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One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey
Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award.
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of when Dick Proenneke first broke ground and made his mark in the Alaskan wilds in 1968, this bestselling memoir features an all-new foreword by Nick Offerman plus color photographs not seen in print for over 20 years.
To live in a pristine land unchanged by man...to roam a wilderness through which few other humans have passed...to choose an idyllic site, cut trees, and build a log cabin...to be a self-sufficient craftsman, making what is needed from materials available...to be not at odds with the world, but content with one's own thoughts and company...
Thousands have had such dreams, but Dick Proenneke lived them. He found a place, built a cabin, and stayed to become part of the country. One Man's Wilderness is a simple account of the day-to-day explorations and activities he carried out alone, and the constant chain of nature's events that kept him company. From Dick's journals, and with firsthand knowledge of his subject and the setting, Sam Keith has woven a tribute to a man who carved his masterpiece out of the beyond.
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of when Dick Proenneke first broke ground and made his mark in the Alaskan wilds in 1968, this bestselling memoir features an all-new foreword by Nick Offerman plus color photographs not seen in print for over 20 years.
To live in a pristine land unchanged by man...to roam a wilderness through which few other humans have passed...to choose an idyllic site, cut trees, and build a log cabin...to be a self-sufficient craftsman, making what is needed from materials available...to be not at odds with the world, but content with one's own thoughts and company...
Thousands have had such dreams, but Dick Proenneke lived them. He found a place, built a cabin, and stayed to become part of the country. One Man's Wilderness is a simple account of the day-to-day explorations and activities he carried out alone, and the constant chain of nature's events that kept him company. From Dick's journals, and with firsthand knowledge of his subject and the setting, Sam Keith has woven a tribute to a man who carved his masterpiece out of the beyond.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1973
672 people are currently reading
16053 people want to read
About the author
Sam Kieth
409 books269 followersKieth first came to prominence in 1984 as the inker of Matt Wagner's Mage, his brushwork adding fluidity and texture to the broad strokes of Wagner's early work at Comico Comics. In 1989, he drew the first five issues of writer Neil Gaiman's celebrated series The Sandman, but felt his style was unsuited to the book (specifically saying that he "felt like Jimi Hendrix in The Beatles") and left, handing over to his former inker Mike Dringenberg.
He acted as illustrator on two volumes of writer William Messner-Loebs' Epicurus the Sage and drew an Aliens miniseries for Dark Horse Comics, among other things, before creating The Maxx in 1993 for Image Comics, with, initially, writing help from Messner-Loebs. It ran for 35 issues and was adapted, with Kieth's assistance, into an animated series for MTV. Since then, as a writer-artist, he has gone on to create Friends of Maxx, Zero Girl, Four Women and Ojo.
Ojo comprises the first and My Inner Bimbo the second, in a cycle of original comic book limited series published by Oni Press. Loosely connected, the cycle will concern the intertwined lives of people with each other and sometimes with a supernatural entity known as the Mysterious Trout. Kieth has stated that other characters from The Maxx series will appear in this cycle of stories. My Inner Bimbo #1 was published in April 2006. Issue #2 was delayed past its original release date; It was finally resolicited in "Previews" in 2007 and hit the store shelves in November 2007.
DC Comics' Batman/Lobo: Deadly Serious, a two-issue prestige format mini-series that started in August 2007, was written and drawn by Kieth. This was followed by 2009's two-issue prestige format mini-series Lobo: Highway to Hell, written by Scott Ian and featuring art by Kieth.
He acted as illustrator on two volumes of writer William Messner-Loebs' Epicurus the Sage and drew an Aliens miniseries for Dark Horse Comics, among other things, before creating The Maxx in 1993 for Image Comics, with, initially, writing help from Messner-Loebs. It ran for 35 issues and was adapted, with Kieth's assistance, into an animated series for MTV. Since then, as a writer-artist, he has gone on to create Friends of Maxx, Zero Girl, Four Women and Ojo.
Ojo comprises the first and My Inner Bimbo the second, in a cycle of original comic book limited series published by Oni Press. Loosely connected, the cycle will concern the intertwined lives of people with each other and sometimes with a supernatural entity known as the Mysterious Trout. Kieth has stated that other characters from The Maxx series will appear in this cycle of stories. My Inner Bimbo #1 was published in April 2006. Issue #2 was delayed past its original release date; It was finally resolicited in "Previews" in 2007 and hit the store shelves in November 2007.
DC Comics' Batman/Lobo: Deadly Serious, a two-issue prestige format mini-series that started in August 2007, was written and drawn by Kieth. This was followed by 2009's two-issue prestige format mini-series Lobo: Highway to Hell, written by Scott Ian and featuring art by Kieth.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 785 reviews
March 12, 2019
I read Proenneke’s journal years ago. He had a lasting effect on the preservation of the Lake Clark region in Alaska. In 1980 Jimmy Carter enacted the vast wilderness in and around Lake Clark as a National Park along with a whole slew of other wilderness areas. He was burned in effigy for it, although I think most Alaskans have come to recognize what a boon to the economy the wilderness designations have brought.
This gift to America was in part initiated by Dick Proenneke, a mechanic and amateur naturalist. Proenneke built a remote cabin on Twin Lakes in 1968 as a retiree in an area that is now part of Lake Clark National Park. For years he documented his solitary life through his journals and even made a film. Although he lived alone, he would receive regular bush plane supply drops and he would on occasion return to civilization. He did this for thirty years. When he died in 2003 he gave the cabin to the Park Service. Visiting his cabin is considered a pilgrimage amongst park enthusiasts and it is not easy to get to.
Proenneke became a legend in large part because of this journal which is very heavy on his interactions with wildlife, especially birds, raccoons, wolverines, caribou, wolves and of course bears. Lots of them. But I would say it is the little critters that he was most fond of.
His preferred mode of travel was by boat or canoe. His journeys across the lake were some of my favorite scenes and at least one was nearly fatal. The wind blowing across such a large cold body of water can create some really dangerous conditions and it is brutally cold in the winter as one would expect and there is snow on the ground for more than 9 months out of the year.
Now why is this journal special? While the writing is not exemplary, it is a journal after all, Proenneke does have a direct style that avoids the folksy writing that seems so dominant in other ‘pioneering’ books and journals. He tells it how it is. The second reason is probably more obvious, his story is so unique. Who else goes to live in isolation in the harsh and pristine Alaskan wilderness and then documents their frontier life to preserve a National Park. He really stayed true to the ethos of ‘nature lover’
5 stars for wilderness nuts. Probably 3 stars for those who would rather read a different genre.
