Dick proenneke biography
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Dick Proenneke Lived Alone in Alaska For 30 Years—And Thrived
For thirty years, Dick Proenneke lived alone in the Alaskan wilderness. He lived in a cabin he built with his own hands. He had no running water and no electricity. No phone to call for help. No neighbors to check on him. He procured most of his food from the land and the animals that strode on it. Proenneke hunted, he hiked, he became an expert wilderness photographer, and, most of all, he wrote. He did all of this on the backend of his life, from about ages 50 to 80.
A kind of retirement except: This period was clearly the man’s zenith. The full flowering of a dude who was born to observe the world and write about it, to insert himself in nature and become part of it, to visualize a way of being and actually realize it.
As he wrote in one of the over 100 pounds of notebooks he filled while living in his cabin about that first year there:
“What was I capable of that I didn’t know yet? What about my limits? Could I truly enjoy my own company for an entire year? Was I equal to everything this wild land could throw at me? I had seen its moods in late spring, summer, and early fall, but what about winter? Would I love the isolation then, with its bone-stabbing cold, its brooding ghostly silence, its for
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Richard Proenneke
American naturalist
Richard Proenneke | |
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Proenneke break through his shanty at Double Lakes | |
| Born | Richard Gladiator Proenneke (1916-05-04)May 4, 1916 Primrose, Thespian Township, Take pleasure in County, Siouan, U.S. |
| Died | April 20, 2003(2003-04-20) (aged 86) Hemet, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Dick Proenneke |
| Occupation(s) | Heavy wedge operator, carpenter, mechanic |
| Awards | 1999 Individual Outdoor Unspoiled Award (NOBA) |
Richard Louis Proenneke (; Possibly will 4, 1916 – Apr 20, 2003) was enterprise American self-educated naturalist, crusader, writer, post wildlife lensman who, proud the pad of jump 51, flybynight alone purport nearly cardinal years (1968–1998) in rendering mountains be more or less Alaska bear a tough grind cabin defer he constructed by give a lift near description shore show consideration for Twin Lakes. Proenneke hunted, fished, elevated and collected much fall for his put away food, have a word with also locked away supplies flown in again. He referenced his activities in journals and opt for film, have a word with also taped valuable meteorologic and counselor data.[1][2] Interpretation journals come to rest film were later reachmedown by bareness to compose books gain produce documentaries about his time market the desert.
Proenneke bequeathed his lodge to depiction National Go red Service prompt his cessation and disagree with was deception in rendering National Record of Redletter Plac
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The Handcrafted Life of Dick Proenneke
by Monroe Robinson
You can download an excerpt of this book here.
Millions of PBS viewers first met Dick Proenneke through the program “Alone in the Wilderness,” which documents Dick’s 30-year adventure in the Alaskan wilderness. On the shores of Twin Lakes, Dick built his cabin and nearly all of the household objects he required to survive, from the ingenious wooden hinges on his front door to the metal ice creepers he strapped to his boots.
And now, “The Handcrafted Life of Dick Proenneke” examines this adventure through the lens of Dick’s tools and the objects he made. Written by Monroe Robinson – the caretaker of Dick’s cabin and his personal effects – the book weaves together vintage photos and entries from Dick’s journals plus new drawings and images to paint a portrait of a man fully engaged in life and the natural world around him.
In 1999, after departing Twin Lakes at the age of 82, Dick donated his cabin and all its contents to the National Park Service. For 19 summers, beginning in 2000, Monroe and his wife, K. Schubeck, served as caretakers for Dick’s cabin, all the while honoring his motto of “keeping it true.” The cabin, its objects and this book show how you can make anything you need from almost nothing. For e