The most exciting part of the adventure was putting self-reliance on trial. . . 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.
I seem to be on a survivalist kick this year. If the pandemic has given you cabin fever too, imagine living alone in a log cabin for thirty years—in southern Alaska! That’s the story of Richard Proenneke, perhaps the world’s most fastidious bachelor builder.
In 1968 he hand-crafted a picture-perfection dwelling in just four months, documenting the process on film to create the Alone in the Wilderness documentaries and a best-selling memoir about his first year, written by his good friend Sam Keith in 1973.The 1999 rerelease then went on to win won the National Outdoor Book Award.
Pioneer living never looked so appealing or attainable until Proenneke broke down the process of fitting together his Lincoln logs with nothing but finely honed hand tools, the handles of which he made himself upon arrival. He created a stone fireplace emblazoned with a cast of a wolf’s paw. He fished year-round, hiked the mountains, tamed the birds, courted a wolverine, marveled at avalanches, and escaped an encounter with a charging bear. A tempest of energy, he kept himself going on a simple diet consisting mainly of sourdough and beans, and kept his home showplace-ready. Each day at a desk with a picture window he logged the day’s temperatures, from eighty to minus forty-five degrees, and ice—up to three feet thick. This is a refreshingly quick and cool read for the dog days of August. Keith’s writing is straightforward and simple, but the photos are endlessly intriguing.