| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| susquesus |
Posted - November 20 2004 : 9:24:20 PM
For all of you wilderness/solitude/isolation junkies you must see this movie. It's the story of a fellow named Dick Proenneke who at age 51 in 1968 went into the Alaskan wilderness. Alone. He built a log cabin, hunted ram, fished, and lived alone for 30 years. He documented his first year, from the spring of 1968 until the spring of 1969 with a movie camera(16mm?) and a tripod. The footage is inspirational. To see a guy start with trees, a few tools, some supplies, and a lot of skill carve a life for himself out of the woods is incredibly humbling. It gives a person hope to see that a frontier lifestyle is still possible in America. Mr. Proenneke lived alone until 1998, when at the age of 82 he decided that the -50 degree winters were finally becoming too much. Amazing.
Here's a link:
http://www.dickproenneke.com/DickProenneke.html
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| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Chris |
Posted - November 21 2004 : 5:51:54 PM
Dick Proenneke is my husband's hero. We've had the book for ages (One Man's Wilderness) and now have the Alone in the Wilderness video also. Earl is in the process of clearing land for our retirement house about 115 miles north of Anchorage. It is 8-1/2 miles from the nearest "town," which is mostly just a crossroads. Of course, he has a generator, power tools, etc. so it's not the same. However, I did make it clear if I was going to live there, we would have electricity, running water (in the house), a septic system, and of course internet access. 
If all goes well we hope to spend next winter there.
Chris |
| CT•Ranger |
Posted - November 21 2004 : 1:44:59 PM
"Into the Wild" is excellent! One of my all-time favorite books. I first read it when I was 18. A point in life when the call of the wild, and wanderlust was very strong. I seriously considered doing something similar, just taking off into the mountains. The year before I had spent the summer living in Yosemite N.P., working during the week, and backpacking every weekend. To this day, Yosemite is a very special place for me. When I was a kid "My Side of the Mountain," and "Hatchet" were my favorite books, so I guess I've always heard the call of the wild. |
| Dances with Beagles |
Posted - November 21 2004 : 12:24:31 PM
The Call of the Wild
By Robert Service
Have you gazed on naked grandeur where there's nothing else to gaze on,
Set pieces and drop-curtain scenes galore,
Big mountains heaved to heaven, which the blinding sunsets blazon,
Black canyons where the rapids rip and roar?
Have you swept the visioned valley with the green stream streaking through it,
Searched the Vastness for a something you have lost?
Have you strung your soul to silence? Then for God's sake go and do it;
Hear the challenge, learn the lesson, pay the cost.
Have you wandered in the wilderness, the sagebrush desolation,
The bunch-grass levels where the cattle graze?
Have you whistled bits of rag-time at the end of all creation,
And learned to know the desert's little ways?
Have you camped upon the foothills, have you galloped o'er the ranges,
Have you roamed the arid sun-lands through and through?
Have you chummed up with the mesa? Do you know its moods and changes?
Then listen to the Wild -- it's calling you.
Have you known the Great White Silence, not a snow-gemmed twig aquiver?
(Eternal truths that shame our soothing lies.)
Have you broken trail on snowshoes? mushed your huskies up the river,
Dared the unknown, led the way, and clutched the prize?
Have you marked the map's void spaces, mingled with the mongrel races,
Felt the savage strength of brute in every thew?
And though grim as hell the worst is, can you round it off with curses?
Then hearken to the Wild -- it's wanting you.
Have you suffered, starved and triumphed, groveled down, yet grasped at glory,
Grown bigger in the bigness of the whole?
"Done things" just for the doing, letting babblers tell the story,
Seeing through the nice veneer the naked soul?
Have you seen God in His splendors, heard the text that nature renders?
(You'll never hear it in the family pew.)
The simple things, the true things, the silent men who do things --
Then listen to the Wild -- it's calling you.
They have cradled you in custom, they have primed you with their preaching,
They have soaked you in convention through and through;
They have put you in a showcase; you're a credit to their teaching --
But can't you hear the Wild? -- it's calling you.
Let us probe the silent places, let us seek what luck betides us;
Let us journey to a lonely land I know.
There's a whisper on the night-wind, there's a star agleam to guide us,
And the Wild is calling, calling . . . let us go.
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| Dances with Beagles |
Posted - November 21 2004 : 12:15:41 PM
I'm curious...what was his motivation for going it alone in Alaska? Was he taking on a challenge? Sick of society? Just a strong desire to go to the wilderness?
I've always been fascinated by people who take the road less (or not) traveled.
Along those lines...have you read "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer? It was absolutely fascinating, though it's still a mystery (to me) WHY McCandless did what he did.
I also liked "The Last American Man" by Elizabeth Gilbert.
I guess I live vicariously through these stories! The extent of my own experience is tent camping!! (though my family thinks I'm nuts, and that I was switched at birth!) |
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