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16K views 44 replies 36 participants last post by  Rett 
#1 ·
For 30 years, in a remarkable cabin he hand-crafted with simple hand tools, Richard Proenneke lived alone in the Alaskan Bush in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve.

Retired at age 50 in 1967, the story of D!ck Proenneke :rolleyes: left the rush of city life behind and headed into the Alaska wilderness. He wanted to spend a year alone in Alaska. His dream was to build a log cabin at Upper Twin Lakes in the wilderness using only basic hand tools.


http://www.aloneinthewilderness.com/

http://www.aloneinthewilderness.com/building_the_cabin.html



Ladies and gentlemen, this is a must-see for anyone interested in primitive survival.
 
#2 ·
Yup, it's a must see movie, must have for the book. Very inspiring.
A point I always like to make is that Proenneke had year of esperience building things, and took lots of tools with him into the bush, but only one rifle. So many gather armories of guns and ammo, but few if any tools and little or no skill using them. I don't think they'll do as well as Proenneke did.
 
#8 ·
Killer read the book is. Never saw the film..... yet. Thinking of getting the whole package for me...... oops I mean my kids this Christmas.

The depressing part of all this is that those are days gone by never to be seen again. There is no place you can do that today in the US. Gov has made sure you are and will always be a slave to society to a certain degree.
 
#10 ·
Sort of makes you wonder who helped him haul those twenty footers in the pile? He was a pure stud if he was dragging green spruce more than 300 yds through those mountains to his log pile all alone. Even those 14 footers had to weigh several hundred pounds easy.

I wish this movie was available on Netflix.

Guess I am going to have to cough-up $25.00 bucks and order a copy.

Sure looks like he lived my dream. I mean to a tee.
 
#11 ·
Watching this video makes me long for cool summer evenings next to an open camp fire eating fresh fish & fixins

I can truely say that i, too, aspire to be like Richard Proenneke if it were possible in reality for me. He gets the utmost respect from me.


The timber logs used in the cabin were cut the season before and placed in an upright position (IIRC) drying them out, allowing for easier mobility for one person.

The guy was a master craftsman and woodworker. I highly doubt i could build a door hinge whittled from Spruce.. LoL
 
#15 ·
**** Proenneke was the @#$%! I'd give my eye tooth to go back in time and just watch him build his cabin. His cabin is still there to look at and stay in, if i'm not mistaken. I would love to go check it out and stay there a night or 2.
If I'm not mistaken, he was a diesel mechanic by trade and had an accident or something that eventually helped him in his decision to move to Alaska. I build houses for a living and this man puts a lot of people to shame! Gotta respect them "ol tymers", they don't build em like they used too!
 
#19 ·
I've watched it and passed the link on to several people.

It would be neat to summarize his skill set to see what we need to learn to make it.
Log cabin building
Making tools
Making a fire place
Making furniture
Wooden lock making (I thought that was pretty cool)
Trapping
Gardening
Hunting
Fishing

There are more, I am sure. One thing that is a part of his life that doesn't make it totally self sustaining is that he receives supplies about twice a year.

Wonder if you could do completely without outside help?
 
#24 ·
Im reading his second book now [HIS JORNALS starting in 1974. I have both of his movies . I dont see why some people on here make a big deal out of him getting supplies flown in. He never once said that he didnt have outside help once in awhile he paid for the supplies. There is allways some one that has to find fault in everything.
 
#26 ·
He was panning for gold when it was worth $35/oz and said he actually spent a total of $40 to build the cabin windows incl. I especially loved the part where he built the dutch front door complete with locking latch by hand out of the local wood.
It's a shame to have read the books and not seen his filmography which he filmed all by himself. He was not only an outdoorsman but quite the picture taker.
 
#29 ·
This is not a survival in the wilderness film. Yes he had a garden and hunted, but everything else was flown in. I don't say this to take anything away from Mr. Proenneke, he is the real deal. IMHO he would be the first to tell you that without the supplies flown in he could not of stayed there year round.
 
#30 ·
I met **** in the early 90's. My father and I flew in and were hunting not to far from his cabin. He truly was a great guy, He'd sit and talk with you for a bit then get back to work. Always had work to do. His cabin is still there but you can not rent it! Its being treated as a museum. Your welcome to visit it, if you have the means to make it there.
 
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