Alone in the wilderness

[Cliff McNeill]

Have any of you guys the documentary "Alone in the Wilderness"? I saw it on PBS a while ago and really enjoyed it.

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. This video "Alone in the 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.

He builds his own cabin with the few hand tools he had with him, including door hinges, spoons and bowls.

Here is a youtube clip..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss&NR=1

[Rich Neighbarger]

One of my favorite documentories. I've watched it, and it's counterpart, multiple times.

[Matt Ranum]

I've seen it quite a while back. I loved it.

[Eric Uglem]

I have watched this documentary at least 20 times. He is an inspiration and hero to me. I recently made a couple of rustic sawhorses out of a poplar tree that got snapped off in a bad storm a couple of years ago. I live on an acreage. Anyway I ripped a log 6 inches in diameter and 40 inches long in half, what a workout that was. Then morticed and tenoned the legs with a brace and bit etc. then planed them flat and level. They are solid as a rock - almost too nice to use. The whole time I was thinking of him. I just can't believe what he must have gone through to do what he did. I hope everybody gets a chance to see this video. I'm sure it will inspire you too. - Eric

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have seen it a couple of times. I wished I had the talent and the courage to do what he did.

[Charles Shenk]

I love that documentary! Makes me think how "soft" modern man has become in a never ending quest for liesure and consumption.

[Pam Niedermayer]

I loved it so much I bought a copy.

Pam

[Mark Roderick]

Yes, I've seen the documentary. It's fabulous.

[william scott]

This reminds me of the summer right after high school that I spent 'rebuilding' one log cabin, building another cabin and a small storage shed. This was a homesteading class at a college. The buildings were built out of logs, hewed sqare with an adze and I wound up squaring most of these logs. There were also roof shingles to split, along with the woodpile to keep up with as there was a woodburning cookstove. I learned to really like that woodburning cookstove, even though it burned through quite a bit of wood every week. By the end of the 'class' (wound up working on this project 4-6 hours a day, five days a week at least for four months) I had thick calluses on my hands and lots of new muscle on my arms, shoulders and back. I also had a real appreciation for what it would be like to start a homestead in a virgin part of the country, like this guy did in Alaska. Thanks for the link, as it brings back memories!

[Jeff Skory]

I watched the youtube clip and then put in a reserve for the movie with my local library. Hopefully it arrives soon. Thanks for posting.

[Wayne Sparkman]

Did anyone see the Nightline segment tonight?

The segment was advertising an upcoming National Geographic special, Alone in the Wild (http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/alone-in-the-wild). But in this case, the guy didn't last 3 months before cracking up. Proenneke on the other hand stayed out there alone for decades.

What a contrast! Talk about how soft we've become!

[Pam Niedermayer]

...But in this case, the guy didn't last 3 months before cracking up. Proenneke on the other hand stayed out there alone for decades.

What a contrast! Talk about how soft we've become!

I'd say you're on shaky ground generalizing based on two cases. So one guy was good at being alone for months at a time and another wasn't, big deal, says nothing about out times and the like.

Pam

[george wilson]

We practically homesteaded in Alaska in the early 50's,building a small house. It wasn't wilderness,but every stick had to be carried uphill for hundreds of yards by hand. Postholes were dug in the permafrost. We didn't have electricity for 2 years.

We also made our own road,and had to make it through a rocky cliff to get it to the house. I enjoyed using the the jack hammer at 12! We also set dynamite all Summer,and I helped a neighbor logger make a stump puller out of a Willys 4 cylinder car engine. My mother wouldn't let me have a rifle,but she let me set dynamite!!!

Many of the big cedars were 10' in diameter. We'd spend all day drilling holes with a cross handle auger. Then,we slid the dynamite down the hole,and packed the hole with muskeg. The dynamite would crack the stumps into big sections.Still very big. We'd dig into the permafrost and saw or chop the big roots,and finally pull the sections out.

Another way to get rid of the stumps was to set fire to them and let them burn all summer. The fire would get very hot.It could heat up steel to an orange 1500 degree heat. I was amazed at how the fire would follow the big,2' diameter roots several feet down into the ground. That had been wet wood,too.

Our refrigerator for a few years was an orange crate nailed high up on an outside wall,too high for the bears to get at it. t was 2 years before we had water pipes,too,and another year before we had a toilet.

[Jeff Skory]

George, that sounds like a very exciting and eventful childhood. What was it that brought your family up there?

[george wilson]

My step father was in the Coast Guard. He got extra pay for going to a territory. Trouble was,it rained 13 feet a year there. Except for a little place in India,just about the rainiest place on Earth.

[Clint Heidelberg]

I also grew up in Alaska. When I was a teenager, about ten years ago, we built a log house that my parents still live in. We cut trees off of our property, all spruce, and drug them to the building site. Then we peeled the bark off with drawknives. When the walls got to high for us to lift and stack the logs we made ramps out of other logs and then pulled logs up the ramps with ropes. It is very hard work, and the guy in the movie did it all by himself.

By the way this is my first post so I guess this works as an introduction. I now live in Montana and I am just starting to get into woodworking with hand tools. My experience is all with power tools, so I will be asking alot of questions.:) This is a great site, lots of good info here.

Clint

[Heather Thompson]

I also grew up in Alaska. When I was a teenager, about ten years ago, we built a log house that my parents still live in. We cut trees off of our property, all spruce, and drug them to the building site. Then we peeled the bark off with drawknives. When the walls got to high for us to lift and stack the logs we made ramps out of other logs and then pulled logs up the ramps with ropes. It is very hard work, and the guy in the movie did it all by himself.

By the way this is my first post so I guess this works as an introduction. I now live in Montana and I am just starting to get into woodworking with hand tools. My experience is all with power tools, so I will be asking alot of questions.:) This is a great site, lots of good info here.

Clint

Clint

Let me be the first to say welcome to the Creek, the water is nice here and so are the people, sounds like a good time building the log house even though it was hard work.

Heather

PS You may want to start a new thread to introduce yourself to the community.

[Dave Williams]

I've watched it over a dozen times, liked it so much I went out and bought one of his books, One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey. Didn't think it was possible but it was better than the documentary, but it was, how did they leave out the bear that attacked him and his cabin?! Going to get this second book soon.

[Zahid Naqvi]

I have watched it a few times, wonderful heart warming (for a woodworker and outdoors type person that is) movie.

[Jeff Skory]

Just got it from the library yesterday and watched it. Very cool.