Proenneke enlisted in the United States Navy the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor and served as a carpenter. He spent almost two years at Pearl Harbor and was later stationed in San …

Dec 19, 2018 · Richard Proenneke built his cabin during the summers of 1967 and 1968 using mostly local materials and simple hand held tools. For many of these, he brought in steel parts …

Sep 5, 2025 · Proenneke was an Iowa native with a Great Depression childhood that shaped his adult frugality, a position as a carpenter’s apprentice in the Navy in WWII that shaped his …

Jun 7, 2025 · Dick Proenneke was a Navy veteran, naturalist, and master craftsman who became a symbol of self-reliance and wilderness stewardship. In 1968, at age 51, he arrived at Twin …

Mar 9, 2024 · National Park Service Naturalist and conservationist Dick Proenneke spent three decades living alone in a remote cabin that he built in the Alaska wilderness starting in the …

Jul 14, 2025 · For nearly 30 years, this self-educated naturalist, conservationist, writer, and filmmaker lived far from civilization in a log cabin he built himself near the shore of Upper Twin …

In 1968, at the age of 51, Proenneke made a bold decision that would define his life: he would build a cabin by hand in the Alaskan wilderness and live there, alone.

An elite naturalist, conservationist, writer, and wildlife photographer, Proenneke chose to dedicate his life to wilderness living at the age of 51, his story was published in a staple Alaskan novel …

After serving in the Navy during WWII, Proenneke succumbed to his love of nature and Alaska and moved there in 1950. Proenneke became a well-respected mechanic gaining a reputation …

Apr 20, 2003 · Richard Proenneke, whose friends called him Dick, is an icon of wilderness values and an inspiration to those who value simplicity, direct connection with nature, self-reliance, …