Dick Proenneke lived in the wilderness near Twin Lakes, Alaska, for 35 years, until 1999, and retired from it at the age of 82. Mind boggling is an understatement.
Kid gave me this documentary movie several weeks ago and I watched it during one of my business trip. There wasn’t anything good on the air plane and I wanted a break from the book that I was reading. So, why not give it a shot.
This guy built a log cabin with only hand tools and lived there for 35 years by himself. The film documented the first year. In the year prior, he prepared and planned for everything. He lived primarily as a hunter/gather and some simple farming. The first year was spent mostly to build his log cabin and laid out the foundation for the subsequent years.
Most of the time, in addition to admiration for his skills, I was asking why. Is the need to be independent of everything so strong? Or it is about being alone? If he merely wished to prove himself, he could have return to civilization in a couple of years. But 35 years! In the film, he seemed like a content and happy person. Even with the only human contact to be 3 to 4 air deliveries of supplies.
I wondered if this documentary inspired other to pursue the same.