This gift to America was in part initiated by Dick Proenneke, a mechanic and amateur naturalist. Proenneke built a remote cabin on Twin Lakes in 1968 as a retiree in an area that is now part of Lake Clark National Park. For years he documented his solitary life through his journals and even made a film. Although he lived alone, he would receive regular bush plane supply drops and he would on occasion return to civilization. He did this for thirty years. When he died in 2003 he gave the cabin to the Park Service. Visiting his cabin is considered a pilgrimage amongst park enthusiasts and it is not easy to get to.
Proenneke became a legend in large part because of this journal which is very heavy on his interactions with wildlife, especially birds, raccoons, wolverines, caribou, wolves and of course bears. Lots of them. But I would say it is the little critters that he was most fond of.
His preferred mode of travel was by boat or canoe. His journeys across the lake were some of my favorite scenes and at least one was nearly fatal. The wind blowing across such a large cold body of water can create some really dangerous conditions and it is brutally cold in the winter as one would expect and there is snow on the ground for more than 9 months out of the year.
Now why is this journal special? While the writing is not exemplary, it is a journal after all, Proenneke does have a direct style that avoids the folksy writing that seems so dominant in other ‘pioneering’ books and journals. He tells it how it is. The second reason is probably more obvious, his story is so unique. Who else goes to live in isolation in the harsh and pristine Alaskan wilderness and then documents their frontier life to preserve a National Park. He really stayed true to the ethos of ‘nature lover’
5 stars for wilderness nuts. Probably 3 stars for those who would rather read a different genre.
January 11, 2021
Sam Keith, the author of this book, has taken Richard Proenneke's daily journals, recorded from his sixteen month stay during 1968-1969 alone in the Alaskan wilderness, and set them into a book. Proenneke was fifty-two.
The reader follows how Proenneke constructed his cabin from scratch. Even if exact measurements and construction methods are related, if one is not a carpenter I doubt you would be able to use this as a manual....and maybe then you can wonder if such detail is necessary. After the two month construction of his cabin and its interior furnishings, Proenneke is free to spend more time fishing, hunting for necessary food and observing the fauna and flora around him. The weather, the seasons and the animals - they are his day to day companions. Caribou, rams, wolverines, bears, wolves, lynx, squirrels. He counts them and he takes photos. He records the temperature, the depth of the ice on the lake and daylight hours. I particularly enjoyed his growing friendship with animals and birds. Some of the birds came to eat from his hand.
Proenneke is not living completely solitary. On and off food and mail are flown in. He does use tar paper and polyethylene plastic in the construction of his cabin. Still, you get the sense of living with only the most basic products.
Norman Dietz gives a good narration. It is kind of weird but the author doesn’t use adverbs.
I feel it is important that such an experience is recorded just as our need for nature reserves. His cabin is today part of the Lake Clark National Park.
The reader follows how Proenneke constructed his cabin from scratch. Even if exact measurements and construction methods are related, if one is not a carpenter I doubt you would be able to use this as a manual....and maybe then you can wonder if such detail is necessary. After the two month construction of his cabin and its interior furnishings, Proenneke is free to spend more time fishing, hunting for necessary food and observing the fauna and flora around him. The weather, the seasons and the animals - they are his day to day companions. Caribou, rams, wolverines, bears, wolves, lynx, squirrels. He counts them and he takes photos. He records the temperature, the depth of the ice on the lake and daylight hours. I particularly enjoyed his growing friendship with animals and birds. Some of the birds came to eat from his hand.
Proenneke is not living completely solitary. On and off food and mail are flown in. He does use tar paper and polyethylene plastic in the construction of his cabin. Still, you get the sense of living with only the most basic products.
Norman Dietz gives a good narration. It is kind of weird but the author doesn’t use adverbs.
I feel it is important that such an experience is recorded just as our need for nature reserves. His cabin is today part of the Lake Clark National Park.
January 5, 2016
I don't usually read non-fiction, so I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this book or not. I am very pleased to say that I not only did I enjoy this book, I loved it!
One Man's Wilderness is a memoir of Dick Proenneke's daily self-reliant life in the Twin Lakes area of Alaska. I am in no way a DIY'er, nor do I have any desire to live off the grid without today's modern conveniences, but I loved reading about the simplistic life that Dick lived during his time in Alaska.
The book is based on Dick's daily journals of the first 16 months of his life in Twin Lakes; building his cabin (from the ground up, hand tools only please), hunting, fishing and gardening; simplistic meals he's prepares for himself, his excursions exploring his new "neighborhood" and meeting his new wildlife neighbors. The only other person in the book he has any interaction with is Babe, an Alaskan bush pilot / mailman; other than that, he is completely on his own. But even though he has no regular contact with "the Outside", the reader never gets the impression that he is lonely. Through his writings, we can see how satisfied Dick is with the new life he is leading, how comfortable he is and how he enjoys his own company.
There are several pages of beautiful pictures that the author took of his cabin, the scenery and wildlife. There are also videos on youtube; the author not only took pictures but he also took 8mm film. Now that I've read the book I will definitly be checking out the videos. There is also another book, "More Readings From One Man's Wilderness: The Journals of Richard L. Proenneke, 1974-1980", that I will be reading as this covers the later years of Dicks life on Twin Lakes.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read: non-fiction adventure / survival, Alaska wilderness, self-reliance, self-discovery
One Man's Wilderness is a memoir of Dick Proenneke's daily self-reliant life in the Twin Lakes area of Alaska. I am in no way a DIY'er, nor do I have any desire to live off the grid without today's modern conveniences, but I loved reading about the simplistic life that Dick lived during his time in Alaska.
The book is based on Dick's daily journals of the first 16 months of his life in Twin Lakes; building his cabin (from the ground up, hand tools only please), hunting, fishing and gardening; simplistic meals he's prepares for himself, his excursions exploring his new "neighborhood" and meeting his new wildlife neighbors. The only other person in the book he has any interaction with is Babe, an Alaskan bush pilot / mailman; other than that, he is completely on his own. But even though he has no regular contact with "the Outside", the reader never gets the impression that he is lonely. Through his writings, we can see how satisfied Dick is with the new life he is leading, how comfortable he is and how he enjoys his own company.
There are several pages of beautiful pictures that the author took of his cabin, the scenery and wildlife. There are also videos on youtube; the author not only took pictures but he also took 8mm film. Now that I've read the book I will definitly be checking out the videos. There is also another book, "More Readings From One Man's Wilderness: The Journals of Richard L. Proenneke, 1974-1980", that I will be reading as this covers the later years of Dicks life on Twin Lakes.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read: non-fiction adventure / survival, Alaska wilderness, self-reliance, self-discovery
August 30, 2012
A great read about an inspiring man. You might have seen the B&W documentary on PBS television. In the late 70's, Rich Proenneke went to Alaska to live in the wilderness. It is a diary of his first few months while he build his cabin alone at Twin Lakes. He lived there from his mid fifties until his late 80's. While he appears out of touch, his view on life is something the sustainability movement is trying to find. He lived with less. Near the end of the book, he shares his reflections and writes "I wonder how many things in the average American home could be eliminated if the question were asked "Must I really have this?" It si surprising how comfortable a hard bunk can be after you come down off a mountain.I just season simple food with hunger.I enjoy working for my heat. I do think a man has missed a very deep feeling of satisfaction if he has never created or at least completed something with his own two hands. We have grown accustomed to work on pieces of things instead of wholes.The emphasis is on teamwork.I believe this trend bears much of the blame for the loss of pride in one's work."
