Alone in the wilderness

[Michael Gibbons]

Did anyone see the Dick Preonekke story" Alone in the wilderness" ? A machinist by trade, decides at age 51 to move to remote Alaska and lives there for 30 years. You should see what this man was capable of with a few hand tools. Saw, axe, hatchet, drawknife, hammer, auger drill bits, chisels. The cabin he built was probably constructed better than my current home. and in a much more beautiful setting. It humbled me.

[Ben Grunow]

What an icredible guy, he moved out at 93 (?) just because he was tired of it. Not that he couldnt do it anymore.

My favorite scene is where he describes the cabin as a "balmy 45 degrees" and he is having soup (they show him putting some of all 20 seasonings he has in it) without a shirt on saying "just the way I like it, everything but the kitchen sponge".

That show was like a dream almost. The ideas that you could be so hard working and independent and at 51 to start. He made everything from wood. Door hinges/lock etc. and even brought his tools without handles and made them there.

Amazing story and amazing man. A testament to the human will.

[Martin Shupe]

Hmm, Netflix has not heard of this movie. Where do you find it?

[Ken Werner]

It was shown on PBS. He had amazing skills for sure. Made it look so simple and quick, and I know full well it was neither. Both awe inspiring and humbling for sure.
Ken

[James Brothers]

I did see that movie, on the public channel, I to was amazed at what he was able to do with just a few hand tools. You know after seeing it I seriously thought about doing the same thing, but then I got married.:eek: Just as well though I think I would have gotten bored, didn’t the guy live there for like twenty or more years.
Hermit. Kind of sad all that talent and he used it selfishly. :(

[Mike K Wenzloff]

Hi Martin, Amazon has it if you want to purchase it.

Nothing sad about living one's life as they see fit.

Take care, Mike

[Michael Gibbons]

Heck ,I keep trying to talk my wife into doing the same thing but NO-GO:( This guys saw lines were STRRR-AIGHT.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Folks........I don't normally post here but I saw that special a few months ago. I would very much like to get his book and the video. This guy was incredible. It was stunning to watch how he handled making all that stuff with hand tools and the ingenuity he showed in substituting materials that we take for granted in the modern world. Fantastic show if you get a chance to see it!

[John Schreiber]

I saw part of it and it was inspiring. Inspiring enough for my wife to look at me and say NOO WAY before I even talked to her about it.

The man shows how independent we are capable of being and how we can solve problems on our own. I'd be up there the first day and lamenting that I can't Google to find out what kind of tree I'm looking at. He'd be laying the foundation for his winter cabin.

[RichMagnone]

That show was like a dream almost. The ideas that you could be so hard working and independent and at 51 to start. He made everything from wood. Door hinges/lock etc. and even brought his tools without handles and made them there.

Yeah right - how do you make wooden hinges without an Incra Hingemaster??

Seriously, the national park service also sells the series (I believe there is one book and two videos although the second video is no where near as good).

You can actually still visit Dick's cabin, but the park service has turned it into a bit more of a tourist trap than its original state.

There was a thread here a few years back where some of our own creekers took 1 hour and tried to duplicate the wooden spoon that Proenicke so easily crafted from a piece of wood and a knife before our eyes.

[Ron Brese]

I was amazed that his reason for leaving after all those years was that he just couldn't take the winters anymore.

Ron

[James Mittlefehldt]

What was also interesting about that was the background that was given during the inevitable pledge breaks. Apparently he did the longest continuous natural study of wolves ever undertaken. He also filmed all that with a Kodak movie camera with a clockwork mechanism fixed on a tripod.

He injured himself at one point and was out of the cabin for a few days, I forget how, sprained ankle I think, and he had to drag himself back to the cabin.

Really remarkable and not something that just anyone could attempt, but inspiring nevertheless.

[Jerry Olexa]

He was (is) an amazing man. I saw it in PBS and now have the book and DVD. I've given it to others as a gift. Great DVd for a snowy day when you're under the weather...I respect his skill immensely.

[Jameel Abraham]

Yeah, I caught this on PBS a few years ago. I've since purchased the DVD and book. The book is worth reading. Especially the last few pages where Dick reflects on his life in Alaska vs. more modern living. Proud to say I'm from the same state as Dick, good old Iowa! I've wanted to build a cabin ever since I saw this video. Catch it if you can.

[Ken Werner]

for those who would like to see this:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-676768723641783807

Ken

[Alan Turner]

Wow. Thanks for the link.

