OT - One man's wilderness: An Alaskan odyssey

[kimwcook]

Abracol's post about a couple of books some might enjoy reading reminded me of a recent documentary I watched the other day on PBS television. It was about Richard Proeneke and his time living in the Alaskan bush. I'm going off memory here so please bear with me. He was like in his early 50's when he moved into the bush, built a log cabin all by hand and lived there till he was in his early 80's. Quite the guy. I couldn't imagine living with the bare essentials being dropped off every now and then and supplementing with the land. All by yourself with few visitors, no running water, no electricity, outhouse. I think a lot of folks like to think they'd prefer to live in the "Good Ole Days", but few would really find it appealing after just a couple short weeks or months. I know I wouldn't. I've taken military survival courses and it's no picnic living off the land. In my book he was one tough and determined guy.

[WCF3030]

The dvd is called "Alone in the wilderness".
Very good, I watch it about twice a month.

[Grizz]

it's actually easier to do it the way he did it. he lived in a food paradise, you'd have to work to starve. he lived in a pristine environment where the water was safe to drink and there were abundant resources, and NO COMPETITION FOR THEM.

he also had enough energy to run a small city if he pedaled the genset!

[86er]

I missed the first post, but along these lines I recommend reading " Alaska Sourdough", the story of Slim Williams who moved to AK as a lad and eventually drove a team of sled dogs from AK to the Chicago Worlds Fair.

[Hobie]

Didn't they run this on some TV channel about 8 months ago? Cool, for sure. I used to dream of doing such a thing when I was a kid. Just me, Grandpa's Remington M8 and a dog...

[shooter]

"Alaska's Wolf Man" is another good one. The guy lived on his own for many years in the Alaskan wilderness. His book has a lot of useful info on animal behavior, and some info on trapping and such. Good read.

[shawn45]

I 2nd the Alaska Wolfman.

[bigbore442001]

I have copied from PBS," One Man's Wilderness" and watch it now and then. When I am having a depressing day I watch it and mentally escape to that time and place.

[samsi]

Proenekke's journals from the first couple years were published in book form under the title One Man's Wilderness as well. They're well worth the read, as you get the impression that Dick may have been a bit of a "bunny hugger" from the videos, which was not the case. The journals have tales of run-ins with Griz and other stuff of interest. That guy was a human dynamo.

[TNBigBore]

I remember watching it on PBS with my son a couple of years ago. I remember him shooting a nice dall ram with a spoterized 03 Springfield with a peep sight if memory serves. I enjoyed it very much while realizing that this guy worked his tail off all day long every day.