November 16, 2024
2023 - ‘70’s Immersion Reading Challenge
One Man’s Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey by Sam Keith from the journals and photographs of Richard Proenneke (1973; 1999 ed.) 223 pages.
This book is based on Richard “Dick” Proenneke’s 16 month adventure in Alaska, which began at age 51. He “came into the country” in 1968, and built, literally, the most adorable cabin at the upper of Twin Lakes, Alaska. His cabin was one hour by canoe from the lower lake near Hope Creek.
A little more than half the book is about his day-to-day description of the construction of his log cabin, his fireplace, and his cache. Very monotonous. I’m not a contractor; I don’t know about construction. But, if you know about such things, then you will surely rate this book much higher. And the rest of it was basically just telling what the temperatures were and what birds or other wildlife he saw. It just didn’t feel very personal and maybe that’s because the author, which was not Dick, himself, wrote in a way to make sure Dick was thrown in the best light. Everything seemed to go too perfectly.
His good friend, and author of this book, Sam Keith, captured Dick’s life experience “in the country” while going off of Dick’s daily journals and photos. Dick lived another 30 years after this book was published, so I’m sure he had a lot of say and input about it to make sure it truly represented his life as he saw it. As Dick got older, he still spent some time at the cabin, but not in the winters. Towards the end of his life, Dick’s cabin would become part of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve and is now maintained by the Park Service as a historic site. There have been some impressive guests, governor of Alaska Jay Hammond and singer John Denver, among hundreds of others, to visit his cabin over the years. Until Dick’s death, he could visit the cabin any time he wanted.
There are lots of great colored photos in this book. Dick really did have a survivalist’s instinct and knowledge about living in the wild in extreme temperatures. He was a perfectionist. But, I was bothered about a couple of things until the very end of the book, which explained away some of my questions.
Dick was pictured in a lot of his own photos, working, and kind of far away. So, I questioned the whole time: Who was with Dick out there to take those photos? He had mentioned he brought a reflex camera with him, and on page 211, he wrote: I made a spring for the automatic timer on the camera… So, that may explain how he was pictured in many of those photos.
Also, I stayed confused between what was ACTUALLY Dick’s writing and what the author added to enhance Dick’s day-to-day life. I don’t like that! I want to hear straight from the person experiencing this adventure…the good and the bad.
Dick received large deliveries of food and supplies from his friend, Babe, who was a bush pilot. He made deliveries about every two or three weeks during Dick’s 16 month stay “in the country”. On page 130, it states he received on December 25th - Lots of mail and grub. Nearly a sack of packages and letters. Six four-pound packages of rice, two large boxes of cornmeal, four dozen eggs, plenty of spuds, carrots, lettuce, apples, and celery. Fifty pounds of flour and two slabs of bacon. Cheese, candy bars, and cocoa. And again on January 9th, he received another delivery (p. 133): …a burlap sack full of butter beans, fifty pounds of sugar, four ten-pound sacks of fine graham flour, a big box of dried apples, six boxes of rains, and five boxes of pitted dates. Also some mail…Babe also had brought me two pairs of heavy socks that his wife had knitted for me. And another surprise, a detachable Parker hood quoted with feathers between the layers, and a ruff of wolf skin around the face. These were only two deliveries. He had many more deliveries like these during his 16-month stay.
So, in my mind, I wouldn’t consider this completely independent living out in the wild, and I thought he was just a tad hypocritical (like Henry Thoreau in Walden). Dick writes regarding other people, ”I guess that is what bothers so many folks. They keep expanding their needs until they are dependent on too many other things, and too many other people.” (p. 209) Hmmm! I’d say he was pretty dependent on the guy bringing in food and supplies.
And then, just what I’ve been waiting for, and unlike Henry Thoreau, Dick actually acknowledges that he was partially dependent on Babe to bring him other things man-made or produced. (p. 212) And, I will give him more credit because he does also acknowledge the fact that he felt he was not being true to the philosophy that he was trying to follow when he did resort to using manufactured products, such as polyethylene, nails, and cement. (p. 211-12)
Still, I very much admire Dick Proenneke for his skills in building and surviving through at least one extreme Alaskan winter without losing any fingers and toes. And I do love his outlook on life. He had a big heart for nature and would rather catch them on camera than kill them with a rifle. In any economic collapse, he is still the kind of guy I'd definitely like to have on my side.
PROENNEKE’S SOURDOUGH PANCAKES: (p. 27 & 29)
Dump two-thirds of a jar of sourdough starter into a bowl, put three heaping teaspoons of flour back into the starter jar, add some lukewarm water, stir and cap it. To the starter in the bowl, add five tablespoons flour, three tablespoons sugar, and half a cup dry milk, mix all together with a wooden spoon. Dribble in some lukewarm water until batter is thin. Cover bowl with a towel or pan. The mixture will work itself into a hotcake batter by morning.
In the morning, give the batter a good stir, then sprinkle a half teaspoon of baking soda and a pinch of salt, and drip in a tablespoon of bacon fat. Gently fold into batter and let sit a few minutes.
Drop one wooden spoonful of batter into greased skillet. When bubbles appear all over, then flip it.
TO MAKE PROENNEKE’S EVERYDAY SOURDOUGH BISCUITS:
Just make a thicker batter, form into biscuits, place in greased pan cover and place in warm spot and let rise all day, then come home and bake. (p. 30)
Find A Grave Memorial (includes several photos):
Richard Louis “Dick” Proenneke
b. 4 May 1916, Primrose, Iowa
d. 20 Apr 2003, Hemet, California
Cremated, ashes spread on Proenneke Peak near his cabin.
NOTE: Dick was the middle child of six other brothers and sisters listed on his Find A Grave Memorial. His youngest brother, Paul, died in 2014 and was cremated. His ashes were also scattered at Proenneke Peak. The book shows Dick also has a brother Luke, not listed on Find A Grave, who sent him a few things, such as a fireplace damper, while Dick was spending his time in Alaska.
LINK: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2...
One Man’s Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey by Sam Keith from the journals and photographs of Richard Proenneke (1973; 1999 ed.) 223 pages.
This book is based on Richard “Dick” Proenneke’s 16 month adventure in Alaska, which began at age 51. He “came into the country” in 1968, and built, literally, the most adorable cabin at the upper of Twin Lakes, Alaska. His cabin was one hour by canoe from the lower lake near Hope Creek.
