenneke. GOOD STUFF!

[Sarge47]

I recently did a thread AND a blog on him, but toatally mis-spelled his last name. I'm going to correct that later, however, check out "Penske vs. McCandless" for now.:cool:

[ATough]

No I haven't seen it before. is it worth watching?

[diggler]

Here's the preview on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsfB6oJ55wM

[Ridge Wolf]

No I haven't seen it before. is it worth watching?

The film is boring... Les Stroud's survivorman shows are based on the same method of production... Why? I don't know... The book is a lot better...

[Sourdough]

The film is boring... Les Stroud's survivorman shows are based on the same method of production... Why? I don't know... The book is a lot better...


Well, I gotta vote the other way. I've seen the film about 8 or 10 times, maybe more they play is on the Alaska Information TV station with some regularity. I get a kick out of what he had to do, to set up the camera then walk past it. He never intended it to be a film. It was just clips to show his brother. Anyway I like the film and think it is charming.........I give it 4 smilie faces.........:):):):):):):):):):)......OK 10 smilie faces

[vagrant]

I have seen it and read the book. I loved em both. This was a guy who planned and prepared and did it. He kept a film and notebook journal to let his brother know that he was fine. I got a kick out of the fact that he finally left at 84(?) because the -40 degree winters were starting to take their toll :) . It's on public television here at least 4-5 times a year during fundraising times. I bought the book and video for a friend of mine and still haven't gotten around to buying the set for myself.

[DOGMAN]

I thought the film was boring as well, so I recut and edited it myself, breaking it down into twenty second clips spliced in with "Girls Gone Wild- Alaskan Bush" and put a soundtrack to it featuring Green Day and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Then sped the whole thing up so it is paced like an extreme sports video. I like to watch it while I am driving around in my SUV drinking Red Bull and Vodka. The sound of him hammering is intense as it blasts through my thumping Sub woofers!!!

[Sarge47]

I recently did a thread AND a blog on him, but toatally mis-spelled his last name. I'm going to correct that later, however, check out "Penske vs. McCandless" for now.:cool:

Okay, got it done! Now you can "search" for "Proenneke vs. McCandless" & locate them. Forget the other name!:o

[wareagle69]

an interesting note is that pbs has said that the fundraisng from this story was an all time high across the country, i think people can relate at all levels with what dick did if they are living it or just dreaming it.

[Aurelius95]

I disagree with those who find it boring. Doing the mundane (ok, building a cabin isnt' necessarily mundane) can be exciting if the reasons behind them are interesting. This is a guy who lived alone for 30 years, making his own stuff along the way! I would like to know, what kind of financial resources he had to have supplies brought in regularly? Not much would be needed compared to having a mortgage or living in the burbs or the city. Did he purchase the land he lived on?

[Sourdough]

No, He never even file for a federal homesite, or a federal homestead; either of which he could have had. So he never owned the land. And then when turkeybird Carter made the whole state a park, and created the "Lake Clark National Park" and preserve. Then later the park evicted him, and were going to burn it down. But several people with some juice like former State Gov. Jay Hammond, The Alsworth family, and others went to bat for him. They let him visit in the summer, but they owned it. And after he die then they were going to burn it. But kept it for a temporary work shack. The untold story is really quite ugly.

Dick was not the type to want to own things. And it is hard to understand now, but back then all the land was pretty much free. People would just put up a cabin and leave it unlocked, and figured that they would do the paper work later to file for ownership.

[Sarge47]

Check out this thread:

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/showthread.php?p=32833#post32833

There's more at my Blog site as well as elsewhere in this forum. I suppose I'll have to group all this stuff together into a "sticky" at some point.:eek:

[tunick001]

Awesome video! I wish I could do that. What a beautiful location. Right next to a big lake and the high mountains. I could see why he built that cabin, to be ready for the cold winter coming.

[Sourdough]

I find it odd that no one ever say's.........well, what about the guy who built the cabin that Dick lived in the year befor and the summer he built his cabin, and the canoe he used.

Not taking anything from Dick, but what about the guy who built the cabin just down the lake.....first ?

[Aurelius95]

I find it odd that no one ever say's.........well, what about the guy who built the cabin that Dick lived in the year befor and the summer he built his cabin, and the canoe he used.

Not taking anything from Dick, but what about the guy who built the cabin just down the lake.....first ?

You're absolutely correct, Hopeak. I would love to see Babe's journals, if he had any. Imagine what his days must have been like. Wait, you probably know first hand.