Reddit reviews One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey

I'm surprised no one mentioned Dick Proenneke. Many years before McCandless' trip to Alaska, Dick Proenneke moved up there, built a log cabin from scratch, and lived in the middle of nowhere Alaska for 30 years by himself. There's a book and a documentary that airs on PBS every once in a while.

Alone In The Wilderness - PBS Documentary

One Man's Wilderness - Book about Dick's time in the Alaskan wilderness

I really enjoyed reading Dick Proenneke's book about how he moved to a remote lake in Alaska at the age of 52 and built himself a cabin and a shed with hand tools, then lived there for 30 years.

I like the idea of moving off the grid too but I just read about other people who did it since I have zero survival skills.

There's also a book based on his journals, One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey. It's a fairly light read, but I enjoyed it.

This is really neat! How much did it cost to build, all told? I'm currently re-reading One Man's Wilderness and these types of projects are quite interesting to me. One day I would like to get some land and build my own self-sufficient place, and a greenhouse would certainly be part of that, so I'm gradually doing research and trying to figure out how much it will cost me.

>I wonder if he owned the property or just picked a spot in the wilderness and decided to set up camp.

Dick had a good friend who already had a cabin nearby on that same lake, not far from the site he picked for his. His friend allowed him to make use of the existing cabin (and his canoe, etc.) while he was building his there. He also had an arrangement with a bush pilot who regularly flew in supplies and materials for him. That lake is visited occasionally by Alaskan hunters who have the means to fly into the area, so although it's very remote it's not 100% devoid of human presence (especially now).

The DVD is actually kind of a companion piece to his journals, which are great and definitely worth reading if you like this kind of thing: https://www.amazon.com/One-Mans-Wilderness-Alaskan-Odyssey/dp/0882405136/

> way too hard and full of inconvenience and risk.

Depends where your priorities are. Some people just want to get away from it all, exit the rat race, enjoy some peace and quiet. I for one can totally get on board with a life where I'm judged only by myself, based on what I've accomplished.

Which is a good segue to the story of Dick Proenneke, who in his 50s decided to disappear into the Alaskan wilderness and build a cabin from scratch using only hand tools. He's got his own book and movie about his story. Worth a read/watch.

Alone in the Wilderness: https://youtu.be/ShLLp94RZMY

Accompanying Book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0882405136/ref=pd_aw_sim_74_2/168-8232578-2674509?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=JF37GEHWS34EEPZW9DCF

Multiple Alaskan Homesteads, the user who posted this video was apart of one of these families before leaving for civilization: https://youtu.be/UlPzlmqp7tI

A documentary by VICE that is dedicated to the Korth family, seen in the above video: https://youtu.be/Iq0rZn8HFmQ

Book about the Korth family from the previous two links: https://www.amazon.com/Final-Frontiersman-Family-Alaskas-Wilderness/dp/074345314X

Those last two are the most interesting, because the Korths are the only human residents of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, so they are basically the only residents of an area as large as the state of South Carolina, which is something I can relate to since I grew up in SC....basically the Korths are the most badass homesteaders alive; SC is pretty fucking big.

EDIT: Well I read that wrong, I thought you wanted documentaries to watch.....well if you have money for the plane ticket and the time you could try and meet one of them, but again the third link is from one of the members from one of those families except he's "civilized" so try and message him on YouTube.

Reminds me of this story. http://www.amazon.com/One-Mans-Wilderness-Alaskan-Odyssey/dp/0882405136

This guy is incredible. I read his memoir many years ago and highly recommend it... https://www.amazon.com/One-Mans-Wilderness-Alaskan-Odyssey/dp/0882405136/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Dick Proenneke

One man's wilderness - an Alaskan odyssy is tremendous. It's not written like a story though. Dick wrote in a journal everyday as part of his work for the national park service documenting things like temperature and snow pack depth. He would also document animals and their migration patterns. This book is excerpts from those journals and put together in chronological order, a highlights if you will.

Really really good read.

One Man's Wilderness. Richard Proenneke lived the life a lot of us dream about: walked away from work and went to build a cabin in the Alaska wilderness.

You can read his book, One Man's Wilderness. I loved it. It's a compilation of his journal entries from when he was in Alaska.

Desert Solitaire

Leaves of Grass

One Man's Wilderness

Into the Wild

Wilderness Essays

Call of the Wild

Walden Shocking huh?

This is it.

If you want an actual account that will give you the identical feel, check out One Man's Wilderness. You may have even seen the documentary on PBS if you're in the US, but it's just fantastic.

Great recommendation! There's also a book about him: http://www.amazon.com/One-Mans-Wilderness-Alaskan-Odyssey/dp/0882405136/ref=pd_bxgy_mov_img_b

Highly recommended: One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey.