A little more than half the book is about his day-to-day description of the construction of his log cabin, his fireplace, and his cache. Very monotonous. I’m not a contractor; I don’t know about construction. But, if you know about such things, then you will surely rate this book much higher. And the rest of it was basically just telling what the temperatures were and what birds or other wildlife he saw. It just didn’t feel very personal and maybe that’s because the author, which was not Dick, himself, wrote in a way to make sure Dick was thrown in the best light. Everything seemed to go too perfectly.
His good friend, and author of this book, Sam Keith, captured Dick’s life experience “in the country” while going off of Dick’s daily journals and photos. Dick lived another 30 years after this book was published, so I’m sure he had a lot of say and input about it to make sure it truly represented his life as he saw it. As Dick got older, he still spent some time at the cabin, but not in the winters. Towards the end of his life, Dick’s cabin would become part of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve and is now maintained by the Park Service as a historic site. There have been some impressive guests, governor of Alaska Jay Hammond and singer John Denver, among hundreds of others, to visit his cabin over the years. Until Dick’s death, he could visit the cabin any time he wanted.
There are lots of great colored photos in this book. Dick really did have a survivalist’s instinct and knowledge about living in the wild in extreme temperatures. He was a perfectionist. But, I was bothered about a couple of things until the very end of the book, which explained away some of my questions.
Dick was pictured in a lot of his own photos, working, and kind of far away. So, I questioned the whole time: Who was with Dick out there to take those photos? He had mentioned he brought a reflex camera with him, and on page 211, he wrote: I made a spring for the automatic timer on the camera… So, that may explain how he was pictured in many of those photos.
Also, I stayed confused between what was ACTUALLY Dick’s writing and what the author added to enhance Dick’s day-to-day life. I don’t like that! I want to hear straight from the person experiencing this adventure…the good and the bad.
Dick received large deliveries of food and supplies from his friend, Babe, who was a bush pilot. He made deliveries about every two or three weeks during Dick’s 16 month stay “in the country”. On page 130, it states he received on December 25th - Lots of mail and grub. Nearly a sack of packages and letters. Six four-pound packages of rice, two large boxes of cornmeal, four dozen eggs, plenty of spuds, carrots, lettuce, apples, and celery. Fifty pounds of flour and two slabs of bacon. Cheese, candy bars, and cocoa. And again on January 9th, he received another delivery (p. 133): …a burlap sack full of butter beans, fifty pounds of sugar, four ten-pound sacks of fine graham flour, a big box of dried apples, six boxes of rains, and five boxes of pitted dates. Also some mail…Babe also had brought me two pairs of heavy socks that his wife had knitted for me. And another surprise, a detachable Parker hood quoted with feathers between the layers, and a ruff of wolf skin around the face. These were only two deliveries. He had many more deliveries like these during his 16-month stay.
So, in my mind, I wouldn’t consider this completely independent living out in the wild, and I thought he was just a tad hypocritical (like Henry Thoreau in Walden). Dick writes regarding other people, ”I guess that is what bothers so many folks. They keep expanding their needs until they are dependent on too many other things, and too many other people.” (p. 209) Hmmm! I’d say he was pretty dependent on the guy bringing in food and supplies.
And then, just what I’ve been waiting for, and unlike Henry Thoreau, Dick actually acknowledges that he was partially dependent on Babe to bring him other things man-made or produced. (p. 212) And, I will give him more credit because he does also acknowledge the fact that he felt he was not being true to the philosophy that he was trying to follow when he did resort to using manufactured products, such as polyethylene, nails, and cement. (p. 211-12)
Still, I very much admire Dick Proenneke for his skills in building and surviving through at least one extreme Alaskan winter without losing any fingers and toes. And I do love his outlook on life. He had a big heart for nature and would rather catch them on camera than kill them with a rifle. In any economic collapse, he is still the kind of guy I'd definitely like to have on my side.
PROENNEKE’S SOURDOUGH PANCAKES: (p. 27 & 29)
Dump two-thirds of a jar of sourdough starter into a bowl, put three heaping teaspoons of flour back into the starter jar, add some lukewarm water, stir and cap it. To the starter in the bowl, add five tablespoons flour, three tablespoons sugar, and half a cup dry milk, mix all together with a wooden spoon. Dribble in some lukewarm water until batter is thin. Cover bowl with a towel or pan. The mixture will work itself into a hotcake batter by morning.
In the morning, give the batter a good stir, then sprinkle a half teaspoon of baking soda and a pinch of salt, and drip in a tablespoon of bacon fat. Gently fold into batter and let sit a few minutes.
Drop one wooden spoonful of batter into greased skillet. When bubbles appear all over, then flip it.
TO MAKE PROENNEKE’S EVERYDAY SOURDOUGH BISCUITS:
Just make a thicker batter, form into biscuits, place in greased pan cover and place in warm spot and let rise all day, then come home and bake. (p. 30)
Find A Grave Memorial (includes several photos):
Richard Louis “Dick” Proenneke
b. 4 May 1916, Primrose, Iowa
d. 20 Apr 2003, Hemet, California
Cremated, ashes spread on Proenneke Peak near his cabin.
NOTE: Dick was the middle child of six other brothers and sisters listed on his Find A Grave Memorial. His youngest brother, Paul, died in 2014 and was cremated. His ashes were also scattered at Proenneke Peak. The book shows Dick also has a brother Luke, not listed on Find A Grave, who sent him a few things, such as a fireplace damper, while Dick was spending his time in Alaska.
LINK: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2...
September 8, 2015
Beautiful story of a man who lived 16 months in the deep isolated forest of Alaska. He built his own cabin and everything with his bare hands. He really lived his dream in an amazing way, I wish I could do something like that!
April 21, 2012
After finishing Cheryl Strayed's WILD, I dove head first into this book. It's about a 50 year-old man who moves from Iowa to Alaska in the early 1970's to build a cabin with no modern tools and attempt to live out there in the wilderness. Who doesn't love that?
However, I have to say I skipped the last fifty pages.
After 2/3rd's in, the "Up at dawn, stoked the fire at 5:00 a.m., temperature -24." got a little old.
But the biggest thing that got too old for me was the "Man's got to do what a man's got to do" references. It makes the book feel it is ONLY written for men, because apparently only men can understand wanting to live in the wilderness. But having said that, it was written in 1973, so the sexism is sort of understandable. Proennecke's ingenuity of making something from nothing, and his talented carpentry and hunting skills are amazing to read about. And he's so adorably humble.
Most of the book, is detailing how he built his cabin, hunted, cooked, made tools, made warmer clothes, weathered out bad weather, bears, etc.