[John Timberlake]

I saw it a few years ago on PBS. Great for learning what we can do with a few tools. I wondered what he did after the first year when the cabin was built.

[Pam Niedermayer]

Last time I watched this dvd it definitely had a copyright on it. Has Google gone nuts?

Pam

[Jonathon Spafford]

I am curious how he lived out there! I imagine he got most of his food from hunting, but you can't hunt year round? Did he hunt legally with a license and all???? I don't imagine it would be too easy to be able to do this now days with environmentalism and everything :S I have the movie on hold from the library, so I'll have to watch it!

[jonathan snyder]

I am curious how he lived out there! I imagine he got most of his food from hunting, but you can't hunt year round? Did he hunt legally with a license and all???? I don't imagine it would be too easy to be able to do this now days with environmentalism and everything :S I have the movie on hold from the library, so I'll have to watch it!

Jonathon,

Keep in mind that Alaska did not get statehood until 1959. Alaska's population (2005) was only 663,661 with a land base of 663,267 sq miles, which is slightly less than 1 person per square mile! Game and fish are plentiful in most parts of rural Alaska and subsistence hunting regulations are quite liberal for some species in some rural areas. The area Dick lived in is definitly rural! It is still possible to live a predominately subsistence lifestyle in Alaska. A moose or a couple of caribou supplemented with fish and small game will easily feed a man for the winter and trapping can still provide money for the necessities.

I have not watched the movie yet, but will do so.

Jonathan

[John Timberlake]

I saw this again last night on my local PBS station (out of Kent, OH) during the semi-monthly pledge drive. Still very interesting. Looks like he used his retirement money to have supplies flown in about once a month.

[jeremy levine]

I saw a part of it a year or 2 ago and had no idea what it was, I thought it was fiction. :eek:

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jeremy.....I was born a century too late and it isn't fiction......it's a dream............

[James Carmichael]

Last time I watched this dvd it definitely had a copyright on it. Has Google gone nuts?

Pam

Not to switch the subject, but I just heard on the news this morning Google was getting it's pants sued off for that very reason.

Just an FYI, for anyone interested, if you ever happen across any of the "Foxfire" books published back in the 70s, there's some similar stuff in them from the Appalacians. My parents have volumes 1 through 5, which I look through whenever I visit. After seeing how they did things, I'm not sure we're fit to wear the title "Neanderthal" when working milled lumber with store-bought iron planes.

[James Mittlefehldt]

I wondered what it was he retired from. If you look at the film he has thick heavy forearms that look very hard and wiry, I don't think he was a stranger to hard, physical work.

It is interesting too that he used a web pattern saw for his work, rip and crosscut and there wasn't a waterstone in sight, just a dry stone which looked to my eyes to be fairly course.

[Larry Gelder]

IIRC from his book (One Man's Wilderness), he was a diesel mechanic. I noticed too that he had arms like Popeye.

[Randy Johnson]

I am curious how he lived out there! I imagine he got most of his food from hunting, but you can't hunt year round? Did he hunt legally with a license and all???? I don't imagine it would be too easy to be able to do this now days with environmentalism and everything :S I have the movie on hold from the library, so I'll have to watch it!

I saw that a movie is being made of a young man who died trying to "rough it" in Alaska because of some of the very reasons you mention. He died of starvation.
The book the movie was taken from is Into the Wild by John Krakhaur.(SP?)
There was another man who was not quite as independant that lived along the river of no return until the early eighties. He had some store bought items but he made most of what he needed. I can't think of his real name at the moment but he was often refered to as Buckskin Bill. A book about him was written titled Last of the Mountain Men. I think the author's name was Peterson.

[Ken Werner]

Randy,
I read that book, and the young man was a bit off kilter, and most likely died of neurologic complications from eating wild tomatoes that contain certain toxic chemicals. Tomatoes are related to deadly nightshade, a poisonous plant. Anyway, he may have starved, but it was because the toxins so weakened him that he couldn't hunt or gather. My best recollection anyway.
Ken

[Randy Johnson]

I'd forgotten that part. The book disappeared into whatever dimension so many loaned books disappear into and it's been a while since I read it.
The kid only had a .22 which would not be my weapon of choice where there are so many large critters running around. I think he killed a deer but didn't know how to preserve it so most of it spoiled. It made him decide not to kill any more animals. Even if he had been Euell Gibbons, Alaska is not the best place to decide to live on nuts and berries.

[nic obie]

Ken W.

Thank you very much for the link.