One mans wilderness http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0882405136

Basically the diaries of Richard proenneke. I.e. this old guy goes up to Alaska, builds himself a cabin, and lives there for years by himself. Non fiction. I liked it a lot. Slow, but it's real and that makes it so much more interesting

I read this book on Richard Proenneke a few years ago, and it's a really worthwhile read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Proenneke

Check out the PBS documentary or the book, One Man's Wilderness

Not at all. I actually love living alone and I even have a little fantasy of doing what this guy did (but only for a year or two): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Proenneke

By the way this book about him is necessary reading for any real outdoorsy people: http://www.amazon.ca/One-Mans-Wilderness-Alaskan-Annivers/dp/0882405136

One Man's Wilderness by Sam Keith and Richard Proenneke is an absolute classic.

Indian Creek Chronicles by Pete Fromm is another of my favorites.

You should really pick up the book (http://www.amazon.ca/One-Mans-Wilderness-Alaskan-Annivers/dp/0882405136)

Here's his full diary compiled by the NPS
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/lacl/proenneke.pdf

I did enjoy the PBS documentary. If you like, you can read the book written from his journals - One Man's Wilderness or another which is mostly his actual journals collected into a book More Readings From One Man's Wilderness.

The first book is a retelling of his life from the journals. However, Dick stated that if his journals were ever published, he wanted them in his own words (which the original book didn't) so the second book was put out.

Of course, if you don't want to drop any money or support the author, and don't mind reading from a PDF, the second book More Readings is available on the National Park Service website at http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/lacl/proenneke.pdf

And as a final esoteric entry, if you read his books and enjoyed all the sourdough cooking he did, you can purchase the actual sourdough starter he used at http://alaskasgoldenspoon.com/page2.cfm?recordid=45

Lastly I don't think it's fair or reasonable to compare Dick with Les or Bear as they have different goals. I don't think Dick's intent was to survive under difficult conditions. He like the Alaskan wilderness and wanted to live a comfortable life using his own skills to provide. He certainly didn't live off the land as his diet was primarily supplied by groceries brought in periodically by air. He did supplement his food with items he hunted (only legally during hunting season) and foraged food. But his main diet was sourdough products like pancakes and biscuits and beans.

This perhaps? It's on my to read list since I saw this doc.

Read his book, it's incredibly inspiring...

http://www.amazon.com/One-Mans-Wilderness-Alaskan-Odyssey/dp/0882405136/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404231116&sr=8-1&keywords=one+mans+wilderness

There is nothing like reading White Fang or Call of the Wild while in the Alaska backcountry. You start reading, and with no evidence of civilization suddenly it's 1890. Also read the short story, to build a fire.

Get a copy of a book or Robert Service poetry. You have to read the Cremation of Sam McGee at least once around a campfire (our most famous poem), it's even better if you cam manage to recite it from memory.

Here's a YouTube vid of Johnny Cache reciting it.

Here's one I read years ago where the sea breaks it's back it's the story of how captain Vitas Bearing and scientist George Stellar discovered Alaska. A truly harrowing tale.

this book is the memoirs or Dick Proenneke. He lived by himself in a cabin by a lake in remote Alaska for decades. The documentary based off of it (alone in the wilderness) is excellent but I haven't actually read the memoirs myself.

Since you're in the mountains read desperate passage this is an exceptionally well researched and written account of the Donner Party, it's chilling, I read while snow camping in the Chugach, powerful stuff.

Anther great thing to read in the wild, journals of famous adventurers. The Lewis and Clark diaries, for example.

A translation of the Poetic Edda (pretend your living in Viking times)

True Grit always an enjoyable slogging through untamed wilderness read.

Hatchet by Paulson, this book is aimed at a younger audience, but it's a good book for reading when out in the woods.

I'll second song of fire and ice, Alaska is the perfect place to read it and imagine themselves the king in the north, or wandering out beyond The Wall.

Also blood meridian is another good suggestion. Adventure in the wild lands with a big element of the unknown and sleeping under the stars. By that same token I'd recommend Dead Mans Walk by McMurtry, the fist prequel to Lonesome Dove, lots of slogging through the wilderness and mountains.

Those are all I can think of at the moment.

Also a note on into the wild, I've never read it but it a lot of people up here do not like it because it's caused a lot of people to come up and emulate the guy, some of them have died or almost died. So don't tell anything to the effect of that book being your inspiration for coming to alaska.

That was a great doco, and his book is really good. If you liked reading this article, grab the book - you'll love it!

http://www.amazon.com/One-Mans-Wilderness-Alaskan-Odyssey/dp/0882405136/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410281104&sr=1-1&keywords=dick+proenneke

I did not call her a mooch. I said she is mooching off her parents with regard to the construction location of her crap shack.

This may be shocking, but some of my experience comes from real life. For example, my uncle has built such a cabin and I have spent many a happy night in it. However, Dick Proenneke's cabin in Alaska would be an example of such craftsmanship. He documented the construction of his cabin in journal entries and with his video camera. He lived in this cabin year round for more than 30 years. I would highly recommend the book One Man's Wilderness