Moreover, some of the simple prose and appreciation of nature is absolutely wonderful:
"I have found that some of the simplest things have given me the most pleasure. They didn't cost me a lot of money either. They just worked on my senses. Did you ever pick large blueberries after a summer rain? Walk through a grove of cottonwoods open like a park and see the blue sky beyond the shimmering gold of leaves? Pull on dry woolen socks after you've peeled off the wet ones? Come in out of the subzero and shiver yourself warm in front of a wood fire? The world is full of such things." p. 213
How can you NOT love that? I think it's a good piece of history, and an Alaskan primer. I'm sad that undoubtably Sam Keith and Richard Proenneke are no longer with us. They represent a kind of old-school, standup-men that we no longer have in society.
However, I have to say I skipped the last fifty pages.
After 2/3rd's in, the "Up at dawn, stoked the fire at 5:00 a.m., temperature -24." got a little old.
But the biggest thing that got too old for me was the "Man's got to do what a man's got to do" references. It makes the book feel it is ONLY written for men, because apparently only men can understand wanting to live in the wilderness. But having said that, it was written in 1973, so the sexism is sort of understandable. Proennecke's ingenuity of making something from nothing, and his talented carpentry and hunting skills are amazing to read about. And he's so adorably humble.
Most of the book, is detailing how he built his cabin, hunted, cooked, made tools, made warmer clothes, weathered out bad weather, bears, etc.
Moreover, some of the simple prose and appreciation of nature is absolutely wonderful:
"I have found that some of the simplest things have given me the most pleasure. They didn't cost me a lot of money either. They just worked on my senses. Did you ever pick large blueberries after a summer rain? Walk through a grove of cottonwoods open like a park and see the blue sky beyond the shimmering gold of leaves? Pull on dry woolen socks after you've peeled off the wet ones? Come in out of the subzero and shiver yourself warm in front of a wood fire? The world is full of such things." p. 213
How can you NOT love that? I think it's a good piece of history, and an Alaskan primer. I'm sad that undoubtably Sam Keith and Richard Proenneke are no longer with us. They represent a kind of old-school, standup-men that we no longer have in society.
August 13, 2020
I have been drawn to off the grid living in the wilderness with self-reliance for a very long time even though the concept of solitude is very alien and mysterious for a person like me who come from a culture where you swim in ocean of people all your life. Solitude for a non-hermit is a luxury in India. Unlike India, Countries in far northern have that luxury as it is a big and open with less people.
I hear that solitude can be a soul cleansing experience for some but can be a sheer painful torture for many who are addicted to human company. I am not sure how i will feel if given a chance.
For me even the US Midwest small town living feels very solitudinous compared to life back in India. Probably this is my first taste of it. But to give up comforts of city life and go off grid, you have to have lot of knowledge about the land/seasons/flora/Fauna, liking for loneliness and guts .
If you are like me , who loves movies like “Jeremiah Johnson” , the TV shows like “Life Below Zero” and drawn to books like “Robinson Cruisoe & Into the wild” , then you will thoroughly enjoy this well documented memoir of Richard Proenneke.
I think Richard Proenneke was way ahead of his time In creating DIY videos. He did it with his journal writing discipline and his film cameras. Today we take Youtube DIY videos for granted and they can be made relatively easily by any common person with a smart phone. But these videos and photos Richard took were made but with heavy film cameras and tripods he carried around way back in the 1960s.
The photos he took were super Hi Def and beautiful for that time. I was very surprised.
A very small book which can be read in an afternoon. But a must read for all wilderness lovers.
I hear that solitude can be a soul cleansing experience for some but can be a sheer painful torture for many who are addicted to human company. I am not sure how i will feel if given a chance.
For me even the US Midwest small town living feels very solitudinous compared to life back in India. Probably this is my first taste of it. But to give up comforts of city life and go off grid, you have to have lot of knowledge about the land/seasons/flora/Fauna, liking for loneliness and guts .
If you are like me , who loves movies like “Jeremiah Johnson” , the TV shows like “Life Below Zero” and drawn to books like “Robinson Cruisoe & Into the wild” , then you will thoroughly enjoy this well documented memoir of Richard Proenneke.
I think Richard Proenneke was way ahead of his time In creating DIY videos. He did it with his journal writing discipline and his film cameras. Today we take Youtube DIY videos for granted and they can be made relatively easily by any common person with a smart phone. But these videos and photos Richard took were made but with heavy film cameras and tripods he carried around way back in the 1960s.
The photos he took were super Hi Def and beautiful for that time. I was very surprised.
A very small book which can be read in an afternoon. But a must read for all wilderness lovers.
December 23, 2020
This book is about a life many of us have no clue about anymore. Plenty of reviews regarding the book, so I'll be brief. My Dad was a general contractor on building two of his own log cabins (one of which I lived in during the building thru my high school years), but to take the logs directly from the woods by hand and forming your cabin is another story!
Quiet pride, inner strength, and tenacity. I loved his respect for Nature and Animals.....after all, we are visitors.
Although written in a date-diary format, it moved fast and without extra 'stuff' to get bogged down with.
Oh! ...and I would be remiss to forget mentioning the photos! Heaven on Earth.
This book is definitely for Alaska wild, log cabin lovers, minimalist, and those that understand:
~He Who Chops His Own Wood Is Twice Warmed~
Quiet pride, inner strength, and tenacity. I loved his respect for Nature and Animals.....after all, we are visitors.
Although written in a date-diary format, it moved fast and without extra 'stuff' to get bogged down with.
Oh! ...and I would be remiss to forget mentioning the photos! Heaven on Earth.
This book is definitely for Alaska wild, log cabin lovers, minimalist, and those that understand:
~He Who Chops His Own Wood Is Twice Warmed~
April 20, 2021
Excellent as a whole—the final few chapters, however, were phenomenal. Proenneke’s culminating reflections are were his simple brilliance really shines through.
March 29, 2013
Yes, this book was amazing. I just returned from a week in Fairbanks and my heart tells me that I am a mountains, forests and lakes sort of person. Even in the winter. I picked this book up at a bookstore and finished it on the plane on the way home. At home, I keep picking it up to look at the amazing pictures. Whilst I know I do not really have the skills or the courage to live a wilderness life for 30 years, as Dick Proenneke did, and would likely be very lonely, as I am an extrovert, there is something deeply attractive - an almost preternatural attraction, ironically - about this lifestyle.
I looked around my house when I got home and was again reminded of the amount of "stuff" I have unnecessarily collected and the complexity of my daily life. Keith's soothing renderings of Proenneke's Journals are a marriage of artistic observation and raw understanding (and understatement) of the nature of wilderness life. The chapter of "Reflections" holds up a mirror to today's sustainability movement.
Did anyone notice the amazing coincidence in that Keith and Proenneke, both old men at the end, died within a month of each other?