[Jonathon Spafford]

I saw that a movie is being made of a young man who died trying to "rough it" in Alaska because of some of the very reasons you mention. He died of starvation.

That's like dying of starvation in a grocery store ;) It doesn't seem like it would take that much to survive if you knew how to make a shelter and build a fire. With traps/snares, fishing, game hunting even with a makeshift bow and of course nuts and berries it would be hard to starve!

[Craig D Peltier]

I have a dvd of it that I dont mind passing around.I dont need it back.So if you want it mailed to one of you'll I can send it but as long as you send it to the next creeker that wants it.
Loved the story, guys amazing and humbling also.Id like to do it but my favorite foods dont have the word goat in it:)

Just PM me your address and I cand send via USPS.

[Ryan Cathey]

Sounds good...I'd like to see it.

[John Powers]

Watching him carve those hinges and his spoon is humbling. Next time congress wants to cut PBS remember that's where most of us saw this wonderful show.

[Dick Heifner]

Hey Craig,
Can you put me in line for this dvd too?
Thanks,
Dick

[Ken Fitzgerald]

My wife and I watched it this weekend. Even she was impressed and desires to see it again. This from a woman who's idea of "roughing it" is having to park our 5th wheel in a Forest Service campground that doesn't have eletrical hookups and she can't use the air conditioner or microwave. The guy was truly impressive!

[Jonathon Spafford]

Just finished that movie this evening while exercising... that movie is a total must see. Everybody on here should see it... I picked a copy up from the library! I was just astounded by the way that guy lived. How would he get all the knowledge for living out there and building his own stuff? I was seriously amazed by his craftsmanship and his ability to innovate. Very inspiring movie!

[Ryan Cathey]

Dick, PM me with your address and I'll send it out as soon as Craig sends it to me and I get done watching it.

-Ryan C.

[Craig D Peltier]

PM sent your
Hey Craig,
Can you put me in line for this dvd too?
Thanks,
Dick

[Craig D Peltier]

Im dropping it in mail box in 20 minutes.
Dick, PM me with your address and I'll send it out as soon as Craig sends it to me and I get done watching it.

-Ryan C.

[Dick Heifner]

Anyone out there want this video? PM me your name and address.
Thank's Ryan.
Dick

[jonathan snyder]

If no one else wants, it I would like to see it. I sent you a PM Dick.

Thanks
Jonathan

[Frank Stolten]

Jonathan, when you're done would you forward it to me. I sent you a PM with my address.

Thanks,
Frank

[John Daugherty]

Frank if you could send it my way. PM sent with address.

Thanks John

[Alex Berkovsky]

If no one else wants, it I would like to see it. I sent you a PM Dick.Jonathan,
I PM'ed Dick my address on 4/20 and haven't heard a reply. If he mails the DVD to me first, you may have to send me your address.

[jonathan snyder]

Alex,

Sounds good, I sent you a PM with my address.

Jonathan

[Stan Suther]

I saw this a couple of years ago. Of course, I was in awe of everything he could do with the few tools he had, but was also amazed at how he filmed it. That took a lot of insight into how to capture all that activity in a reasonable fashion, including setting up for long shots and such. I wonder if he had an overall plan worked out to some degree prior to starting the whole thing.

[Alex Berkovsky]

Well, it looks like Dick Heifner will be the last one to see this particular DVD; it was delivered today cracked in half. :( DVDs do not survive well in paper jacket going across the country. Thank you anyway, Dick.

[Ryan Cathey]

DUCT TAPE!! SUPER GLUE!! QUICK!, someone get the duct tape!!!!

[Patrick Grady]

I saw the film on PBS last year and was glued to the narrative
and the scenery. I imagined myself standing on the lake's edge
on a sunny winter afternoon after a good day of cabin work
chores. The slightly home movie quality of the film caught
Preonekke's cheerful energetic serenity and seemed to lament a
time past. I highly recommend another 'old school' perspective
in Harlan Hubbard's 'Shantyboat'. Harlan and wife Anna
hand-built a houseboat and lived on the Mississippi for seven
years in the late 1940's. The writing is exquisitely simple evoking
a wisdomful life pace flowing downstream without destination.
Novelist and poet Wendell Berry later wrote a book reflecting on
Harlan and Anna's individualism and responsible self-sufficiency.
I was happy to read this Sawmill thread and be reminded
of Preonekke and the Hubbards.

[Dick Heifner]

Hi Alex,
Sorry about the dvd, I sent it the same way that I receved it.
Dick

[Ryan Cathey]

As did I. Too bad to, it's a great movie.