I'm a guy, a man, but no where near the man Dick Proenneke was.
To do what he did is incredible. I know men have always forged ahead and made the best of nothing, but his story (relatively late in the 20th Century) is amazing. It's like the Lewis & Clark story, but without anyone else around.
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"Nothing worse than dying with money in the bank and gas in the tank." ~ anonymous
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Yes.
shareMaybe Les Stroud? He's a survivalist but I don't know if he has the skills to build a cabin like this with only a few tools. There's probably quite a few survival guides who can do this kind of thing.
I live in Canada and I remember once having to go to a wilderness site owned by the school board. They taught us outdoor survival skills. I think survival training is still very much in demand here.
Not sure how many of these survivalists could replicate what Dick did though. I couldn't believe how he built the hinges for his door from scratch (among other things). Surely someone is around that is similar but they might be in the wild somewhere right now.
What he did isnt really "survivalism" per se. What Les Stroud and the others do is a different thing.
What he did was get off the grid totally. And be alone. To those of you who havent thought it out being entirely alone is even harder than you imagine it. It can make you a little crazy and men who can do what he did without going insane are rare.
If you really want to learn about the lifestyle he led pick up the Foxfire books. They are books about the skills the appalachian people nurtured for hundreds of year. He brought in a lot , a Lot of tools and aids from civilisation. He wasnt so much rejecting civilisations advances and rejecting civilisations rules and demands that we be good workerbots. He was an amazing man and i hope to someday do what he did.. albeit not entirely alone.
Les Stroud has a documentary showing how him and his wife/girlfriend lived for a year in the Canadian wilderness. If I remember correctly they also built a log cabin. They did not however hunt or gather or plant any food. They had a years supply of food with them, which to me makes it a much less impressive feat.
Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5nAHVetPDA
Vice has a documentary about a guy that's been living for decades in Alaska with his Inuit wife. From what I gather he started really basic but has a lot of stuff now. Here is a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq0rZn8HFmQ