Alone in the wilderness. Life of Richard Proenneke

[Acristickid]

Now technically it's not really a fly fishing video but he does fly fish in the video.

Its about a man (Richard Proenneke) who ventures into the wilderness by himself and builds his own cabin in Alaska in 1967. I thought it an excellent video. He musta been a carpenter because he makes building the cabin and furniture look very easy. The hinges he makes for the doors was very impressive.

He plants a garden, hunts for meat and fishes. It was so impressive the way he carved a new life into the wilderness. He made living there look very comfortable.

He used the most basic tools , it was amazing. It's about an hour long dvd of his own movies.

Richard moved there in 1967 and stayed in the cabin for decades and passed away just a few years ago. Probably get lonely but looks like he had a great life.

Anyone interested in woodworking, cabin building , or wilderness experience , I think would find a video very enjoyable. It has that old time feel to it.

 

[afishinado]

^ great story. I've seen the program on PBS several times.

Note: Proenneke never wore a watch...

 

[JackM]

Wearing no watch is like wearing a stopped watch-- it is correct twice each day. I set my broken watches to high noon. Henry David Thoreau did something similar at Walden, written over 150 years ago. No video available.

 

[salmonoid]

I would love to have access to all the film footage Proenneke shot while he was there. It was on behalf of the NPS, I believe, so the government must have it somewhere. Maybe we could request it under FOIA?

While somewhat more mundane than the edited version of his journals, an expanded work of Dick's journals is available online.

http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/lacl/proenneke.pdf

Proenneke did not necessarily care for how Sam Keith edited the portion of his journal published in 1973, thinking he paraphrased his original writing too much.

Print versions of the journals:

One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey, by Sam Keith from the journals and photographs of Richard Proenneke. Anchorage: Alaska Northwest Books, 1999, originally published 1973.

More Readings from One Man's Wilderness: the Journals of Richard L. Proeneke, 1974-1980, John Branson, editor. Lake Clark, AK: National Park Service, 2006.

Videos:

Alone in the Wilderness (2003)

Alaska Silence and Solitude (2004)

The Frozen North (2006)

 

[BruceC2C]

Richard Proenneke
A Man's Man
A Renaissance Man
Kin to Jerimiah Johnson
THE MAN!!!

You will b glad you took the time to seek out this video.
I discovered by accident a few years ago...
Amazing, unique, inspiring and impressive.