Richard Proenneke Biography

Richard Proenneke was an American self-educated naturalist who spent over three decades of his life, alone and cut off from modern utilities like electricity and telecommunication, in a hand-crafted log cabin in the mountains of Alaska near the shore of Twin Lakes. Following a few years of military service as a carpenter during the Second World War, he worked as a diesel mechanic and fisherman before deciding to retire and return to the nature in his early 50s. He was motivated by the urge of building something from scratch. He lived by the motto, "What a man never has he never misses." Apart from building his cabin and outhouse, he also hunted, farmed for food, and searched for firewood to keep himself warm in the freezing cold. He documented his life in writing, photographs and videos. While larger cabins had been built in the area previously, his cabin stands out as a marvelous construction by one man. Moreover, his journals and recordings served as the basis for books like 'One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey' and documentaries like 'Alone in the Wilderness'.