I looked around my house when I got home and was again reminded of the amount of "stuff" I have unnecessarily collected and the complexity of my daily life. Keith's soothing renderings of Proenneke's Journals are a marriage of artistic observation and raw understanding (and understatement) of the nature of wilderness life. The chapter of "Reflections" holds up a mirror to today's sustainability movement.
Did anyone notice the amazing coincidence in that Keith and Proenneke, both old men at the end, died within a month of each other?
January 23, 2016
My dream is to go off the grid for a time. I was able to live it through One Man's Wilderness. Reading about Dick's daily life up at Twin Lakes, Alaska was very interesting to me. Here are some of my favorite quotes from it (and keep in mind these are from the late 1960's:)
"I guess that is what bothers so many folks. They keep expanding their needs until they are dependent on too many things and too many other people."
"It is surprising how comfortable a hard bunk can be after you come down off a mountain."
"I've seen grown men pick at food. They can't be hungry in the first place. Or maybe their food has been too fancy and with all the choices they've had, they don't really know what they enjoy anymore."
"No sense complaining if the weather turns sour - make your job fit the day."
"I have found that some of the simplest things have given me the most pleasure."
5 stars.
"I guess that is what bothers so many folks. They keep expanding their needs until they are dependent on too many things and too many other people."
"It is surprising how comfortable a hard bunk can be after you come down off a mountain."
"I've seen grown men pick at food. They can't be hungry in the first place. Or maybe their food has been too fancy and with all the choices they've had, they don't really know what they enjoy anymore."
"No sense complaining if the weather turns sour - make your job fit the day."
"I have found that some of the simplest things have given me the most pleasure."
5 stars.
September 27, 2010
This is a remarkable story of a man who goes into the wilds of Alaska to build a cabin to live in. The book is written in a diary style, but is very readable. I would love to have 10% of the craftsmanship that Richard has. There are some beautiful pictures that he took (probably on Kodachrome, RIP) that show his building and furniture. Richard was off the grid before anyone at HGTV or Discovery was even born! After reading this book, I've added a visit to his cabin in Lake Clark National Park to my bucket list. He built his cabin before it was a National Park, but left it to the park service and all of us late in his life. It stands to this day as a testament to his craftsmanship and skill as a woodsman, a conservationist, and great American. Take that, Sarah Palin!
May 1, 2009
I think this is more of a guy book. The best chapters were the last two. Other than that a lot of the book is just him explaining in detail how he makes his cabin, tools etc...
July 13, 2025
I loved this book. Dick Proenneke lived what seems like an awesome life of solitude, honest work, and joy in nature. He encouraged me to be more intentional about appreciating beauty around me and doing the best job I can in ordinary tasks.
December 2, 2020
First published in 1973, biographer Sam Keith documents Dick Proenneke’s experiences during the first sixteen months (May, 1968 to September, 1969) of his quest for a solitary and simple life in the Central Alaskan wilderness.
Alone, and with only hand tools, Proenneke builds his cabin, with a spectacular outlook to Twin Lakes, in four months. Obviously much of these journal entries are about the construction itself, only mildly interesting to me, who is clueless at DIY; a sort of Grand Designs for 1968.
of much greater interest is the writing about the environment, the weather, and his developing relationship with the wildlife.
I did at one time wonder if many of my most basic questions about Proenneke's odyssey would not be answered; why did he seek such a reclusive life, how did he cope without the luxuries that others would take for granted (even in 1968), and long did he stick with it for, but in the last two compelling chapters they are.
I had thought I had quite a reclusive life in a back country place, but that pales into insignificance having read this.
I like the title also, which can be interpreted in two ways; the solitary nature of his existence, and his uniqueness, that no one else could manage to do what he did. I’m envious certainly, but I wonder if in today’s world I could manage without things like the internet for anything like that long as his first stint at the cabin, a 16 months one..
My second book in a week about an incredible man, with an astonishing story to tell. (The other being Maurice Wilson from The Moth and The Mountain. )
Alone, and with only hand tools, Proenneke builds his cabin, with a spectacular outlook to Twin Lakes, in four months. Obviously much of these journal entries are about the construction itself, only mildly interesting to me, who is clueless at DIY; a sort of Grand Designs for 1968.
of much greater interest is the writing about the environment, the weather, and his developing relationship with the wildlife.
I did at one time wonder if many of my most basic questions about Proenneke's odyssey would not be answered; why did he seek such a reclusive life, how did he cope without the luxuries that others would take for granted (even in 1968), and long did he stick with it for, but in the last two compelling chapters they are.
I had thought I had quite a reclusive life in a back country place, but that pales into insignificance having read this.
I like the title also, which can be interpreted in two ways; the solitary nature of his existence, and his uniqueness, that no one else could manage to do what he did. I’m envious certainly, but I wonder if in today’s world I could manage without things like the internet for anything like that long as his first stint at the cabin, a 16 months one..
My second book in a week about an incredible man, with an astonishing story to tell. (The other being Maurice Wilson from The Moth and The Mountain. )
June 5, 2019
https://rogueliterarysociety.com/f/on...
Slightly embarrassed that it took me fifty years to read this masterpiece in outdoor writing. Composed as a diary, each entry offers a precise and open view of what it is like to live in nature’s majesty among the creatures of the Alaskan wilds. Crafting a small cabin with only hand tools, and building furniture and other outbuildings to make his life more manageable, Proenneke gives us an open window into not only his Alaskan life but his soul as well. He was a kind and gentle man who honored the astounding lives around him by treating everything he came in contact with love and respect. Well-written and very interesting, the book is as timely today as it was fifty years ago. One of the most amazing humans I have ever been made aware of, and to think he loved his new home so much he stayed there for over thirty years until old age made him return to civilization.
Slightly embarrassed that it took me fifty years to read this masterpiece in outdoor writing. Composed as a diary, each entry offers a precise and open view of what it is like to live in nature’s majesty among the creatures of the Alaskan wilds. Crafting a small cabin with only hand tools, and building furniture and other outbuildings to make his life more manageable, Proenneke gives us an open window into not only his Alaskan life but his soul as well. He was a kind and gentle man who honored the astounding lives around him by treating everything he came in contact with love and respect. Well-written and very interesting, the book is as timely today as it was fifty years ago. One of the most amazing humans I have ever been made aware of, and to think he loved his new home so much he stayed there for over thirty years until old age made him return to civilization.
June 30, 2017
Richard Proenneke, Navy carpenter and mechanic, fulfills ambition to live in Alaskan wilderness for a year
Slow paced, simple language describing slow paced, simple, deliberate living
describes building his log cabin, interactions with wildlife, travelling around the lakes on foot and in canoe, the progress of the seasons -you can get lost in the rhythm of the words
watched some samples on youtube from the PBS documentary 'Alone in the Wilderness' afterwards, although reading the book, rarely got the sense that he felt he was alone
also, regular supply runs from local pilot help with contact and with necessities
“I enjoy working for my heat. I don't just press a button or twist a thermostat dial. I use the big crosscut saw and the axe, and while I'm getting my heat supply I'm working up an appetite that makes simple food just as appealing as anything a French chef could create.”
