Dick Proenneke

Has anyone ever heard of Dick Proenneke? WQLN was showing a special on him Saturday during its fund drive. I don't know if they were giving away an Alone in the Wilderness DVD for donations, but I think I should have joined their "membership" just to get this DVD. Of course, then they'd have my name and address, and you hate to give that info. to anyone always in need of money.

But this Proenneke show was awesome. This guy, Dick, moved to Alaska when he retired (I think he was 50) and built a cabin, pretty much only using the resources in the woods, some simple tools and hand saws, and a few staples, like a sheet of tin, glue, some tar paper that he had shipped in. And he "felt badly" about using the tar paper. He somehow manages to film himself while doing some of this, discusses what he's doing, and adds some wonderful philosophical quotes like, (while doing some hiking on a dangerous mountain ledge) "Taking risks sometimes is good for a man," or (after finding a hamstrung caribou carcass that was not eaten) "I lost a lot of respect for the wolves that day."

His craftmanship is stunning. Reminds me a lot of my neighbor, a contractor who was an anthropology major in college. My son had a friend over and they watched part of the show with me. We watched Dick build this fireplace out of stones he collected from the river bed. He cut a hole in the side of his log cabin and crafted an airtight fireplace and chimney for heat on winter days where the high was like -20. "It's a blustery -25 out today, but a toasty 40 degrees in my cabin," deadpans Dick. (I assumed it was his voice, but, now that I think about it, it may be a voice over constructed from his journals.)

Anyways, my son and his friend immediately wanted to go outside and build an igloo with a fireplace - as we had snow on the ground Sunday. Unfortunately, they got cold after about 5 minutes and came back inside.

Dick passed away a couple years ago, after living in his cabin for 30 years. He was 80 before he finally was forced to move back into society. Go Dick! He cabin is maintained by the National Park Service now, and I guess you can visit it. I wonder how long you can stay.

Ralph