www.DickProenneke.com - "Alone in the Wilderness" is the story of Dick Proenneke living in the Alaska wilderness. Dick filmed his adventures so he could show his relatives in the lower 48 states what life was like in Alaska, building his cabin, hunting for food and exploring the area.
It's nice to read such adventures especially in Alaska. Don't you know that our impression of Alaska is all snow and ice? We have that orientation in school so whenever you want to mention something cold then the term Alaska would pop up. It's only in my adult years that I have learned Alaska to be like any other cold places with a winter with all ice and a summer when there is no ice and snow. In fact, in the recent years, we have been checking on an Alaska cruise just to see the majestic mountain that is covered by white (snow or ice). However, a cruise is very expensive and out of our reach. But don't be mistaken for we have no intention of being a pioneer much more in a cold place like Alaska. I have seen a tv documentary where pioneers were building a log cabin. Another tv documentary is about the difficulty of a truck in hauling logs. So maybe we should be thankful to those pioneers and adventurers who paved the way for the easy passage of progress in those wilderness.
These video adventures were from 1967, so the Alaskan winters were still harsh. His technology was primitive.
I'll take a look later, I actually like those type of shows....watching them not roughing it in reality. One of my favorite shows was Survivorman.
There is no way I would walk to an outhouse in the in the cold on purpose. I watch alot of shows on Alaska and wonder what could these folks be thinking. It's outrageously expensive for food. There are many places where you have to truck in water and use an outhouse. Even though I'm a country girl I'm not that country.
I don't think I can survive in the wilderness alone for I'm a city girl and go to the supermarket for everything. I can gut a fish, but fishing for them is not my idea of things to do, so I guess I'll just keep on going to the supermarket and living in the city. Thanks for the nice video and seeing the spoon take shape is awesome! Sometimes in Shirokiya they have craftsmen coming from Japan to show how they manufacture by hand items they have in the store for sale too and I'd stand and watch in awe of the craftsman making his wares for sale! Amazing!!!
They have some of those shows on cable TV that show people surviving in extreme circumstances like Survivorman, Mountain Men, and these people who live on a frozen lake in Canada, at least it is a good bit of the year. The thing that comes to mind when I watch this stuff though,,,is what a pain, in the you know what! I mean I would hate to have to spend my whole day thinking about surviving and dealing with extreme temperatures. I think if you want to see a true suvivalist though...watch Running Wild with Bear Grylls. He is a real survivor guru. Also, that show Naked and Afraid is pretty authentic it seems.
While reading some of the posts I had to laugh a bit. Just a bit mind you, but a laugh nonetheless. I worked and lived in Ekuk, Alaska for a few months which I saw had a few hardships especially for the natives but I sort of expected some of that. But, that said, when my wife and I got married I had a brand new experience that I did not expect right here in the good ol' civilized lower 48. When Yvonne and I remodeled and opened our restaurant in Moie Springs, Idaho, little did we realize how many people within a couple of miles of us did not have water. Since we were on a well ourselves, we allowed some folks to come by and fill up their water barrels from the well and some even came in and utilized the shower I had built in an old store room in the back of the kitchen. We had a waitress who lived in a small community just over the border of Montana and Idaho whose only way to take a bath was in the lake where her cabin was set. Apparently her boyfriend set up a sun heated water bladder outside and in a tree for a shower but in the colder weather (about 8 months out of the year) there was only the lake or our shower. Life was a little different to say the least. One particular family had no water nor money and a lot of kids so along with water we supplied them with leftovers from the buffet which was good for a cord or two of firewood for our restaurant. Oh yeah, we even traded some shoes from our dollar store for the kids in return for firewood as well. Obviously, folks up there used a lot of outhouses and yep, in -40 degree weather and digging through 4 feet of snow. Everyone was pretty much a mail person up there, or at least ascribed to a part of their motto: neither rain nor snow nor dead of night will stop us from making our natural rounds to the John. Oh yeah, just a note: The greatest misery of all *to some* was that there was absolutely no cell phone service. Couples would honestly have to hold hands or eat together and have a conversation together instead of cuddling their precious cell phones. And, we all know that vehicular accidents are just no fun if ya don't have a cell phone in your hand.
I read that Bear Grylls was a fake and would spend the night in a hotel when filming. I'll have to see if I can find the information.
I don't know about that. I have seen him do some really strange things like eat a mouse urine stew for instance, and survive on worms and egg shells. He defintely knows his stuff. I mean maybe he isn't required to be out in the wilderness except when he is demonstrating survival skills. I mean, if you had a choice between a warm hotel bed, and a rock ledge... which would you pick?
I'm just saying what I heard, I never watched his show. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7304617.stm
Okay, I'm very familiar with and was real up close and personal with eating grubs, worms and some insects. Some survival training gets pretty intense but in regard to making mouse urine stew I was never trained to wait long enough for a mouse to pee that much to make a stew. Although, I guess if I force fed the thing one of my water pills I ...............never mind. Rather, I would introduce said mouse to a thing called BBQ. Takes less time and it's pretty good especially if there is a sassafras tree around to use the leaves as seasoning and some hickory for the fire. Or, while in the desert west, mesquite and a nice sidewinder makes for a pretty decent dinner. Bones kinda suck but you can make a pretty nice necklace out of them.