“I have found that some of the simplest things have given me the most pleasure. They didn't cost me a lot of money either. They just worked on my senses. Did you ever pick very large blueberries after a summer rain Walk through a grove of cottonwoods, open like a park, and see the blue sky beyond the shimmering gold of the leaves? Pull on dry woolen socks after you've peeled off the wet ones? Come in out of the subzero and shiver yourself warm in front of a wood fire? The world is full of such things.”
“Sometimes I get lost in the rhythm of the paddling. I even count the strokes it takes to get me to a point of land, The play of the muscles in one's arms and shoulders, and the feel of palm against worn wood, are preferable to glancing at a speedometer”
Slow paced, simple language describing slow paced, simple, deliberate living
describes building his log cabin, interactions with wildlife, travelling around the lakes on foot and in canoe, the progress of the seasons -you can get lost in the rhythm of the words
watched some samples on youtube from the PBS documentary 'Alone in the Wilderness' afterwards, although reading the book, rarely got the sense that he felt he was alone
also, regular supply runs from local pilot help with contact and with necessities
“I enjoy working for my heat. I don't just press a button or twist a thermostat dial. I use the big crosscut saw and the axe, and while I'm getting my heat supply I'm working up an appetite that makes simple food just as appealing as anything a French chef could create.”
“I have found that some of the simplest things have given me the most pleasure. They didn't cost me a lot of money either. They just worked on my senses. Did you ever pick very large blueberries after a summer rain Walk through a grove of cottonwoods, open like a park, and see the blue sky beyond the shimmering gold of the leaves? Pull on dry woolen socks after you've peeled off the wet ones? Come in out of the subzero and shiver yourself warm in front of a wood fire? The world is full of such things.”
“Sometimes I get lost in the rhythm of the paddling. I even count the strokes it takes to get me to a point of land, The play of the muscles in one's arms and shoulders, and the feel of palm against worn wood, are preferable to glancing at a speedometer”
April 22, 2024
This book is so beautiful. I knew nothing about Richard Proenneke when I began, but he’s the real deal. Unlike other somewhat similar accounts I’ve read or seen, he isn’t going to the wilderness out of dislike of humans or a desire to seem tougher than thou- he just loves the land and the work. This book is simple and quietly joyful and it gets better as it goes along. His reverence for beauty and respect for the quotidian work that makes a life is inspiring.
April 22, 2020
This was such an enjoyable book! It was amazing to read his journal about his struggles and accomplishments while living in the Alaskan wilderness. I especially enjoyed all of the imagery he used to convey everything.
December 23, 2021
"This country makes a man younger than his birthdays."
Dick Proenneke lived for almost thirty years in a log cabin he built on the shore of the upper Twin Lake in southwest Alaska. Aside from a few trips to visit family in the lower 48 states and occasional resupply visits by airplane from his friend Babe, Dick was alone in the Alaska wilderness, and that is how he liked it best.
I would not enjoy doing what Dick did, I would be anxious and lonesome and miserable. But I loved his enjoyment of it all. What a cool guy.
Dick Proenneke lived for almost thirty years in a log cabin he built on the shore of the upper Twin Lake in southwest Alaska. Aside from a few trips to visit family in the lower 48 states and occasional resupply visits by airplane from his friend Babe, Dick was alone in the Alaska wilderness, and that is how he liked it best.
I would not enjoy doing what Dick did, I would be anxious and lonesome and miserable. But I loved his enjoyment of it all. What a cool guy.
February 25, 2014
When Richard Proenneke was 51 years old he decided to retire from his job, move to the wilderness of Alaska, build a log cabin and live off the land. He stayed there 33 years before he died. This is his story (at least the first few years of his story) - how he moved there, build the cabin, built a new life and thrived.
So let me say that he did what has always been a dream for me so...I probably liked this book a lot more than most people. I liked it quite a bit but I didn't love it. It's mostly copies of his journals. It doesn't give great insight into him or who he was. I can tell you everything he did those first few years in Alaska but I can't tell you why he did them because he didn't allow us that insight into his life. He doesn't tell us about how he dealt with the isolation or how he adjusted to this new world. I only bring these things up because it would have been nice to know what he was thinking instead of just what he did or what temperature it was that day.
I really like the book - just a little disappointed because I wanted to love the book.
So let me say that he did what has always been a dream for me so...I probably liked this book a lot more than most people. I liked it quite a bit but I didn't love it. It's mostly copies of his journals. It doesn't give great insight into him or who he was. I can tell you everything he did those first few years in Alaska but I can't tell you why he did them because he didn't allow us that insight into his life. He doesn't tell us about how he dealt with the isolation or how he adjusted to this new world. I only bring these things up because it would have been nice to know what he was thinking instead of just what he did or what temperature it was that day.
I really like the book - just a little disappointed because I wanted to love the book.
Want to read
January 8, 2009Jason and I bought these books for our dads last year after we saw the PBS special, which was awesome. Dads loved the books and sent them back to us to read. Jason just finished it and suddenly has ideas about building all of our own furniture from FS land scraps. If we were living in a rustic log cabin, I'd be all for it. But, just can't see it fitting into our modular home decor. True, true the odyssey adds to the growing list of reasons to get to AK.
If you promise to send it back, you can borrow our copy Troy. I'm not sure when I'll get to it next.
If you promise to send it back, you can borrow our copy Troy. I'm not sure when I'll get to it next.
September 18, 2019
This is a lovely balm of a read. His clear descriptions of his work to build and maintain his cabin and his serene enthusiasm for the nature around him are a pleasure to read. His joy at living in the wilderness is charming. It's a nice companion to the equally compelling PBS special that features the film he shot of his Alaska home.
March 8, 2025
"One Man’s Wilderness” offers a look into the daily life and Alaskan wilderness from Richard Proenneke’s journal entries and photographs. He illustrates the beauty and simplicity of living in the wilderness and not worrying about the trivial things in life that we do now, and instead, slowing down. Most people will never get to experience the feeling that Dick did. I’m glad his cabin is preserved, and I hope to visit it one day.
November 24, 2018
A great, no-nonsense journal about building and living a life in the wilderness.
October 23, 2017
I realized when I opened the book that I had seen the documentary a few years ago...but I am so glad I actually read his journal. His observational skills and natural curiosity were inspiring not to mention his building and problem solving abilities. This is a rare book that captures a landscape and ecology in simple language that does not distract from the setting. What a great birthday present!!!
January 11, 2021
Simple and profound. Richard's personal writings from the 1960's somehow resonate with me more than any academic's pointed, research-soaked approach to the mind of an individual in the information/material age. I don't reread even my favorite books, except maybe this one.
