Dick Proenneke’s 30-year mission of solitary self-sufficiency in Alaska

Upon retiring in 1968, the US mechanic and self-taught naturalist Dick Proenneke eschewed a life of rest and relaxation, setting out instead on a mission of rugged self-sufficiency in the Twin Lakes region of Alaska that would last for roughly 30 years. After his return to civilisation in 1999, Proenneke’s self-recorded films of his time spent living off the land would be used to create the acclaimed documentaries Alone in the Wilderness (2004) and Alone in the Wilderness: Part 2 (2011). This excerpt from Alone in the Wilderness finds Proenneke laying the foundation of his journey, constructing the cabin where he would stave off brutal Alaskan winters for the next three decades.