November 29, 2011
What a terrific book! Drawn from the journals and amazing photography of Dick Proenneke, it is his account of his first year in the back and beyond of Alaska. After retiring with a modest nest egg from his work as a diesel mechanic (and a highly regarded one at that), Proenneke retired to the shores of Twin Lakes, Alaska. His friend and bush pilot, Babe Alsworthy, took him and his equipment there, and visited him occasionally, bringing supplies and letters. During the sixteen months he was there, he carefully crafted a log cabin, a woodshed, and a cache on stilts for food stores and other materials he wanted to keep away from animals.
When not working on these and other projects, he kept careful records of his observations of nature and the flora and fauna of the area. These became valuable records for others interested in the botanical and natural sciences.
Most of all, though, I thrilled at his description of the time he spent there, and I have pondered long on the wisdom of his observations about what is most important in life.
1. “Anyone living alone has to get things down to a system – know where things are and what the next move is going to be. Chores are easier if forethought is given to them and they are looked upon as little pleasures to perform instead of inconveniences that steal time and try the patience.”
2. “To look around at what you have accomplished in day gives a man a good feeling. Too many men work on parts of things. Doing a job to completeness satisfies a man.“
3. “Steady going is the way to do it. Each time you stop to rest, it is harder to go again. One careful step at a time and eventually you’re there.”
4. “I thought of the sights I had seen. The price was physical toll. Money does little good back there. It could not buy the fit feeling that surged through my arms and shoulders. It could not buy the feeling of accomplishment. This great big country was my playground, and I could afford the price it demanded.”
5. “Needs? I guess that is what bothers so many folks. They keep expanding their needs until they are dependent on too many things and too many other people. I wonder how many things in the average American home could be eliminated if the question were asked, ‘Must I really have this?’”
6. “Most people don’t work hard enough physically anymore, and comfort is not easy to find.”
7. “What a man never has, he never misses…I just season simple food with hunger…I enjoy working for my heat.”
8. “I do feel a man has missed a very deep sense of satisfaction if he has never created or at least completed something with his own two hands. We have grown accustomed to work on pieces of things instead of whiles. It is a way of life with us now. The emphasis is on teamwork. I believe this trend bears much of the blame for the loss of pride in one’s work, the kind of pride the old craftsman felt when he started a job and finished it and stood back and admired it. How does a man on an assembly line feel any pride in the final product that rolls out at the other end?”
9. “News never changes much. It’s just the same things happening to different people. I would rather experience things happening to me than read about them happening to others. I am my own newspaper and my own radio.”
10. “I have found that some of the simplest things have given me the most pleasure. They didn’t cost me a lot of money either. They just worked on my senses. Did you ever pick very large blueberries after a summer rain? Walk through a grove of cottonwoods, open like a park, and see the blue sky beyond the shimmering gold of the leaves? Pull on dry woolen socks after you’ve peeled off the wet ones? Come in out of the subzero and shiver yourself warm in front of a wood fire? The world is full of such things.”
Later on the day that he left his cabin behind for the first time in sixteen months, Proenneke recorded this in his journal: “That night during a gathering at Babe’s place, I felt a civilized cold germ taking hold.” He didn’t stay away long and spent most of the next thirty years in the cabin on Twin Lakes. I don’t blame him, and somehow I yearn to do the same.
Note: In a few months, an unedited collection of Proenneke’s journals from 1970-1984 will be published. I am looking forward to it.
When not working on these and other projects, he kept careful records of his observations of nature and the flora and fauna of the area. These became valuable records for others interested in the botanical and natural sciences.
Most of all, though, I thrilled at his description of the time he spent there, and I have pondered long on the wisdom of his observations about what is most important in life.
1. “Anyone living alone has to get things down to a system – know where things are and what the next move is going to be. Chores are easier if forethought is given to them and they are looked upon as little pleasures to perform instead of inconveniences that steal time and try the patience.”
2. “To look around at what you have accomplished in day gives a man a good feeling. Too many men work on parts of things. Doing a job to completeness satisfies a man.“
3. “Steady going is the way to do it. Each time you stop to rest, it is harder to go again. One careful step at a time and eventually you’re there.”
4. “I thought of the sights I had seen. The price was physical toll. Money does little good back there. It could not buy the fit feeling that surged through my arms and shoulders. It could not buy the feeling of accomplishment. This great big country was my playground, and I could afford the price it demanded.”
5. “Needs? I guess that is what bothers so many folks. They keep expanding their needs until they are dependent on too many things and too many other people. I wonder how many things in the average American home could be eliminated if the question were asked, ‘Must I really have this?’”
6. “Most people don’t work hard enough physically anymore, and comfort is not easy to find.”
7. “What a man never has, he never misses…I just season simple food with hunger…I enjoy working for my heat.”
8. “I do feel a man has missed a very deep sense of satisfaction if he has never created or at least completed something with his own two hands. We have grown accustomed to work on pieces of things instead of whiles. It is a way of life with us now. The emphasis is on teamwork. I believe this trend bears much of the blame for the loss of pride in one’s work, the kind of pride the old craftsman felt when he started a job and finished it and stood back and admired it. How does a man on an assembly line feel any pride in the final product that rolls out at the other end?”
9. “News never changes much. It’s just the same things happening to different people. I would rather experience things happening to me than read about them happening to others. I am my own newspaper and my own radio.”
10. “I have found that some of the simplest things have given me the most pleasure. They didn’t cost me a lot of money either. They just worked on my senses. Did you ever pick very large blueberries after a summer rain? Walk through a grove of cottonwoods, open like a park, and see the blue sky beyond the shimmering gold of the leaves? Pull on dry woolen socks after you’ve peeled off the wet ones? Come in out of the subzero and shiver yourself warm in front of a wood fire? The world is full of such things.”
Later on the day that he left his cabin behind for the first time in sixteen months, Proenneke recorded this in his journal: “That night during a gathering at Babe’s place, I felt a civilized cold germ taking hold.” He didn’t stay away long and spent most of the next thirty years in the cabin on Twin Lakes. I don’t blame him, and somehow I yearn to do the same.
Note: In a few months, an unedited collection of Proenneke’s journals from 1970-1984 will be published. I am looking forward to it.
August 17, 2024
This book was delightful.
I’ve read many books about people finding solace in the woods: Walden, Year in the Maine Woods, etc. All these characters were real douche bags who thought they were way better than everyone else. Dick was a thoughtful and resourceful man who let Alaska’s beauty speak for itself.
I’ve read many books about people finding solace in the woods: Walden, Year in the Maine Woods, etc. All these characters were real douche bags who thought they were way better than everyone else. Dick was a thoughtful and resourceful man who let Alaska’s beauty speak for itself.
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